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Archive for December, 2008

College Bound Students Mailing Lists

December 9th, 2008

A growing interest is placed on a unique specializes database called the College Bound Students database.  This file consists of names and addresses of High School students who are planning to attend a college or university after they graduate from High School.  The list is selectable by the year of school they are currently in High School and the curriculum they plan to study.

The data for this type of mailing list is captured at the high schools themselves.  This is done by collecting the names and addresses of those students who complete financial aid applications.  The benefit for the student is that once they complete the financial aid application, they receive free information on financial assistance programs to help them.  With so many types of programs available to the High School student who is considering higher education, the benefits package they receive is very helpful.  The student must complete their application in order to receive this informative package, so the system is a win-win for everyone.

Today’s high school teenagers, most of them in the higher-education bound group are influencing the U.S. economy in excess of $240 billion annually.  Savvy marketers use this list product to promote such items as student loan, high tech items, scholarships, automobiles and accessories, credit cards education, telecommunications products, and further education.

Not all students in high school will say they will be going to college, nor will all those saying they want to go will actually go.  That’s why it’s important to make allowances for this type of data.  It’s important to remember their will always be some degree of inaccuracy with this, and all, databases.

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Posted in Education, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Bankrupcty Direct Mail Defined

December 9th, 2008

Many direct mail marketers will use a mailing list of Bankrupt individuals to market to.  The reason why a bankruptcy mailing list is so popular is because when someone files for bankruptcy, they are relieved of a mountain of debt, yet they still have the habit of spending beyond their means.  A bankruptcy mailing list is also popular because these people do have a serious need to purchase certain items that they were unable to afford prior to filing for bankruptcy.  Buying a car is one of the most common needs filled immediately after a bankruptcy is approved.

Below are the various types of Bankruptcy definitions you’ll need to know in order the correct mailing list for your direct mail campaign.

Chapter 7: A bankruptcy action, which provides for straight liquidation of a debtor’s
financial liabilities.

Chapter 9: A bankruptcy action filed when the debtor is a municipality.

Chapter 11: A bankruptcy action generally filed by businesses (but may be filed by consumers) which gives the debtor a chance to reorganize financial affairs in the hopes that the reorganization will allow the debtor to repay the debts.

Chapter 12: A bankruptcy action used when family farm owners become insolvent.

Chapter 13:  Also known as a “wage earner” plan.  This is a bankruptcy action that provides for partial or full repayment of the debtor’s liabilities.

Bankruptcy: A legal process under federal law intended to help the debtor begin a fresh financial start unhampered by credit pressures and discouragement resulting from pre-existing debts.  It is also intended to ensure fairness and equality among creditors in determining repayment amounts.

Discharge: The release of a debtor from the obligation to repay debts, which are deemed to be dischargeable under bankruptcy law.  At the conclusion of a successful bankruptcy proceeding, a debtor is usually granted a discharge of liability for his debts, which were approved under the bankruptcy action.

Dismissal: The equivalent of a cancellation.  When dismissed, the debtor is not released from his obligation to repay his debts.  Creditors may resume actions to collect upon delinquent debts.

Petition: A document that is filed by the debtor or the debtor’s attorney which begins the bankruptcy action.

Pro Se: Latin term meaning “on one’s own behalf”.  In legal action, where one represents oneself without the aid of legal counsel.

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The Blueprint for Building a Successful Mortgage Lead Generation Program

December 9th, 2008

The vast majority of mortgage brokers suffer the same challenges; too few incoming leads to work and not enough time to find new ones. The idea of building a functional, manageable, measurable and evolving lead generation program is beyond the most business professionals, and this includes mortgage brokers. Most mortgage brokers feel that to make more money, you must make more calls, invest in more mailings, place more ads’, visit more realtors, visit more banks, and/or simply cut prices.

Though any of these investments in time and money may pick up your business activity, unless you can manage both, in addition to increasing your marketing AND systematic qualification process, your new potential prospects will not get the attention they need to become raving referral fans.

Regardless of how difficult lenders get, or how few prospects will qualify for loans, or how many competitors work within your market territory, there will always be a handful of extremely successful brokers and an extremely large number of mediocre brokers working just as hard and earning far less.

