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Archive for January, 2009

DM Professionals boost revenue with Data Enhancement offer

January 24th, 2009

Data enhancement is gaining ground as a popular product add-on to letter shops, direct mail printers, direct agencies, mailing list brokers, and specialized marketing firms working with businesses who serve direct mail advertisers.  Data enhancement involves appending elemental data (demographic, behavioral, or firmographic) to an existing database of names and addresses.  This existing database of names and addresses is typically an internal customer file provided by the business seeking further segmentation analysis.  Ideally, after database enhancement, the file can be divided into segments for more targeted mailing.

Data Enhancement Example

Let’s consider a popular multi-location bank.  The existing customer database includes information such as name and address, average checking account balance and if they have an auto loan with the bank.  Other transactional information included within the banks database might include if they have a mortgage, credit card, and revolving equity line of credit.

The bank could schedule mailings to all it’s customers that include a “menu” of financial services in hopes of earning more business from it’s existing customers.  Or better yet, the bank could consider database enhancement, segment those customers based on age, income, household composition, child age, etc.  Doing so would allow them to mail more specific offers to the same customers.  If we knew that 40% of their database included lower income renters, there would be a different set of financial services to be offered than homeowners with the same or higher income level.  In this example, the bank would offer the appropriate financial services to only those customers which might response, thus mailing less, cutting direct mail cost, and increasing their DM ROI.

Experts agree that direct mail is best used to provide information and offers to existing customers.  But after performing a number of test mailings to the various internal customer segments created from a simple database enhancement, the bank will learn which segments might be ideal for finding new customers by segmenting the non-customer population within their market footprint.

The Database Enhancement Process

The database enhancement process has come along way over the last 10 years as the digital age continues to make advances.  All that is really needed is a list of names and addresses in a digital format.  The internal database is bumped up against a larger database that contains all the names and addresses (and data elements for enhancement).  Where there is a match on the names and addresses, the elemental data is then copied to the internal customer database.  This enhanced database is then sorted by the various elements such that patterns can be drawn, and target mailing decisions can be made.

Offering this process to your mailer customers is both profitable and builds loyalty.  Mail customers who benefit from such as process in the way of increase response will surely increase your odds of keeping that customer for future mailing.

If you would like to learn more about how to incorporate database enhancement to your service line, visit BB Direct online or call us at (866) 501-6273.

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USPS New Move Update

January 21st, 2009

So what’s all the fuss about the New Move Update with the United States Post Office?  Well, BB Direct offers a simple explaination to help clear matters up.

Since November 23rd, 2008, the Postal Service have revised the Move Update standards in an effort to reduce the mail that ends up forwarded or returns when the mailing address provided had previously been changed.  The gist of the staying compliant is that you now must be sure to update your mailing address within 95 days of your mailing.  This includes all Standard Mail (letters, flats, parcels and Not Flat-Machinables), as well as automated-rate and presort-rate First-Class Mail.

The autorized methods for Updating your mail to stay compliant are:

~  NCOA Link processing
~  FASTforward MLOCR processing (letter mail only)
~  OneCode ACS (Address Change Service) in conjunction with an intelligent Mail barcode and a mailer ID.
~  Address Change Service used with an ACS participant code and an appropriate on-piece ancillary service endorsement.
~  Use of an appropriate on-piece ancillary service endorsement without ACS.

BB Direct offers the NCOA Link processing to correct changed records and keep your mailing list compliant.  For more information on our data hygiene services, visit us here.

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CAS Turbo-marketing.net vs. the BBDirectleads.com

January 21st, 2009

Too often I’m asked of the difference between the two mailing list count and order systems; CAS turbo-marketing.net and bbdirectleads.com.  The first thing that comes to mind is that if you’re using FireFox, you’ll never reach CAS turbo-marketing.net.  It simply won’t open.  This may not seem like a big deal but with Google Analytics, I’ve discovered that over 26% of the users of BBDirectleads.com reach our site via the FireFox browser.

Of course the two sites are completely different in functionality, and only by trying them out can one decide their preference.  CAS has built their own proprietary user interface and hosts a wide range of database files, from compiled consumer and the business database to more niche files like the licensed professionals database.  The BBDirectleads.com site currently stages a variety of compiled files as well but not nearly as many as the CAS system.

