Advertising by mail has become much less effective, with fewer consumers responding. Because consumers are increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of junk mail they receive, most discard almost all offers without considering them. Thus, an effective way for corporations to improve response rates would be to more carefully target the individuals to whom they mail advertising, thereby cutting down on the amount of junk mail each consumer receives. Which of the following, if true, would most support this recommendation? (A) There are cost effective means by which corporations that currently advertise by mail could improve response rates. (B) Many successful corporations are already carefully targeting the individuals to whom they mail advertising. (C) Any consumer who, immediately after receiving an advertisement by mail, merely glances at it is very likely to discard it. (D) Improvements in the quality of the advertising materials used in mail that is carefully targeted to individuals can improve the response rate for such mail. (E) Response rates to carefully targeted advertisements by mail are considerably higher, on average, than response rates to most other forms of advertising. ID - CR08443 Junk Mail Step 1: Identify the Question The words if true and support in the question stem indicate that this is a Strengthen the Argument question. Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument Mail ad à Less eff (++ junk) Ó Target mail ads à improve resp rate Step 3: Pause and State the Goal On Strengthen questions, the correct answer should make the conclusion more likely to be valid. What would make it more likely that the plan to more carefully target mailed advertisements will have its intended effect of increasing response rate? Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right (A) The argument focuses on the effects of a particular plan: more targeted advertising to improve response rates. Whether there alternative methods to improve response rates is not relevant. (B) If anything, this choice weakens the argument. If some companies (successful ones!) are already targeting ads but overall response rates are still declining (as the argument states), then perhaps the plan is not a good one after all. (C) The argument already states that consumers frequently discard advertisements. This answer does not provide any additional information. (D) This answer provides an additional means that companies could use to improve response rates: improving the quality of materials. However, this answer does not address whether the plan in the argument (more targeted advertising) will be effective on its own. (E) CORRECT . This answer provides evidence that the plan will have its intended effect: targeted advertising does generate higher response rates. Evaluation of a Plan Situation Advertising by mail has become less effective because consumers overwhelmed with the amount of junk mail they receive discard almost all of it without considering it. Reasoning What would most help to support the claim that making mail advertising more carefully targeted would improve response rates? The passage recommends targeted advertising, reasoning that since targeted advertising would reduce the total amount of junk mail consumers receive, it would generate higher response rates. Any additional evidence for the claim that carefully targeted advertising would improve response rates would support this recommendation. (A) Even if targeted advertising and every other means of improving response rates were too expensive to be cost-effective, targeted advertising could still be effective for any corporation willing to pay the expense . (B) If many corporations already mail targeted advertising, and mail advertising is nonetheless yielding declining response rates, that suggests that targeted mail is an ineffective way to increase response rates. (C) This could be equally true for targeted and untargeted mail advertising, so it does not suggest that the former is more effective . (D) The question under consideration is whether more carefully targeted mail advertising would in itself increase response rates, not whether higher quality advertising would do so. (E) Correct . This provides some evidence that carefully targeted mail advertising is associated with higher response rates than untargeted mail advertising is, and therefore that targeting mail advertising more carefully would improve response rates.

Last visit was: 26 Apr 2026, 20:44

It is currently 26 Apr 2026, 20:44

Toolkit

Critical Reasoning (CR)

GMAT Club Daily Prep

Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.

Go to My Error Log Learn more

Request Expert Reply

Confirm Cancel

Apr 27
Try OnDemand GMAT Masterclass
11:00 AM EDT
-
12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 26
Score High on the GMAT with Target Test Prep
10:00 AM EDT
-
11:00 AM EDT
The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 28
Join - GMAT Day!
08:00 AM PDT
-
11:00 AM PDT
Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.