In the upcoming posts, you’ll benefit from the Blueprint for Building a Successful Mortgage Lead Generation Program. This plan was not designed with a lot of hype and RAH RAH. This document was written the business system in mind. The blueprint is more of an education in building a business model that works by design. The plan is intended to accomplish the following:

* Create a clear and uniform message that will increase the likelihood of attracting new business and new referrals
* Spend less time and money on unproductive marketing
* Improve your spending habits to complement your business referrals

In essence, in today’s market as a mortgage broker, whether you are a one-man show or a multi-location franchise, you must do all of the following:

* See yourself as a business entrepreneur and act accordingly.
* Think in terms of marketing, management, accounting, labor cost, sales, budgets, and how to measure the likelihood that your current prospects will want to refer you to business again and again.

* Build a database of prospects, customers, and referral agents.
* Regularly communicate to your prospects, customers, and referral agents.
* Deliver an abundance of specialized communication that’s valued by your prospects, customers, and referral agents.

This program was written in an effort to help mortgage business professionals systematize the marketing arm of their business. Taking larger corporate level marketing applications and modifying them to fit the smaller, more nimble mortgage broker business model, we offer a must more advanced way of thinking about your business and your role as a service provider. Our goal here is to shift your thinking from how you currently view the building and managing of your business to one that is far more efficient and manageable.

No doubt, if you’re reading this now, you’re probably working with a passion to grow your business. By applying the same passion for change, you’ll be rewarded with a clear plan of action for building your business, a more manageable system for measuring your progress, and a higher paying more secure career.

You’ll soon find that this plan is not one in which we try to give you a booster shot in the arm and pump you with excitement. Rather, what is offered it the framework for growing and managing your business.

Read on to the other posts for Parts I through IV of this document. Part one is about Building your database of prospects, customers, and referral agents. Part two is about changing your perspective on how you view your mortgage business. Part three is about developing your referral business. And Part four is about measuring success.

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Posted in Mortgage Lending | No Comments »

Does Direct Mail Work?

December 9th, 2008

An argument for direct mail marketing

With all the new digital mediums vying for your attention, the emotional impact each one can make becomes less and less.  But postal direct mail holds strong and delivers the same impact, same connection, and same profitable response as ever before.

Millions of Americans continue to receive their bills in the mail and as they do, the physical commercial advertisement in the form of direct mail also continues to stay in your view.  They touch it, they see it, and they look through it.

Every day, the postal delivery person brings your mail to you at approximately the same time and most likely every American walks up to his or her mail box, opens it, and pulls out a hand full of new information.  You need only go to your mail box once a day to receive it.  Unlike email, postal direct mail doesn’t arrive periodically throughout the day, but instead, it comes to you at one time and only one time.

And because postal direct mail is more expensive than email marketing, not everyone it doing it.  Those who are will continue to get better at doing it.  They’ll continue to strive to build the most ideal mailing list.  Those successful direct mail marketers will remove names and addresses of people who simply do not respond and continually attempt to add people who look more and more like their own good customers.  Thus, we continue to receiving only those direct mail pieces that are relevant to us.  We may not respond to every piece that comes through to our mail box, but compared to the mountain of email spam that we do receive on a daily basis, direct mail marketers mail more relevant direct mail to a more responsive audience than email marketing.  We end up receiving more interesting offers from companies who understand us.

The key to improving your direct mail marketing is in the continual refinement of the mailing list.  Working with a good mailing list broker who has experience and technical know how will improve your chances for success, and help you avoid mailing to the wrong people.

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Brand Marketing

December 9th, 2008

When done properly, developing a direct mail marketing campaign that fosters a continuing communication thread with your customers drives response rates upward.  While many direct mail marketers test one mailing list once, then move onto the next one, they ignore the value in creating brand awareness and the potential for an enriched relationship.  Courting new customers is about getting to know your prospects and them getting to know you, rather than one night stands.

Direct mail is a great way to drive traffic to your corporate website.  People readily flow from a message in the mail to more information in on the internet.  According to the U.S.P.S, many professionals prefer that vendors follow up by direct mail to apprise them of any new developments, rather than checking the website for updates.

