The Parable Group released a summary Friday of some of the 2013 key insights from its data warehouse.

More than 2.3 million print promotions were mailed on behalf of print partner stores in 2013. The average customer response rate was 16.3%—nearly four times the national average of 4.25% as recorded in Response Rate Report by the Direct Marketing Association. Parable’s 2013 Christmas Catalog response rate was 20.1%.

“Double-digit response rates are only part of the story. Responders generated an average of 1.5 receipts per promotion period and spent more per transaction than non-responders—averaging $45.98 per promotion period in 2013,” said Jenni Smith, mailing and consumer specialist for Parable.

Furthermore, The Parable Group data revealed that in 2013, top customers who received regular catalog mailings spent $430 in their local store during the course of the year.

More than 250,000 unique SKUs were purchased by customers in 2013. Top categories for the year were books and Bibles, and best-selling products by category were: Book—Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson); Bible—The Story (Zondervan); Burning Lights by Chris Tomlin (sixsteprecords/Capitol Christian Distribution); Movie—Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas (Big Idea/Word Distribution); and Kids Book—The Beginner's Bible (Zondervan).

Digital marketing strategies to reach and engage the Christian consumer also saw tremendous success in 2013. The Parable Group sent 25.2 million emails to Christian consumers on behalf of Parable franchise stores and various other Christian partners—a 10% increase in emails sent for partners compared to 2012. Targeting technologies contributed to email open rates as high as 28%.

“Targeting and personalization are becoming more and more of a must-have in the world of email marketing and yield higher open rates, greater click-through rates and generate more revenue,” said Randy Ross, marketing specialist for The Parable Group.

Parable served 51.1 million online display ad impressions to the Christian market in 2013 across thousands of premium web and mobile sites. Of these impressions, 16.5 million were geo-targeted and served in local markets.

“We are constantly staying in tune with today’s emerging technology for online and mobile display advertising,” saidKyla Falkenhagen, Parable’s lead business analyst. “We’ve been helping advertisers of all sizes leverage online display advertising easily and effectively to reach, engage and convert customers in order to grow their business.”

Parable served 188 unique storefronts across all marketing groups in various capacities, including print data, email, email append, SnapRetail, online display advertising, online business claiming and e-commerce services. Stores can be part of any marketing group, or not affiliated with one at all, to receive services.

“We know the Christian customer, and we are honored to have leveraged our experience, unique customer data and technology to help retailers and clients market to them over 92 million times in 2013,” said Parable President Steve Potratz.

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