Back to Forum

Create Topic

Advertising by mail has become much less effective, with fewer consume

1 2

skycastle19

Joined: 22 Dec 2018

Last visit: 29 Jan 2021

Posts: 11

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 94

Posts: 11

Kudos: 6

[1]

28 Aug 2020, 13:22

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hi experts, GMATGuruNY AndrewN sayantanc2k AjiteshArun

Could you please help clarify what "other forms of advertising" mean?
I eliminated E because I thought it's irrelevant to compare the response rates to targeted mail advertisement to those to "other forms of advertising", for example, advertisement by telephone, magazines, etc. Could you please help explain what's wrong with this process of elimination?

Thanks a lot!

AndrewN

Volunteer Expert

Joined: 16 May 2019

Last visit: 29 Mar 2025

Posts: 3,490

Own Kudos:

7,667

[1]

Given Kudos: 500

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 3,490

Kudos: 7,667

[1]

28 Aug 2020, 17:04

Kudos

Bookmarks

skycastle19

Hello, skycastle19. You are correct in saying that we are not necessarily interested in other forms of advertising. However, the recommendation is based on targeted advertising by mail: to improve response rates, [corporations should] more carefully target the individuals to whom they mail advertising. Thus, if response rates are considerably higher to such ads delivered by mail, as choice (E) informs us, then it would not make sense to adopt the same approach by other means, such as those advertising vehicles you mentioned, and the recommendation would be supported or sound more reasonable. That is all we are after here. Choice (D), as others have pointed out above, focuses on the quality of the ads, which is truly an irrelevant concern. No other answer choice is really in the running. Watch out for those adverbs—significantly here cues us in on a common GMAT™ CR tactic to reveal the correct answer, as though the question-writer wanted to make sure that the statement was qualified enough to make its impact unequivocal. I have pointed out this very tendency in two of my other posts, here and here.

I hope that helps. Thank you for seeking my opinion alongside so many other GMAT Club legends.

- Andrew

Vartikaa14

Joined: 05 Sep 2018

Last visit: 08 Oct 2022

Posts: 8

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 60

Posts: 8

Kudos: 1

17 Oct 2020, 11:16

Kudos

Bookmarks

Can someones please elaborate on D?
If it is out of scope due to ' quality of advertising materials' then the same reasoning can be true for E- comparison with other mediums

svasan05

CrackVerbal Representative

Joined: 02 Mar 2019

Last visit: 24 Feb 2023

Posts: 269

Own Kudos:

312

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 269

Kudos: 312

21 Oct 2020, 05:20

Kudos

Bookmarks

Vartikaa14

Can someones please elaborate on D?
If it is out of scope due to ' quality of advertising materials' then the same reasoning can be true for E- comparison with other mediums

Hi Vartika

We should not only consider parts of the option to be out of scope but the statement as a whole. For instance, in this stimulus, the conclusion is derived as follows:

Too much junk mail --> customers discard all mail --> low response rates of ads by mails

Therefore, carefully target customers --> less junk mail --> better response rates

Option (D) is about the consequence of "quality of advertising materials". This does not appear anywhere in the reasoning chain in the stimulus and is hence out of scope. Option (E), on the other hand, talks about the consequence of "carefully targeted advertisements by mail", which is part of the conclusion of the stimulus and is very much relevant. Merely because there is another factor (comparison with other media) does not make an option out of scope. We need to identify the key issue which is addressed by the option and decide whether it is pertinent to the conclusion or not.

Hope this helps.

egmat

e-GMAT Representative

Joined: 02 Nov 2011

Last visit: 24 Apr 2026

Posts: 5,632

Own Kudos:

33,435

[1]

Given Kudos: 707

GMAT Date: 08-19-2020

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 5,632

Kudos: 33,435

[1]

06 Jan 2021, 15:43

Kudos

Bookmarks

Vartikaa14

Can someones please elaborate on D?
If it is out of scope due to ' quality of advertising materials' then the same reasoning can be true for E- comparison with other mediums

Hey Vartikaa14,

Option D - This ultimately reiterates the proposed careful targeting of consumers. Improvements in the quality of mails will work only if the targeting of consumers works. This option does not indicate that targeting the individuals will work or not.