Include a Business Reply Mail card to turn your direct mail marketing campaign from a monolog to a dialog.  Sales leads are far more qualified if they are familiar with your business products and services as well as your business being familiar with their own unique needs and preferences.

It’s not just the databank of information on your clients that’s of value, but it’s what’s this information does to you as a brand in your business and marketing evolution.  The database of marketing information you collect from the various direct mail marketing campaigns is useless if you do nothing with it.  Likewise, the more you can put this database of information, the better you’ll be able to make positive adjustments to way you communicate with your direct mail prospects and direct mail customers.

With direct mail marketing, finding a good mailing list is only half the battle.  Augmenting your message to fit the mailing list audience is the other half.  By listening to your audience, and developing new ways to change in area’s that fit what you’ve learned from listening, you maximize your ability to utilize your direct mail marketing campaign.

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Auto Dealer Direct Mail Strategy

December 9th, 2008

Success in auto dealership direct mail lies in the consistent and regular marketing message of your auto dealer brand.  And your brand should be the consistent message that separates you from the rest of the pack.  Consider the following story line….you’re the owner of a Honda auto dealership and you’ve got 9 other Honda dealerships all within a 1 mile radius of your location.  How do you differentiate your dealership from the rest?  How do you version your message within your direct mail piece?  And what is the common, most important message to be included in all your direct mail messages?

Firstly, your direct mail message should be integrated with the consistent message included in your newspaper ads, radio and TV spots.  Your message should be important enough to say over and over again, be it lowest price, best customer service, post purchase car care, etc.  The worst thing an auto dealership could do is to send one message out via radio, then a completely different message from direct mail and newspaper.  Unless your brand is stagnant and failing, the cost of reinventing your brand is measured in the non-responsiveness of your direct mail marketing campaigns.

With the right direct mail marketing campaign, you can build upon you’re your brand image and message.  Below are some of the important items you’ll want to consider implementing.

Definitive Direct Mail Market Territory
Defining your direct mail market is fairly easy to determine.  The best and most effective way to identity your direct mail territory is to look at your existing internal customer mailing list.  Where exactly have these people come from?  Consider both distance and location.  Some of your previous car buyers on your internal mailing list may have come from all directions around your car center, while others on your internal mailing database have come from specific area’s within your town.  If you’ve taken good care to develop a workable direct mail marketing database, you’ll have recorded in when they’ve purchased, how much they’ve spent, what model, repeat customers and so forth.  All this information can help identify your direct mail marketing territory.

Also consider the competition in your area that mails your potential customers.  Who is your competition and how do they reach their customers?  Where are they located and what’s their competition?

Are there any natural geographic challenges within your territory that cause your direct mail prospects to not consider your auto center such as a river or mountain to cross?  Once the geographic territory is decided upon, stick with it and be sure your direct marketing campaigns continually pulse this population.

Long-term Direct Mail Planning and Commitment
Once you’ve identified your direct mail marketing territory, simple research can be done by your direct mail marketing firm.  They can run counts of the number of people on a mailing list that might fit certain criteria.  For example, let’s say your direct marketing territory consists of a 20 mile radius in all directions of your dealership.  Ask your direct marketing firm to run the following counts from a consumer mailing list database;  all consumer households within the 20 mile radius broken down by credit score range, all consumer households within the same distance radius broken down by income, age, home value, and modeled make/year of vehicle currently owned.

You should also have your direct marketing firm perform a database enhancement profile of your internal customer mailing list.  The process takes your internal customer mailing list and appends demographic, psychographic, and other elements of information pertinent to your dealership direct marketing efforts.  This is easily done because all that’s needed is the actual mailing list of these customers, i.e., names and addresses only.  The result is that it gives you a very good idea of what they “look like” in terms of age, income, marital status, presence of child, homeownership, home value, etc..  Here you’re looking for patterns within your customer mailing list in hopes of developing a direct mail strategy for your marketing.

From this process, you might find that of all the people within a 20 mile radius of our store location, there may be only 42,000 people that truly “look like” your existing customers.  Knowing this is the first big accomplishment in your direct mail design efforts.  That 42,000 people need to be pulsed on a regular basis with direct mail as well as other marketing mediums.  You may mail to them 4 to 6 to 8 times a year but be sure the number of times they receive your direct mail piece is consistent, year after year, and that your message be consistent, piece after piece.

