What Goes Into An Effective Mailing List?
When we start planning direct mail marketing campaigns, many business owners and marketers tend to put most of the focus on the fun part; coming up with a great idea for a campaign and creating a dazzling postcard. However, even with the best looking mailer and the most compelling offer, your campaign will flop if it isn’t being sent to the right homes. Your mailing list is crucial to the success of your direct mail marketing and there are many options for how you can build or obtain a mailing list. If you want to get a big return on your direct mail marketing, you need to identify your target audience, set goals, and get down to the data. Here are some tips for getting the best mailing list for your next marketing campaign:
Option 1: Use Your House List
You can build your own house list based on current customers, past customers, or prospects who have shown interest but didn’t purchase. If you have a large house list, segment it by demographic information like age, gender, income, etc. or by past behavior (interactions with your company). That way, the messaging in your campaigns can be as relevant as possible for their audiences. If your business deals in the B2B market, you can pull from online business directories to build your list.
Option 2: Buy Or Rent A Mailing List
List providers are not always reliable, but some use large amounts of helpful data and have the experience to get you a direct mail address list that makes sense for your campaign goals. Take your time with list shopping and pick a provider that has experience working with your industry.
What To Look For In A Mailing List Provider
Transparency
Your ideal list provider is willing to let you know how the list was compiled and what sources it pulls from. They can be pulled from public records, magazine subscriptions, mortgage databases, trade association memberships, and more, but it’s important that you know your list is coming from data that applies to what you are trying to do with your campaign.
Popularity
Using a list provider that is popular for your industry could turn out to be a good or bad decision. If a list has been successful for companies like yours, there’s a good chance it could be successful for you too. However, when a household receives multiple mailings advertising the same products/services, they begin to lose impact. Ask your list provider what companies have used the list recently and decide if you want to compete with them or not.
Cleanliness
How often does the provider update their list and clean house? If your list isn’t being updated on a monthly basis, you can bet you’ll be wasting money on incorrect addresses. Ask them what they do to ensure accuracy.
We hope that these tips help you get the mailing list you need to see big results from your campaign. If you want to reach out to people who have just moved to your area before your competitors snag them, read our post on new-mover marketing!
