How to Optimize Your Mail List With Direct Marketing

If you’ve put in the time and effort to create a mailing list, you logically want to get the most out of your data. Like any investment, you need it to work for you. Making the most out of the information you’ve collected can not only grow your business, it can do so at an easier and faster rate.

Target the Right People

Your mailing list should be large and diverse. All of the people on it may be important for your business, but they may not all be the right targets for every direct mail campaign. So, how do you know who’s right for a specific campaign?

Look at purchase history. What good or services have they purchased through you, and when? A regular customer isn’t going to be right for an “introductory offer.” Additionally, you’ll want to review the offers they’ve used before. If you see that someone comes back every time you offer 20% off, then you’ll know that customer needs to be included the next time you offer that level discount.

Consider geography. If several of your regular customers come from one neighborhood, then you should try to figure out why. What niche in that zip code does your business fill? What households in that area aren’t you reaching and why? Data Axle USA can help you dissect your mailing list by zip code and over a dozen other items to help you see what your customers might have in common besides geography.

Get to know existing customers. You can section off your mailing list to your best customers. And then … what do you really know about those people? Address and purchase history? Get to know them better. For example, do they own or rent their home? Own or lease a vehicle? Are they into sports or fitness? What is their annual income? With a specialty list from Data Axle USA, you can begin to get a picture of a whole person, not just a customer.

Clone your best customers. After you have a perfect picture of your best customer, you’ll want to go find more of them. With new, reliable leads, you can expand your mailing list. Give your criteria to Data Axle USA, no matter how refined, and watch your sales grow.

Test Everything

Beasley Direct guide suggests testing everything. Direct mail is trackable – every piece should have a source code or a specific toll-free number to call. That way, you’ll know exactly how many responses you’re getting to a particular mailer. If you think a different postcard design would yield more results, you can create two source codes, one for the existing design and one for the variant. Test the waters with the new design. Test different offers, different discounts, different service packages.

Track, Track Track

As stated above, every piece of direct mail is trackable with a source code or phone number. Use that data. A Lob article says track every piece of data you can. A post-campaign analysis is essential to moving forward successfully.

Let Data Axle USA help you create your direct marketing campaign. Not only can we help you find new customers, we can get the right message, professionally created, into the right hands.