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Chapter 3

Chapter Sections:

Decisions, Decisions: House Lists or Broker Lists? Scrubbing and Cleansing Your Lists Targeting Without a List: Meet EDDM® There’s a Business Account for You

Decisions, Decisions: House Lists or Broker Lists?

Now that you’ve worked through Chapter 2 to define your objectives and identify the customers you’re going to target, let’s figure out how to best reach them.

Before we dive deeper, there are two types of mailing lists you should get familiar with: house lists and lists bought or rented through brokers. You’ll need to find the right list for your specific campaign, so let’s go through your options.

House Mailing Lists

You may already have house mailing lists. These are the lists of existing customer names and addresses that you have (you guessed it) in-house. If you don’t have these details, start encouraging customers to give their contact information.

Because house lists are made up of customers who have already interacted with your brand, they’re an ideal place to start if you’re simply looking to ramp up loyalty or get the word out about new products or discounts.

Check out Figure 3.1 to start thinking about all of the sources you can use to create your own house mailing lists.

Figure 3.1

EXISTING HOUSE LISTS
To get started, go through any existing mailing lists and check for needed updates. (We cover how to do so in the next section, so skip ahead if you like.)

EMAIL LISTS
Have you asked customers to sign up for your online newsletter or respond to digital promotions? If they’re willing to give their email address in these situations, they may also be willing to share their household address.

SITE VISITORS
Build out your mailing lists by asking customers to provide their physical addresses in order to access exclusive content, loyalty programs or promotions on your website.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS
Have you asked your social media followers to fill out a form with their contact info? Many customers will likely be willing to do so in exchange for deals or updates.

Be sure to segment your house mailing list based on your customers’ demographic, psychographic and behavioral data—again, all of the fun data points we just went through in Chapter 2.

Creating different lists for different customer segments will allow you to speak directly to their unique needs or goals.

Exercise

Think about what lists you have, what might need to be updated and what you still need. Take the next 30 seconds to note anything that comes to mind—you’ll be happy you did later on.

40%
When it comes to mailing lists, it’s all about quality—it’s 40% of the reason that a campaign succeeds or fails.

Bought or Rented Mailing Lists

If you’re looking to reach new customers or expand into a new market, you’ll likely need to rent or buy a mailing list. Hundreds of companies sell lists. You can buy ones that include new homeowners, gamers, travelers—you name it, it’s out there. Bought or rented lists allow you to reach customers you may not have found on your own.

List brokers work with business owners or marketers and the people who own mailing lists to develop highly targeted information designed for specific audiences and messaging. Brokers bring the lists to you, and get paid a commission from the list owners.

There are two types of lists your broker can offer: a response list and a compiled list.

Response list animated icon

Response Lists

Response lists are made up of individuals who have responded to marketing efforts in the past. They’re more expensive and produce better response rates.

Compiled list animated icon

Compiled Lists

Compiled lists have contact information pulled from public credit files and county tax files. These lists include people who fit a certain demographic, but haven’t made any purchases.

If you decide to work with a broker, be sure to:

  • Find out when the list was last updated or if anyone has used it in the last 12–24 months.
  • Ask about the source of the list, how it was developed, and if (and how) it was verified for accuracy.
  • Check the Better Business Bureau to make sure you’re working with a qualified broker.
  • See if your broker recommends using a newly created list rather than a ready-made one.

Working with a list broker is a time-sensitive, time-intensive process, but it can be the key to a successful campaign. Be ready to discuss your target audience, campaign timeline, budget and any other relevant details. The more information you bring to them, the faster and easier the process will be.

Lesson Learned

Make a list yourself or buy it through a broker—either way, you’ll be that much closer to reaching your target audience.

Scrubbing and Cleansing Your Lists

If you’re working with house mailing lists, keep them in tip-top shape with these best practices.

Assign the Job to One Person

To simplify things and to avoid confusion, assign list scrubbing and cleansing to one person on your team.

Update Addresses

To help ensure your mailpiece gets to the right people at the right place, your list must meet certain standards:

Under the Move Update standard, you must be able to show that your mailing list has been updated within the last 95 days.

  • If you’re a first-time mailer, you’re best off using NCOALink® software, an easy-to-use database of all national change-of-address (NCOA) records filed with USPS.
  • Ancillary Service Endorsements may work for you as well. By placing these endorsements on a mailing, any undeliverable pieces will be returned to you, along with the corrected recipient addresses (for a fee). In order to be Move Update-compliant, your mailing list must have been updated within the last 95 days.
  • You can also turn to the Address Change Service™ (ACS™) tool to meet the Move Update standard. As with ancillary service endorsements, your mailing list must have been updated within the last 95 days, and any needed address-change data will be made available after your mailing has been sent out. ACS technology is ideal for keeping lists that you use repeatedly up to date. If you use the ACS method, you’ll also need to include an ancillary service endorsement on your mailpieces.
  • One final option? Exceptional addresses. Even if you’re not familiar with this term, you’ve probably seen this in use. Exceptional addresses use the following format: “[Customer Name] or Current Resident” or “[Customer Name] or Current Occupant.” This allows you to easily adhere to the Move Update standard. Keep in mind that you cannot use an ancillary service endorsement on mail with exceptional addresses.