Though difficult, try to find out what your competition is doing in the way to using direct mail to reach these same people.  You may do this by having friends living within this same direct marketing territory save the direct mail pieces sent to them.  There’s a great wealth of information available to you from doing this.  Consider how often your competition is mailing to these same people.  What is your competition offering to them and how are they positioning themselves from you?  In a way, consider your direct mail pieces as sound bites from a politician campaigning for votes.  When the same branding strategies are being used, people will vote for the wrong reasons based on what is being told to them.  Is direct mail marketing a big component of your competitions marketing efforts?

Color, Copy, and Brand Development
You may learn from your internal customer enhancement that your previous direct mail efforts have pulled younger people from the North end of town than from the South.  It doesn’t matter that the University is on the North end of town and that there is simply more younger people located there.  In fact, knowing this is to your advantage.  You might version your message completely different to this audience or area than to the other.  You may consider the direct mail piece to include an offer that includes one year of free sushi with the purchase of a new car, and a different offer to the older market. Those on the other side of the river might always receive a consistently different direct mail message than those on your side of the river.

This versioning of the direct mail piece is an important component to a proper developed direct mail campaign strategy.

From the photo’s you use on the mail piece, to the language and put in front of these potential car buyers, the copy and message is key developing relevant communication that ultimately touches these people better than your competition.

Measurement
Absolutely no direct mail campaigns should go out without some sort of response measurement included in the campaign strategy.  There should always be something learned from one direct mail campaign to another.  Be it testing the mailing list criteria set, to the offer, to the copy and message.  Something should always be ever so slightly different.  Then look for a significant lift in response.  The more you can learn from these direct mail campaigns, the more you can capitalize on these minor improvements.

Consistency Theory
The theory behind a constant barrage of advertising messages for car dealers is that, over time, people tend to do what they’re told, i.e., “if you can get financing, why wouldn’t you go car shopping?”  We know this because it works.  In today’s consumer market, everywhere you turn, you’re being told to purchase, spend, and buy.  Even our national government sends the message, “your economic stimulus check is in the mail and on its way”.  As if we haven’t spend enough.  But the challenge continues; too much competition for too few buyers.  How do we separate ourselves from the rest of the pack?  You do this with evaluating your most powerful attributes, and asking your customers over and over what’s important to them.  The more participation with survey’s and questionnaires, the more you’ll be able to understand what makes these people respond.  Never assume you know your customers.  Customers changes over time for many reasons.

Customers Change
As we all grow older and our life takes on a different meaning, our priorities tend to shift and we spend our hard earn money differently.  Your brand message should stand up to the test of time and ring true with all people in all chapters of life.  Many auto dealerships pride themselves on the fact that they’ve been around the longest.  They’ve probably sold to your parents and your parents parents.  This branding message is very strong because you can’t argue with the statement and whatever comes with it holds some degree of perceived truth.  Or the “we’re the biggest in the land” with acres of car’s.  Again, perceived truth automatically tags along with these statements.  These two examples hold the test of time, no matter if you’ve just graduated from high school have earned your first car, have finally got that first great job and can afford to reward yourself, just got married and must now get rid of that sports car to ready yourself for the family vehicle, or just divorced and need a new change, or just retired and on and on…  People’s attitudes change their buying decisions what appeals to them, but a good branded message stands the test of time buy appealing to all people, in all walks of life.

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Posted in Automotive | No Comments »

Which mailing list is best?

December 9th, 2008

How does the direct mail marketer narrow down his/her search for the most ideal mailing list for their campaign needs?  This task isn’t always as easy as it might first appear.  Ask any business owner what their ideal customers “look like” and they’ll likely provide a detailed description of who they want to target.  But not all detailed descriptions can be recreated from the traditional databases available.  Below is a quick look at some of the more popular mailing list databases and their associated uses.

Resident Occupant Saturation type campaigns
This file allows you to blanket an area around a store location.  It contains every deliverable postal point in a given market and does not include a personalized name, but rather a title slug of your choosing.