One of the key differences can be found in the data itself.  The CAS consumer database is an aggregate of several files which creates one blended file.  This recipe for which source files are used not available to customers of CAS.  The blended file advantage is that users hopefully get more better accurate records to mail.  BB Direct uses the Acxiom InfoBase consumer database and maintains transparency with all it’s online product sources.  CAS also makes available a B2B file but does not disclose the compiler of this database.   Their current source for their Business file is not disclosed at the time this post is written.  BBDirectleads.com stages the D&B Business Database.

To learn more about the differences on these and other online systems, please call BB Direct at (866) 501-6273.

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18 Month NCOA and how to get it

January 21st, 2009

The 18 month NCOA Link processing provides National Change of Address processing for the last 18 months.  This process will not correct those people who have relocated from 18 to 48 months ago.  This processing was designed to satisfy the most common file updating.  The processing is perfect for files that have already been NCOA’d within the last 18 months, or if the database you’re going to mail has been purchase within the last year and you are planning to mail again.

USPS New Move Compliance
To satisfy the United States Post Office requirements when mailing Standard Rate, you will need to be sure that all files used are new move compliant.  The requirement is that your mailing list has been NCOA’d within 95 days of mailing.

B-Clean Lite data hygiene
The B-Clean Lite process is offered by BB Direct and provides a combination of both the 18 month NCOA and ANK Link Processing.  The ANK Link Processing flags those records where a move had occurred but did so between 18 and 48 months ago.  It also provides the date of the move but does not correct the address itself.  The B-Clean Lite product from BB Direct is perfect for all files in that it is a cost effective way to correct those recent moves and flag those older moves at a low cost.  You can then decide what to do with the older flagged addresses, i.e., delete them, add “Or current resident” to the address, or gather these records together and process with the 48 Month NCOA Link processing. BB Direct also offers an unlimited access FTP site folder for the B-Clean Lite folder.  This folder is password protected and available 24/7 to make NCOA correction available any hour of the day.  The system is cost effective and simple to use.

If you would like to learn more about BB Direct’s data hygiene product line click here, or visit our website or other fine mailing list products.

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It’s here. The Apartment Complex Database

January 20th, 2009

Yes, it’s here.  Sought after for some time, the apartment complex database has been asked for time and time again and now we have it.  If you’re a mailer looking to target those individuals who rent and live within a particular apartment complex, provide us with the complex name and zip code it resides, and BB Direct will produce the addresses for these dwellers.

We can also sort by rent amount such that if you were to provide a list of zip codes and ask for apartment complexes with an average rental income of, say $800/month or greater, we’ll do it.  Here you would get all addresses within the complex, whether the rental income is below or above.  This select will allow you the ability to hone in on only those complex dwellers which best suit your offer.

The apartment complex mailing list doesn’t normally come with the current name of the resident.  It will typically read, “Resident”.  But for a small additional fee, we can append names where available to personalize your mailing list.  Currently, the national average of name coverage is about 77% of the file.

This mailing list is ideal for home builders and Realtors looking for specific renters who may be in the market for a new home.  Other popular offers are mortgage lenders, restaurants, pizza & dry cleaning delivery, gym memberships, and an assortment of retail shopping offers.

If you would like to learn more about this or other mailing list targeting we offer, visit us at BB Direct or call one of our mailing list representatives at (866) 501-6273.

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AMA Database vs. State Registration information

January 15th, 2009

The AMA Database contains names and addresses of licensed health professionals.  This is a great database for recruitment by hospitals seeking new employee’s.  However, there are some misconceptions on who’s on this file, what it contains, and how it differs from state registration data.

For starters, many assume that the AMA Database is a mailing list of the American Medical Association members.  The truth is that in contains both members and non-members.  Further, the AMA who owns this information refuse to provide a way to select just those who are members from those who are not.  To assume that the records on this file are only members is a falsehood.  There is currently no source that offers AMA members only.