For any mailing that will claim automation prices, the software used to make sure recipient addresses are accurate and up to date must meet the standards of the USPS Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS). You can find a list of CASS-certified software manufacturers here.

If you don’t want to handle all of this yourself, some mail service providers can help you meet these requirements.

Nix Any Duplicates

Ensure there aren’t any repeats on your mailing lists so you don’t waste money sending out multiple mailpieces to the same address (and don’t overwhelm your customers).

Explore Software Solutions

There are several software programs—including CASS-certified options, as we discussed above—to help you better organize and manage your lists.

If your house list has fewer than 10,000 addresses, the Intelligent Mail® for Small Business Mailers (IMsb) Tool may be an ideal option for you. Used for both First-Class Mail® campaigns and USPS Marketing Mail® campaigns, IMsb automatically updates your mailing list for you, and will even remove any duplicates. This free tool is web-based, meaning there’s no need to buy special software or download any programs.

To keep your lists as accurate as possible, be sure to scrub at the beginning of your campaign (before you mail anything out), as well as at the end (before your next mailing).

Lesson Learned

You want the best chance of reaching the right customers, and that’s exactly where scrubbing lists comes into play.

Targeting Without a List: Meet EDDM®

There are other ways to grow a strong customer base aside from mailing lists, and Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) campaigns are a great place to start.

EDDM marketing is a simple, low-cost service that works well for businesses looking to:

  • Reach potential customers in areas close to the business location.
  • Build awareness or drive traffic to a specific location, on foot or online.
  • Spend efficiently on marketing.

See Figure 3.2 to explore three key actions you can complete with EDDM marketing.

Figure 3.2

SET A GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
Choose postal routes within certain ZIP Code™ areas and spread your marketing message to every address within them, helping you build a solid network of local customers. If you were opening a new takeout restaurant, for example, you could use an EDDM campaign to send your menu to any customers who live within a 1-mile radius of the business.

TARGET BY DEMOGRAPHIC
Specify your target age range, household size and income to really narrow down your audience. EDDM marketing uses census data, so you can choose specific postal routes that match your demographic criteria. Targeting the right demographics within a set geographic area means that your message will reach the right customers.

SKIP RENTING OR PURCHASING LISTS
EDDM campaigns send your mailpiece directly to any household that meets your chosen criteria—with no recipient name or address needed. That means you don’t have to worry about spending money on a bought or rented list.

Exercise

Can you think of any specific regions where customers could benefit from your product or service? Jot down some initial thoughts to see where they take you and what you come up with.

EDDM campaigns are easy to build, especially when you work with a USPS affiliate partner. Affiliates can do a lot of the work for you: finding your target audience and designing, printing and sending your mail campaigns.

Every Door Direct Mail campaigns can work for any kind of business. New businesses can use EDDM marketing to share their story with the community. Established businesses can expand to other areas or spread the word about a new offering. Want to learn more? Check out the EDDM tutorial.

Lesson Learned

The good news? You don’t always have to use mailing lists because EDDM campaigns are a simple, affordable way to start targeting the customers you want.

There’s a Business Account for You

Every Door Direct Mail marketing is one of the many tools you’ll get access to when you sign up for a Business Customer Gateway (BCG) account. Think of this hub as a “one-stop shop” with all of the services, tools and information your business needs for direct mail campaigns.

With a BCG account, it’s easier than ever to:

  • Check on your scheduled mailings and track your campaigns.
  • View reports on customer interaction with your campaigns.
  • Manage your repeated mailings.
  • Set up a profile to view important data on delivery dates, processing issues, invalid addresses and more.
  • Monitor and manage campaign balances and fees, all in one place.
  • Request new Mailer Identifiers (MIDs) as you need them.
  • Create sleek, USPS-approved art for your mailpieces in just a few steps.
  • Access customized content and helpful resources according to your campaign needs.
  • Access exclusive promotions to try out new direct mail tactics.

And once you dig deeper, you’ll see there are even more resources available to help you create meaningful direct mail marketing.

Lesson Learned

You can manage all things mail with a BCG account so you have time to focus on what matters most—creating campaigns that set your brand apart.

Need help? Reach out to the Mailing & Shipping Solutions Center at [email protected] and a team member will be in touch.