Thus, this is not the correct answer choice.

Option E - This option gives a general data point that acts as evidence to prove the effectiveness of careful targeting of mail recipients.

This is in line with our pre-thinking. If response rates to such carefully targeted mails have been observed to be significantly higher, on average, than those to any other form of advertising, then it stands to reason that the corporations can use this tool to improve response rates to advertising offers sent via mail.

Thus, this is the correct option.

Hope this helps.

abhimehrotra

Current Student

Joined: 01 Dec 2018

Last visit: 15 Feb 2022

Posts: 19

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 51

Location: India

Concentration: Marketing, Strategy

Schools: Harvard '24 (D) LBS '24 (D) Wharton '24 (D) ISB '23 (A) Kellogg '24 (II) Yale '24 (S) Booth '24 (D) Tuck '24 (S) Columbia CBS '24 (D)

GMAT 1: 580 Q46 V26 Verified score

GMAT 2: 650 Q49 V31 Verified score

GMAT 3: 710 Q48 V39 (Online) Verified score

GMAT 4: 730 Q49 V40 Verified score

GPA: 4

WE:Operations (Manufacturing)

Schools: Harvard '24 (D) LBS '24 (D) Wharton '24 (D) ISB '23 (A) Kellogg '24 (II) Yale '24 (S) Booth '24 (D) Tuck '24 (S) Columbia CBS '24 (D)

GMAT 4: 730 Q49 V40 Verified score

Posts: 19

Kudos: 11

05 Mar 2021, 22:16

Kudos

Bookmarks

After going through the passage, I could identify the following gaps:

1) What if the target marketing is done and even then customers do not respond to the mail because of the poor content?
2) What if the careful targeting still does not reduce the overall number of junk mail customers receive

Moving on to the option choices, I had a confusion between Option D and Option E

Option D: It suggests that the quality improvement of the advertising content results in better response rates. If we include this premise in the argument, it indicates more that the plan will be executed will and response rates will be better. Hence D should be the strengthener.

Option E: It shows that targeted advertising is better than "most" of other forms. Even though it indicates that response rates will be better, but our main point of discussion is between targeted and untargeted way of advertising over mail. Hence this would have no impact on the argument.

What is the flaw in my thinking?

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 24 Apr 2026

Posts: 7,391

Own Kudos:

70,818

[2]

Given Kudos: 2,132

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,391

Kudos: 70,818

[2]

18 Mar 2021, 12:38

Kudos

Bookmarks

abhimehrotra

When analyzing a passage, it's a dangerous game to focus on specific "gaps" that pop out to you, for a couple of reasons.

First, there are likely gaps that you haven't identified. For instance, what if a zombie apocalypse breaks out, society degenerates, and there is no mail service any more? That would certainly impact the effectiveness of targeted ads. This is an extreme example, but it shows that there are infinite "gaps" in any argument, so picking out a few is kind of pointless.

Second, by focusing on certain "gaps," you may end up misreading answer choices so that they fit with your pre-thinking.

The author concludes that "an effective way for corporations to improve response rates would be to more carefully target the individuals to whom they mail advertising."

We're trying to support that recommendation. Let's look at (D) and (E):

Quote:

(D) Improvements in the quality of the advertising materials used in mail that is carefully targeted to individuals can improve the response rate for such mail.

The author's plan is to more carefully target the recipients of mail ads. (D) talks about an entirely different factor: the quality of advertising materials.

Knowing that increased quality of ads improves response rates doesn't tell us that targeted ads THEMSELVES are effective. So, (D) doesn't support the author's argument. Instead, it just gives us an additional factor to think about.

(D) is out.

Quote:

(E) Response rates to carefully targeted advertisements by mail are considerably higher, on average, than response rates to most other forms of advertising.

You're right that the most relevant comparison in the passage is targeted ads vs. non-targeted ads.

(E) tells us that targeted ads are better than most other forms of advertising.