There is little in the way of selectability with this type of list but because the file is provided in carrier route walk-sequence, the mailer achieves the maximum postal discount available.  This mailing list is ideal for reaching everyone who receives the mail within a radius of a store location.  Only those offers applicable to “everyone” are good for this type of data.

Consider this file for the following types of businesses and organizations:
Pizza delivery service, grocery stores, churches, retail store promotions, restaurants, etc…

Consumer Database with demographic selects
This file includes only those mailing address records where a name can be identified.  It comprises of most of the population and includes various demographic selects such as age, estimated income, homeowner/renter, length of residence, gender, marital status, presence of child, etc…

This file is ideal for offers where the mailer want to target most of the people in a given area but suppress only those who simply do not fit the ideal profile.  This file is typically used for generating foot traffic into a store location, event, or specialized restaurant.  The database is used for identifying segments of the population that, in general, are all a potential customer.

Consider this file for the following types of businesses and organizations:
Hearing aids centers, high-end specialty shops, landscape services, home improvement stores, specialized restaurants, family events, etc.

Consumer Database with behavioral interests selects
This file is a segment of the same Consumer Database described above but includes interest selects that pinpoint hobbies and interests of a household.  Interest level data is captured from a variety of sources to include direct mail and online survey’s, warranty cards, and visitors to specific websites and events tailored to a one interest or another.

Consider this file for the following types of businesses:
Sporting goods stores, gym memberships, day spa, piano stores, golf courses, tennis clubs, boating events, catalogs of one interest or another, etc.

Property Mortgage Database
This file includes those individuals who have a mortgage on their home.  The file contains selects that allow the mailer to pinpoint homes of a certain assessed value, year built, mortgage amount, mortgage loan time, mortgage interest rate type, etc.  The property mortgage database captures data collected from the county courthouse records department.

Consider this file ideal for the following type offers:
Mortgage refinance, new window or roof installation, home remodeling services, investment and real estate related offers, refinance services, etc.

Business to Business Database
This file includes all the names and addresses of businesses in the U.S..  The types of selects available are sales revenue, employee size, SIC code (business description), HQ or branch location, and years in business.  Most business mailing list records include a phone number and contact name and are usually selectable by title.  This file is excellent for reaching most any business to business offer imaginable.

Consider this file for the following type offers:
Offices supplies and Office furniture, employee health insurance, business software and computer hardware, advertisement and marketing services, uniforms, etc.

Licensed Professionals Database
This file includes all those licensed professionals who must register themselves with the State in which they practice.  Upon doing do, their mailing address is made publicly available.

Consider this file for the following type offers:
Recruitment, continuing education, industry related expo/conference, industry related marriage mail,

Managed file special interest
This category of mailing lists include subscription lists to magazines and trade journals, memberships to clubs and organizations, responders and buyers of niche products and services, and website visitors who all have something special in common.  The files are called “managed” because the rental of this mailing list is performed by a 3rd party for the mailing list owner.  The mailing list manager reports usage of the mailing list to the owner and is paid a royalty every time the list is rented to a mailer.  These files are generally very niche in their target audience and are usually much more expensive than the traditional “compiled” mailing list.  These files are considered very accurate in terms of identifying a specific potential responder and are therefore ideal for those offers that require such precision.  Along with a higher price tag, these files usually come with restrictions of use and most all mail pieces must first be approved by the mailing list owner before the managed mailing list can be rented.

Consider these types of files for offers such as:
Fundraisers, niche catalog offers, business services, catalogs, special interest pro

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Life Event Mailing List Data

December 9th, 2008
Life Event Mailing List

Life Event Mailing List

Life event marketing encompasses the consideration of events in a person’s life that mark a shift in interest and financial priority.  These changes are also marked by a change in buyer behavior which makes life event marketing a viable approach to the identifying and reaching potential customers at a moment when they are most responsive to your direct mail offer.

Below are some of the mailing lists available to the life event marketer:

High School Students and College Bound Students Mailing list – These mailing lists contains students at various grade levels with some bound for college.  These students typically live with their parents.

