Has any got a good recommendation for a data-focused direct marketing book?

As for books, here are two good ones to start with,

Ed Nash DIRECT MARKETING

Benjamin Suarez 7 STEPS TO FREEDOM II

Used copies, get both for under 20 bucks. These should give you a good grasp, then, if needed, there are a handful of college textbooks worth having but they are mostly academic and for the most part, theoretical.

I think Nash does a better job of explaining what you seek, however, Suarez does have a 100 million dollar a year business with 40 years of success.

Hope this helps.

gjabiz

PS. Most current INTERNET MARKETING is kept close to the vest, if anyone knows of a book or course on tested and proven IM statistical analysis that is not anecdotal, please post up.

The most important metric in direct response is lifetime customer value.

All of your other media costs can be broken down from that number. Let's say your lifetime customer value is $200. You can then calculate all your costs, such as CPC, CPM, & CPA based on that number. If your conversion rate is 1%, you can spend up to $2.00 per click on CPC. If your banner click through rate is .20% then you can spend $4 CPM. (50,000 impressions x .002 click through x .01 conversion = 1 sale worth $200 therefore $4 x 50 = $200 in banner spend). If you're paying affiliates on a CPA basis, then you could spend up to $200 CPA, although you wouldn't make any money. With this approach, you can always benchmark potential paid channels. Of course, there is a lot to the subject of "data" and "metrics." But this is the most important, and any book that does not take it into account is misguided. "Drilling Down" and "Sexy Little Numbers," are two good books on the subject.

Split testing is a whole different topic that most people have wrong. But basically, you want to start studying bayesian statistics. I'd recommend "The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver.

2 books I've read that are steeped in conversion tracking/testing....

Amazon.com: Call to Action: Secret Formulas to...

Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide...

Both are very analytical and not "light" reading!