While there is no proof that non-targeted ads are included in "most other forms of advertising," it's not too much of a leap to say that non-targeted ads are PROBABLY included in that group. So, (E) tells us that targeted ads are PROBABLY more effective than non-targeted ads. So, (E) does provide some support for the argument, even if it doesn't PROVE that targeted ads are more effective than non-targeted ads.

Since we're just looking for the answer choice that supports the argument more than the other answer choices do, (E) is the correct answer.

I hope that helps!

ashmit99

Joined: 20 Feb 2019

Last visit: 09 Apr 2025

Posts: 91

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 192

Location: India

Schools: Oxford Said'25 (II) LBS '26 (A)

GPA: 3.2

Products:

Schools: Oxford Said'25 (II) LBS '26 (A)

Posts: 91

Kudos: 38

02 Jun 2021, 23:32

Kudos

Bookmarks

WillGetIt

Advertising by mail has become much less effective, with fewer consumers responding. Because consumers are increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of junk mail they receive, most discard almost all offers without considering them. Thus, an effective way for corporations to improve response rates would be to more carefully target the individuals to whom they mail advertising, thereby cutting down on the amount of junk mail each consumer receives.

Which of the following, if true, would most support this recommendation?

(A) There are cost effective means by which corporations that currently advertise by mail could improve response rates.

(B) Many successful corporations are already carefully targeting the individuals to whom they mail advertising.

(C) Any consumer who, immediately after receiving an advertisement by mail, merely glances at it is very likely to discard it.

(D) Improvements in the quality of the advertising materials used in mail that is carefully targeted to individuals can improve the response rate for such mail.

(E) Response rates to carefully targeted advertisements by mail are considerably higher, on average, than response rates to most other forms of advertising.

ChiranjeevSingh

Do you think choice B and E both have the same 'direction' but different 'magnitudes'?
Can you help me with how can one decide that whether choice B has greater magnitude or E?

I eliminated E because the comparison is with other forms of advertising, and we are not sure whether "other" contains "Mails not targeted."

Thank you in advance!

ChiranjeevSingh

Tutor

Joined: 22 Oct 2012

Last visit: 26 Apr 2026

Posts: 427

Own Kudos:

3,209

[2]

Given Kudos: 161

Status:Private GMAT Tutor

Location: India

Concentration: Economics, Finance

Schools: IIMA (A)

GMAT Focus 1: 735 Q90 V85 DI85 Verified score

GMAT Focus 2: 735 Q90 V85 DI85 Verified score

GMAT Focus 3: 735 Q88 V87 DI84 Verified score

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V47 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V168 Verified score

Expert

Expert reply

Schools: IIMA (A)

GMAT Focus 3: 735 Q88 V87 DI84 Verified score

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V47 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V168 Verified score

Posts: 427

Kudos: 3,209

[2]

03 Jun 2021, 05:45

Kudos

Bookmarks

ashmit99

WillGetIt

Do you think choice B and E both have the same 'direction' but different 'magnitudes'?
Can you help me with how can one decide that whether choice B has greater magnitude or E?

I eliminated E because the comparison is with other forms of advertising, and we are not sure whether "other" contains "Mails not targeted."

Thank you in advance!

B has no impact since it doesn't say anything about 'response rates' and we're trying to improve response rates. Are these corporations which are doing targeted mail advertising seeing any good response rates? We have no idea.

- CJ

Namangupta1997

Joined: 23 Oct 2020

Last visit: 05 Apr 2025

Posts: 142

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 63

GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V38 Verified score

Posts: 142

Kudos: 9

14 Jun 2022, 10:37

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hi AndrewN KarishmaB

The fact that other successful companies have started targeting individuals would result in the delivery of less junk mails to people as a whole. So people are not overwhelmed by the excessive emails anymore. Now since people receive limited amount of mails, sending advertisements to the targeted would now increase the probability of their response as now they have less mails to go through. This could possibly strengthen the argument.

What is wrong with this line of thought?