This mailing list is ideal for:
• Class rings and photography offers
• Higher education opportunities
• Military recruitment
• Automobile offers
• Financial aid for college

Pre-Mover Mailing list – This mailing list contains previous week’s house-for-sale listings throughout the U.S.  This weekly hotline mailing list provides a steady source of qualified sales leads for many direct mail marketing programs.

Some of the attributes are:
• Updated weekly
• New construction, bank owned properties, investor owned properties, and prior movers suppressed.
• National / Regional coverage

New Movers Mailing List
The new mover’s mailing list allows you to reach the right audience every time.

Some of the mailing lists selects available are:
• Dwelling type
• Gender
• Phone
• Census Median Income

New Homeowner Mailing List
The new homeowner mailing list gives you access to millions of Americans each year who have recently purchased a home.

Some of the selects available on the New Homeowner mailing list are:
• Age
• Income
• Ethnicity
• Loan Amount
• Loan Type
• Purchase Price
• Purchase Date

Brides to Be Mailing List
This mailing list consists of women engaged to be married.

This database is great for:
• Wedding planning and preparation
• Honeymoon travel destination
• Relocation services
• New home sales
• Insurance offers
• Furniture and decorating
• Credit card offers

Newly Weds Mailing List
The Newly Weds mailing list consists of couples recently married.

This mailing list is ideal for:
• Relocation services
• New family preparation
• New home sales
• Insurance offers
• Furniture and decorating
• Travel and leisure
• Debt consolidation offers

Newly Divorced Mailing List
The Newly Divorced mailing list is a very unique database of people managing a sometimes painful life transition while also experiencing newfound freedom at the same time.

This mailing list is ideal for the following offers:
• Entertainment
• Religious and spiritual offers
• Home redecorating
• Household goods
• Home electronics
• Furniture
• Internet services
• Apparel
• Credit cards
• Insurance
• Financial services
• Dating services

Prenatal / Postnatal Mailing List
The Pre and Post Natal file consists of pregnant woman and those who just gave birth.  At this special time of life, many priorities in life become unimportant and are replaced with a whole new set of priorities centered on the child and family.

This mailing list is ideal for:
• Baby and nursery needs
• Child furnishings and décor
• Life insurance
• Home remodeling

Ailment, OTC and Prescription Drug Mailing List
The Ailment mailing list includes ailment suffers who’ve self-reported that they are suffering from various ailments.  This mailing list is typically only a subset of the total number of suffers.

This mailing list is ideal for:
• Ailment related products and services
• Food products related to the health and well being of the sufferer
• Vacation destinations geared toward those with physical handicap

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Credit Data and Firm Offers of Credit

December 9th, 2008
Credit Score Mailing List

Credit Score Mailing List

On any given day you’ll find a number of direct mail marketing pieces waiting for you in your mail box.  Some of this direct mail will be bills for the electric and phone, while others will be a coupon for the local electronics store.  And undoubtedly there will be a direct mail piece that contains the wording “prescreened” or “pre-qualified”.

So what exactly is a prescreen offer of credit?  A direct mail piece containing a prescreened offer of credit, or “firm offer of credit” is one in which the mailing list chosen for this direct mail campaign was based on information in an individuals credit report that indicates they have met specific criteria set by the business making the offer.  This business using direct mail as a way to reach its potential audience has purchased a credit score mailing list containing people they feel, all things considered, will qualify to offer credit to for their product or service.  This data is typically used for an auto loan or mortgage refinance.  If mortgage refinance, it’s used in conjunction with a mortgage trigger lead.

The wording “firm offer of credit” means that the business making the firm offer must extend the credit to the recipient of their direct mail piece.  The recipient of this direct mail piece may not qualify for financing because though their credit score may be in an acceptable range, their income may not be enough to support the additional debt load.  And since credit reporting agencies do not account for a person’s income, a “firm offer of credit” isn’t an automatic approval of credit.  Therefore, in addition to the words “prescreen” or “prequalified”, the direct mail piece will also include disclaimer information.  The disclaimer information is the proverbial “fine print”.  Among other things, it says that there’s a possibility that if the debt to equity ratio is too high, or that the credit score has changed since the direct mail piece was mailed, the “firm offer” is void.

The prescreening works for direct mail because it surely filters out everyone unqualified on credit score alone.  In the direct mail world, if you can utilize a mailing list that allows you to identify a smaller, more targeted group of people, while hitting the same number of good direct mail recipients, then your return on direct mail investment should likely go up.