Secondly, some believe that the addresses contained on the AMA Database are all home addresses.  The fact is that the address contained on the AMA database are the preferred mailing address of the physician or health professional.  This address could be either the home address or the work address.  There is no distinguishing feature between home address and work address.

Here are a few other unique characteristics with the AMA file:

  • The file is updated weekly and boasts a 97% to 98% deliverability rate.
  • Selectable by both primary and/or secondary specialties.
  • Types of Practice (office based, hospital based staff, resident, administration, research, teaching, etc).
  • Board Certifications
  • Medical School attended

So how do we justify spending the royalty fee for this mailing list?  The biggest reason for considering this type of database it’s selectability.  The American Medical Association mailing list allows for a far great granulation selectability than your typical state registration database.  The key here is, who are you targeting?  When doing a mailing, who do you want to target and what do you want to offer them?  If you are mailing to a simple category of physicians, then it will likely not matter whether you are pulling data from the state or the AMA Database.  And if it is doesn’t matter, why pay the premium.

Providing you with this type of valuable information is what makes BB Direct who we are.  We strive to continue to ask these hard questions, find the answers, and stay on top of changes within the industry so that our clients get the best information every time.  I’m sure I’ll get a response, and when I do get one, I’ll be sure to report my findings.  Until then, I’ll assume the state registered database is a logical choice to mailing to a licensed health professional for most mailing list campaigns since it targets the likely audience at a lower price.

For more information on licensed health professionals and other direct mail data subjects, please visit BB Direct or call us BB Direct directly at 866-501-6273.

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Small Business Direct Mail Marketing 101

January 8th, 2009

A must read for small businesses aiming to improve their direct mail effectiveness

Whether your marketing plan has included direct mail marketing in the past and you want to make improvements, or it’s your first time and want to cover all the bases before you begin, this document will help you take notice to the most important elements of a successful direct mail campaign.

Low Ticket / High Ticket Items
Direct mail is not for every business.  Simple math will tell you if you’re product or service will provide a positive return on investment through the use of direct mail.  In general terms, higher ticket items have a greater likelihood of turning a profit, and lower ticket items are less likely.  Determining if your business will benefit comes down to setting realistic expectations on response results and how much profit per customer you can expect.

Low Ticket Example – Books
Let’s start with an example of two businesses, one is an author attempting to sell his newly written book, and the other is a bookstore attempting to sell discount loyalty cards.  The author sells his book for $24.00 and since he’s selling it himself, he keeps all the profit, save the cost to print the book at a cost of $10.00 each.  Let’s take the average cost for a quality direct mail piece (including printing, mailing list, mailing service, and postage) of $1.43/pp x 5,000 = $7,150.  Let’s also say that the author has the reputation of writing a very good book and the author was able to hit the perfect audience.  For practical sake we’ll put his response at 2%.  This would mean that his 2% books sold will generate $1,400 profit ($14/book x 100 books).  Clearly, this response rate would not generate a profit for our author; in fact, our author doesn’t break even until 10.22% response ($7,150/$14 = 511 books/5,000 mail pieces).

Now let’s look at the same mailing but a different offer; the discount loyalty card for the book store.  The loyalty card costs $25 and offers the buyer a 10% discount on all purchases for a full year.  Here we have a couple of things working in our favor.  We have a much lower cost to produce and issue the card, let’s say $1, and we also generate repeat business.  The down side is that we’ll have to sell all books to this card holder at a reduced price.  Some card members will not redeem the full value of $25 discount card which may or may not be viewed as a plus.  The bookstore that can offer at least an hour of pleasure browsing for the average visitor, card members will come back again and again and redeem their full value.  This should be considered a positive in the eyes of the bookstore owner as they will surely make more revenue in the long-run, even if they are selling books at a discount.  In this second example, a 2% response would generate much higher profits per new customer generated, thus a positive return on investment.  To follow the math in detail read the next paragraph, otherwise, skip to the High Ticket example.