KarishmaB

Tutor

Joined: 16 Oct 2010

Last visit: 26 Apr 2026

Posts: 16,441

Own Kudos:

79,421

[2]

Given Kudos: 485

Location: Pune, India

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 16,441

Kudos: 79,421

[2]

14 Jun 2022, 21:50

Kudos

Bookmarks

Namangupta1997

The author gives an advice to companies - more carefully target individuals to send mails to cut down on what each person gets to get response from customers.

What strengthens it? Knowing that response rates to carefully targeted advertisements by mail are considerably higher. This is option (E)

Option (B) Many successful corporations are already carefully targeting the individuals to whom they mail advertising.

This tells us that some companies are already carefully targeting. The advice is to "more carefully target..." So if you are not targeting, start carefully targeting and if you are already carefully targeting, target even more carefully. The point is to reduce the mail that reaches each consumer.
If some successful companies are already carefully targeting, does it strengthen that one should more carefully target? No. We don't know how and why those companies became successful. Carefully targeting may have nothing to do with the success of the company.
Option (E) clearly links response rate to carefully targeted advertisements and hence makes sense.

jabhatta2

Joined: 15 Dec 2016

Last visit: 21 Apr 2023

Posts: 1,251

Own Kudos:

328

Given Kudos: 188

Posts: 1,251

Kudos: 328

Updated on: 11 Jul 2022, 07:51

Originally posted by jabhatta2 on 10 Jul 2022, 20:18.
Last edited by jabhatta2 on 11 Jul 2022, 07:51, edited 1 time in total.

Kudos

Bookmarks

^^^ Just thinking out loud avigutman

In the world of SC -- the red text would be considered as a result of the conclusion in the blue text.

Comma + verb'ing : the present participle is an adverb - describing "How" the verb in the previous clause occurred.

I wasn't sure which of these two scenarios was the case.

I personally thought the 2nd scenario was more probable.

avigutman

Tutor

Joined: 17 Jul 2019

Last visit: 30 Sep 2025

Posts: 1,285

Own Kudos:

1,908

[1]

Given Kudos: 66

Location: Canada

Schools: NYU Stern (WA)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V45 Verified score

GMAT 2: 780 Q50 V47 Verified score

GMAT 3: 770 Q50 V45 Verified score

Expert

Expert reply

Schools: NYU Stern (WA)

GMAT 3: 770 Q50 V45 Verified score

Posts: 1,285

Kudos: 1,908

[1]

11 Jul 2022, 17:26

Kudos

Bookmarks

jabhatta2

I'm not really following the importance of the distinction that you're making here, jabhatta2.
I believe the author used this particular structure because he or she is attempting to give actionable advice to corporations on what action they should take in order to improve their mail advertising response rate. Cutting down on the amount of junk mail each consumer receives is not actionable advice, but this is: to more carefully target the individuals to whom they mail advertising. So, I guess my answer to your question is: both of your scenarios are correct. The amount of junk mail will get cut down as a result of targeted advertising. So target the advertising -> cut down junk mail -> better response rate.

MoPouyan

Joined: 23 Mar 2021

Last visit: 07 Feb 2025

Posts: 17

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 198

Posts: 17

Kudos: 9

19 Nov 2024, 11:56

Kudos

Bookmarks

Argument Breakdown:
Premise 1: Advertising by mail has become less effective because fewer consumers are responding.
Premise 2: Consumers are overwhelmed by junk mail and discard almost all of it without consideration.
Conclusion: An effective way to improve response rates is to more carefully target individuals, reducing the overall volume of junk mail each consumer receives.
Task:
The question asks which statement, if true, would most support the recommendation to "carefully target individuals" to improve response rates.

Analyzing the Answer Options:

A- There are cost-effective means by which corporations that currently advertise by mail could improve response rates.

Analysis: This statement speaks to the cost-effectiveness of improving response rates, but it doesn't directly support the recommendation of targeting individuals more carefully. The key to the argument is the effectiveness of targeting, not cost.
Conclusion: This is not the best answer because it doesn't strengthen the claim that targeting individuals will improve response rates.