When a mailing list broker draws from a credit bureau’s database and selects individuals that meet the mailing list criteria set that qualifies for a “pre-screened offer, the touch point of this query is called an “inquiry”.  Inquiries do not impact the credit score of the individuals being mailed to.

Opting Out
If an individual wants to reduce the number of prescreened offers being direct mailed to them, they have two choices to “opting out”.  They can call toll-free 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com for details.
The telephone number and website are operated by the major consumer reporting companies. When you call or visit the website, you’ll be asked to provide certain personal information, including your home telephone number, name, Social Security number, and date of birth. The information you provide is confidential and will be used only to process your request to opt out.
Remember that if you have joint credit relationships, like a mortgage or a car loan with a spouse, partner, or other adult, you may continue to receive some prescreened solicitations until both of you exercise your opt-out right.

The Pro’s and Con’s of opting out
Some people would rather not receive direct mail of these kinds of offers, especially if they’re not in the market for credit.  They prefer to reduce the direct mail “clutter” in their mail box by being removed opting out and being removed from the mailing list.

However, before a person opts out and is removed from the prescreen mailing list, they should consider that at some point, they may be in the market for a new car or a new mortgage.  Prescreened direct mail offers help an individual stay in tune with all the options available to them.  And a well informed consumer is one who keeps a watchful eye of all the options available to him. Opting out will take as long as 60 days to go into effect and will last for 5 years.  After that, one may start receiving prescreened direct mail offers again and will have to once again opt out.

There are other opt-out programs available for the non-firm offers of credit.  There’s the National Do Not Call Registry which is an easy way to be removed from a telemarketing list.  This is done by going to www.donotcall.gov or calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to register.  You should start reducing your call solicitations within 31 days of registering your phone number.  This also will last for a period of 5 years.  And finally, there’s the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), a trade association for businesses in the direct mail marketing business.  The DMA maintains a Mail Preference Service that lets the consumers opt out of receiving direct mail marketing from many national companies for five years.  This will not however stop those organizations that are not registered with the DMA’s Mail Preference Service.

To register with the DMA, send a letter to:
Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
Or register online at www.the-dma.org/consumers/offmailinglist.html.

The DMA also has an EMail Preference Service to help you reduce unsolicited commercial emails. To “opt-out” of receiving unsolicited commercial email from DMA members, visit www.dmaconsumers.org/offemaillist.html. Your online request will be effective for one year.

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Is your mailing list updated?

December 9th, 2008

Direct Mail Facts

Is the mailing list you are about to rent updated?  Good question.  Many believe that at each update, a marketable database is compiled from scratch with new names added and any inaccuracies eliminating.  There is a common belief that should you mail to an acquired list, there will be no undeliverable mailing addresses and 100% of your list will be delivered to the people who the homes in which they are addressed.  Every compiler of data, no matter how “freshly” updated the list, will have errors.

The facts
Let’s set the record straight.  No database, no matter how frequently updated is 100% accurate.  On average, a consumer mailing list will be between 5% and 7% undeliverable at any given time.  Improvements can be made to your mailing to increase deliverability, but in general terms, no list is perfect.

