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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 18, 1981
PAGE 9
In March this year we commenced a regular renewal program for the PLAIN
TRUTH magazine. First, second, and third renewal letters written by Mr.
Armstrong are being mailed out at three-month intervals, giving each sub
scriber ample opportunity to remain on the mailing list. we have received
so far a 35% response to the renewal program and expect this figure will
rise to around the 50% mark. Although the response seems low, it has met
our expectations.
A large number of subscribers were added last year through the "Householder
Card." The renewal rate one year later shows this form of promotion is not
the most effective way of adding solid subscribers to our mailing list.
This year's renewal program is removing a lot of the resultant "dead wood"
from the mailing list. Subscriptions have been pruned to a solid base of
some 70,000 PLAIN TRUTH readers and requests for the magazine from news
stands, television and radio are already beginning to rebuild the mailing
list.
We received 20,109 letters this month, of which 5,561 were responses to Mr.
Armstrong's semi-annual letter offering his book, THE UNITED STATES AND
BRITAIN IN PROPHECY. Over 16,000 booklets and articles were mailed out to
our rea6ers. ·
Income for August took a most encouraging turn upwards--an excellent 55.6%
increase over the same month last year.
Our year-to-date increase now
stands at 28.8%.
New Zealand News What an exciting, record-breaking month! God blessed His
Work in this part of the world with a phenomenal 81.8% increase in income
for August! We've had to drastically change the scale on our income graph
to allow for this dramatic increase, but we're certainly not complaining
about extra work of this nature! This figure was the highest monthly income
total ever received here, surpassing the previous record by a gigantic
margin. Income for this year is already far in excess of our income for the
entire year of 1979.
Some very substantial donations received during the month were a major fac
tor in this exceptional result, but there was also a very encouraging in
crease of over 80% in the number of small donations received from "regular"
readers, particularly those renewing their PLAIN TRUTH. The income in
crease for the year to date is now running at a very healthy 35.8%.
Meanwhile, mail has been scorching along too with just under 10,000 items
received in August, an increase of 214% over August 1980. This boosts the
year-to-date mail increase to 17.5%.
There has been a marked increase in the renewal response rate for The PLAIN
TRUTH this year. Response to our first renewal has been running at about
37%, compared to an average of only about 15% in 1979 and 1980. Second and
third renewals are showing a similar trend. This demonstrates that the
magazine is holding the interest and attention of its readers to a higher
extent than previously. The excellent increase in the number of donations
coming along with renewals bears this out even more.