B-Many successful corporations are already carefully targeting the individuals to whom they mail advertising.

Analysis: This option shows that some corporations are already using targeted mailing, but it doesn't say whether targeting actually improves response rates or reduces junk mail. It simply states that the practice is common among successful corporations.
Conclusion: This is not the best answer because it doesn't establish the effectiveness of targeting.

C-Any consumer who, immediately after receiving an advertisement by mail, merely glances at it, is very likely to discard it.

Analysis: This option explains why junk mail is ineffective, but it doesn’t explain how targeting individuals would improve response rates. It focuses on consumer behavior, but not on the effectiveness of targeting.
Conclusion: This is not the best answer because it doesn't provide support for the recommendation of more targeted mailing.

D-Improvements in the quality of the advertising materials used in mail that is carefully targeted to individuals can improve the response rate for such mail.

Analysis: This statement suggests that improving the quality of materials used in targeted mail can improve response rates, but the focus is on the quality of the materials rather than on the benefit of targeting individuals per se. This partially supports the recommendation, but it adds an extra factor (quality).
Conclusion: This could be a good answer, but it slightly shifts focus from targeting to quality improvement.

E-Response rates to carefully targeted advertisements by mail are considerably higher, on average, than response rates to most other forms of advertising.

Analysis: This directly supports the recommendation. It shows that carefully targeting individuals does improve response rates compared to other advertising methods. This aligns perfectly with the argument that targeting individuals would be an effective way to improve response rates.
Conclusion: This is the best answer because it directly supports the claim that targeting leads to higher response rates.

bhanu29

Joined: 02 Oct 2024

Last visit: 26 Apr 2026

Posts: 361

Own Kudos:

274

Given Kudos: 263

Location: India

Schools: Anderson '27 Booth '27 Foster '27 Haas '27 Kellogg '27 Kellogg Mashall '27 McCombs '27 Ross '27 Scheller '27 Tepper '27 Yale '27 Sloan (MIT) Stanford '27

GMAT Focus 1: 675 Q87 V85 DI79 Verified score

GMAT Focus 2: 715 Q87 V84 DI86 Verified score

GPA: 9.11

WE:Engineering (Technology)

Products:

Schools: Anderson '27 Booth '27 Foster '27 Haas '27 Kellogg '27 Kellogg Mashall '27 McCombs '27 Ross '27 Scheller '27 Tepper '27 Yale '27 Sloan (MIT) Stanford '27

GMAT Focus 2: 715 Q87 V84 DI86 Verified score

Posts: 361

Kudos: 274

24 Mar 2026, 11:15

Kudos

Bookmarks

WillGetIt

Strengthen question
CONCLUSION: an effective way for corporations to improve response rates would be to more carefully target the individuals to whom they mail advertising, thereby cutting down on the amount of junk mail each consumer receives.

(A) There are cost effective means by which corporations that currently advertise by mail could improve response rates.
Irrelevant: The existence of other methods doesn't prove the proposed targeting method works.
(B) Many successful corporations are already carefully targeting the individuals to whom they mail advertising.
Weakens: If targeting is already widespread but overall response rates are still dropping, the strategy is likely ineffective.
(C) Any consumer who, immediately after receiving an advertisement by mail, merely glances at it is very likely to discard it.
Irrelevant: Merely describes current discarding behavior without showing whether targeted mail changes this behavior.
(D) Improvements in the quality of the advertising materials used in mail that is carefully targeted to individuals can improve the response rate for such mail.
Out of Scope: Introduces a new variable (material quality) instead of evaluating the argument's focus (reducing quantity).
(E) Response rates to carefully targeted advertisements by mail are considerably higher, on average, than response rates to most other forms of advertising.
Strengthens (Correct): Directly provides evidence that the proposed strategy (targeted mail) actually yields high response rates.