Mailing address correction vs. target inaccuracy
Let’s look more closely at the types of challenges that all compilers have with regard to building a “perfect” list.  There are two potential issues with compiling a database; NCOA and monumental life events.  Let’s tackle the first.  On average, 20% of the population relocates each year.  In general, younger renters are a more transient population than senior homeowners.  Of those younger renters who do relocate, few will fill out a National Change of Address card than the senior homeowner movers.  Though it’s a free service, completing an NCOA card is sometimes the last thing on the minds of the younger mobile generation.
The other potential issue is that of monumental life event.  Examples of these types of events are graduating from high school and college, marriage and divorce, the birth of a child, the purchase or sale of a home, getting hired or fired from a job, the death of a family member, or retirement.  With each of these examples, there are changes in financial priority and conditions that affect various select elements of a consumer mailing list.  Getting hired or fired from a job may drastically affect income, marriage or divorce changes your marital status, the purchase of a home usually affects a one’s ability to purchase but also one’s ability to save, and a growing family completely changes the family make-up of household.  The death of a beloved family member will bring about many changes to include income, family composition, and the beginnings of a number of changes may likely follow such as the sale of real estate, and relocation of the remaining family members.  These life events change how the individual or household will appear on a consumer database but the change may take time before the compiler identifies the change, and adds the change to the database.  As an example, the sale of a home is recorded at the county court house but this recording doesn’t take place immediately.  It may take 30 to 60 days for a compiler to identify and record this change on their marketable consumer database.  Many times the death of a loved one remains on a database for years.  This is because the remaining spouse neglects to add the name the deceased to the DMA Deceased File.  So long as this name and address remain on the mortgage, deed, credit card, magazine subscription, etc, their name will continue to be added to the consumer database.
Though most national consumer compilers pass their database against the NCOA every 60 to 90 days, and add whatever life event changes they can identify, minor errors in accuracy will exist.

Inhouse Customer Mailing Lists
If the compilers of national databases have a difficult time collecting and maintaining database accuracy, surely you’ll have challenges in keeping your own customer list up-to-date.  Below are a number of processes that can be performed to your clients “in-house” mailing list to improve deliverability.

NCOALink
National Change of Address Database – Choose from 18 or 48 months worth of data.  This process improves your mailing list database by correcting any mailing list records where the address change has occurred.

Move Codes
Returns a code indicating a match was possible, but not close enough to meet the strict USPS® matching guidelines for NCOALink (to offer the new address, the USPS® requires an exact match).  The move code indicates the reason a match could not be made to the NCOALink file.  On average, move codes from NCOALink will code 5.09% of a file as undeliverable.  This means that on average, every internal customer mailing list processed with the NCOA will still have records that are questionability inaccurate in terms of resident relocation because some of the records on the mailing list simply do not match up with the records on the NCOA database.

CASS Processing
This  process verifies whether or not an address is an actual valid address. On average, CASS processed addresses will code 3.96% of a file as bad / non-deliverable addresses.  This process identifies which mailing list addresses accurately compare with the actual address of the supposed mail box location within a range.  It says that, according to the United States Post Office, for the most part the mailing list this deliverable enough to qualify for postal discounts.

LACSLink
Corrects mailing address lists for areas that have undergone permanent address conversion. The LACSLink database consists of address conversions that the USPS® has obtained and verified, primarily a result of E 911 address conversions.  This process identifies those addresses that have undergone a change from simplified addressing to a unique individual address.

DSF2 TM / DPV
Using an EXACT address database from the USPS®, DSF2 verifies whether or not an address is an actual valid address.  This process will take and internal customer mailing list and identify those records that are almost correct but not entirely.  The process flags those addresses so that the direct mail marketer can decide to include those addresses or omit them.

Deceased Processing
Appends a code for people on a mailing list who are deceased. The foundation of this mailing list process is the Social Security database and individually reported deaths (a person, usually a loved one, will write in to have a person removed from a master consumer mailing list because they have passed away).  This process takes your mailing list and flags those deceased individuals.  By processing your mailing list through the deceased database, you avoid wasting your direct mail campaign budget on people who simply will not respond as well as upsetting their survivors who will then never respond to your offer.

Nth Select / List Splits / Keycodes
If you do not wish to direct mail to your entire file, a random sample (Nth Select) can be performed to meet your quantity requirements. Or maybe you have a group of mailing list names that respond better, and you wish to mail to them.  Spliting those records off of your file allows you to reduce your mailing cost while reaching the same responsive people. If you have multiple mailing list files and wish to track the response for each one, keycoding the mailing list will allow you to measure what takes how certain clusters of your mailing list responds.

Postal Qualify (Postal Presort)
Now your mailing list is ready to mail. Almost!  One final step is required. Your list must be POSTAL QUALIFIED to make sure you get the lowest postage possible.  Using a POSTAL QUALIFY program, your mailing list records are sorted to achieve every postal discount available.

Sophisticated Merge/Purge/File Suppression
Consider deduping your mailing list to remove those records located twice or more on your mailing list.  Doing so will eliminate sending your direct mail piece to the same person more than once.

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