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Strategies to Increase Direct Mail Results With Mailing Lists

September 25th, 2021

Direct marketing with mailing lists is a great way to advertise your business and boost sales. It gives you the option to be as targeted as needed to focus your message to consumers or businesses that have in interest in your product. When focused correctly, this form of advertising can bring instant results. These marketing lists are also available with phone numbers, which can increase your response by telemarketing follow up calls. The following information will provide some key valuable tips when choosing a mailing list to aid in marketing your new or existing business.

First, when you make the decision to incorporate direct mail, you should have a basic idea of your target market. With this in mind, you can then create a customized targeted list. A qualified list broker will be able to assist in customizing a list based on your specific industry. You want a database that is compiled of potential consumers of your product or services. Analysis on your current customer database may aid in building a new prospecting list. An experienced direct marketing professional will also be able to give you great options based on your specific industry. It is always good practice to make sure the file is up to date and includes all the required postal paperwork. It is also a good practice to eliminate any duplicate names on the file. You should never send the same letter to the same person more than once. A reputable list provider will have the ability to remove your current customers from your new prospect mailing list.

Second, when using direct mail to promote your product or service, it is always more effective to mail the information to a specific person, and not simply to a general title. You should always receive exact first and last names and the titles of the people on your mailing list. This creates a more personalized message and will increase the results of your mailing. It also helps to tailor your mail piece to the audience you have selected for your offer. If you are mailing an insurance offer to people turning 65, it would not make sense to have a picture of a young couple at the beach. It would be best to have a picture of people in their age bracket. This way your postcard and message relate to the potential customer.

Third, it is important to code your mail piece with demographic codes that will give the ability to track the characteristics of the people responding. For example, if you are marketing to people with an age of 30-60, a mailing list provider will include special codes on your file that you can hide on your mail piece. In doing so, you may find that individuals with an age between 50 and 60 are not responding. In this case, on your next mailing it would be wise to mail to households with ages between 30 and 49. By tracking these demographic codes, you will be able to continuously make improvements on future mailings. In doing this additional work, each mailing should have an increased response rate.

Lastly, when mailing to promote a product or service, be sure to never use abbreviations. Many address lists are sold with abbreviations like “Co.” for “Company”. There are several other abbreviations which are often included in marketing lists. Prior to printing any mailing list database, it is always best to take a visual scan over your list. This will prevent wasting valuable marketing dollars on wasted postage and printing.

With any form of marketing, it is important to properly plan your strategy and budget. By creating targeted accurate lists and researching your market audience, the results of your efforts will be well rewarded. An effective campaign comes with a well thought out plan, appropriate timing, and an important message. Research, dedication and creative thinking will produce a success marketing campaign.