Your business can’t thrive without customers
Running a successful business requires you to constantly evaluate your marketing plan. Will you benefit more from buying an address list or investing in Google ads? Are you using the digital and traditional marketing blend correctly? These are all things to consider regularly to keep your business growing.
Your business can’t thrive without new customers. However, returning customers offer a greater return on investment for your marketing dollars. This is because they only need to be recruited once and will continue to buy. Therefore, it is important that you maintain a cost-effective balance between targeting new customers and keeping current customers loyal.
A great way to do this is by buying a mailing list and running a direct mailing campaign. Not sure where to begin? Keep reading to find out the questions you should ask BEFORE you start with a direct mailing service.
1. What is the potential reach for my demographic?
A mailing list is only as useful as it is relevant to your demographic. Your business is unique. It requires a specific approach to reach the customers that you want to reach. After all, your pizzeria in New York City doesn’t benefit from marketing 6 hours away in Buffalo!
By asking for a marketing report that outlines the potential reach of your campaign, you make sure you are only targeting ideal clients. Depending on your business, you may want a wide campaign targeting everyone within a 50-mile radius of your store. If you sell luxury goods, you may want a mailing list with only high-income individuals. Refining the scope of your campaign helps to increase the return on investment. This is because it saves you from wasting money on dead leads.
2. How is the data collected for the lists?
An interested customer is the easiest to convert. An important factor in determining how well a mailing list will work is how they gather it. Companies will use different strategies for creating lists, depending on your needs. Clients can volunteer to be a lead for the service they want. Lists can also be created based on financial and other public data.
Opt-in lists are some of the very best lists. They consist of people who volunteer to be notified about different offers or products. This means that they are already interested in buying before they even know who you are, making them an easy sales. An example of opting in would be signing up for promotional deals from a store. It could also be entering your information into sweepstakes.
Modeled lists can also be helpful. They are usually created by reviewing customer data, and then making assumptions from it. These are made based on your target audience. If you are targeting wealthy clients, you could research neighborhoods with expensive housing. If they live in that neighborhood, they will likely be wealthy. This increases the chance that they would be in your demographic and are a more likely sale.
3. What is your guaranteed deliverability rate?
When you searching for a residential or a consumer mailing list, you pay based on how many leads there are. A guaranteed delivery rate tells you what percent of the list is guaranteed to be valid. If someone on the list moves or the information is incomplete, your direct mail cannot reach them. If you send mail to no one, that it is a dead lead that costs you money. When a list is well-maintained, the quality of the leads is higher. To maximize the return on investment from a direct mailing campaign, you should only pay for quality leads.
4. How fresh are the leads provided?
An important part of ensuring a high deliverability rate is regular updates to the list. Mailing lists should be updated monthly or quarterly at the least. This helps to avoid undeliverable addresses and keeps the customer profiles accurate. Updating the list also allows you to add new leads as they become available. These leads are more “fresh” and have a higher chance of converting if you are the first to contact them.
You should also ask this question to determine how often the leads receive ads bout similar services. If the same leads receive many advertisements, they are less likely to choose you. This is because they likely already use a competitor.
Read more Mailing List Clean-Up
5. Should I rent or own the list?
Mailing lists often are either rented or bought. The right solution for you will depend on your goals with the campaign.
A mailing company who rents mailing lists will often keep the list for themselves. They will simply send your advertisement to the leads on their list. You will not receive the contact information or be able to contact them yourself. However, for longer campaigns, the list will likely be updated. This will give you more “fresh” leads than buying a list.
Buying a mailing list will usually provide you with a list that is updated at the time. You will receive the contact information for the leads for a one-time fee. These lists will likely not be updated after purchase, but you will own them and be able to contact them yourself. This is a good way to start forming your own mailing list to add to as you go.
Our Mailing List Services
We offer a wide variety of fresh and up-to-date lists from only the best sources. Whether you need a business, residential, or consumer list we can create it for you. Our free custom marketing report will tell you exactly how many potential customers you can reach. You can customize the report so that it only shows the best leads for your business. This way you can be sure that our mailing list services are the best way to reach new and old customers. Call us today at 602-433-9101 or send an email. Let’s work together for a prosperous 2018!