Let’s look at the numbers for the bookstore offering a discount card via direct mail.  We’ll set the mail piece cost and response at the same rates as the first example.  $1.43/pp x 5,000 pieces = $7,150 in campaign cost.  100 responses x $25/per card = $2,500 gross revenue.  This loyalty card costs $1/each x 100 cards = $100 or a gross profit of $2,400.  Let’s now consider that 60% of the responders redeem the full cost of their discount card, and the remaining 40% only redeem ½ the value.  Let’s also assume that the average mark up on all books in the stores is 100%.  This would mean that the 60% fully redeemed cards would purchase $250 ($25 card cost / 10% discount) in one year to breakeven on their purchase of the $25 discount card.  Even with a 90% discount, this would yield $111 ($250 total revenue – book cost ($250/.90) / 2 = $139 book cost) x 60  = $6,660 in profit on these book sales.  The other 40% of the discount card buyers redeemed half the value generating an additional $55.5 total per customer profit x 40 = $2,220.  So, adding the profit on the actual cards of $2,400, plus 100% of the book sale profit of $8,880 ($6,660 plus $2,220), we come to a gross total profit of $11,280.

High Ticket Example – Furniture Retail
With high ticket items promoted via direct, the math needed to understand why it works is quite simple.  Far fewer responders need to make a purchase in order for the campaign to be a success.  Instead of a $24 book, or a $25 discount loyalty card, higher-ticket items such as mortgage refinance (averaging $3,000 to $4,000 and up in commission to the mortgage broker), retail furniture (profits of $500 plus per piece of furniture), or a new automobile (net profit to the dealership of $500 to $1,000 plus), can quickly absorb the cost of a campaign in just a few sales.  Higher ticket items sold through the mail simply covers the investment cost faster with far few responses.  Few responses needed to break-even on your direct mail investment means a much lower investment risk.

When considering direct mail, every small business owner should consider the profit per unit sold, and work through the numbers to determine if what their break-even point will be.  It’s a good exercise for any business professional to at least understand what the best lead acquisition program is for their respective business.  By measuring break-even and ROI every time, you are better able to invest your marketing dollars more wisely.

Rate of Response
There truly is no industry acceptable response rate.  Some will tell you that 1% to 2% is average, while others will tell you that between 1/2% to 1.5% is more likely.  The truth is that far more first time mailers will attempt direct mail one time and one time only.  They will neglect the basic preparation and perhaps see zero response from their sizable investment.  Their first direct mail test is so painful that they will simply look elsewhere to promote their business.  This does happen often.  And the main reason for this is not just because their hitting the wrong audience, with the wrong offer, wrong creative, and at the wrong time.  It’s more likely a combination of these exact factors.  Successful direct mail is truly an art and science.  Successful direct mail is achievable but it requires more than paying someone to get your logo on a postcard and in front of a mail recipient.  It requires one to go through the process of evaluating what exactly your mail recipient will respond to and what they won’t.  You have a mail box and you receive direct mail advertisements every day.  What do you see that stands out from the crowd?  Why do you respond to only a few pieces of direct mail and ignore the rest?  Likely you’ve got all the gardening supplies you need today.  You’ve seen these types of bait-and-switch direct mail offers before.  You’ve been to that restaurant and it’s not what the mail piece says it is.  You simply cannot afford that new car or vacation right now.  Your children are grown so the mailer used the wrong mailing list.  You’ve just refinanced your home and are definitely not in the market.
Don’t put the same offer and same mail piece in front of the same people.  Consider something different when you mail.  Consider a much stronger offer to the right audience.  Consider your competition and what they’re offering.  Consider the emotional side of your potential customer and how you could position your product or service as a solution, rather than a low cost leader.  Talk to a direct mail professional, or two, about what you should expect, what you might want to offer, and what you might do to increase your response rates before you invest in direct mail, or any advertisement medium for that matter.

The Process
As with every advertisement medium, to maximize your chances for success, start with a plan.  Put pen to paper and draft exactly what you plan to do with every dollar you spend, the number of people you want to mail to, what your direct mail audience looks like, what your results expectations are for this campaign, and how you will execute all the necessary items to make it happen when you want to make it happen.  In your plan you will want to be sure you include what increase level of inventory you will want to have on hand to support the additional business, and do you need to adjust the labor schedule or hire more staff to provide satisfactory customer service.  Drafting a plan will help you cover those items that are sometimes over looked and can help you prepare for your next campaign event by comparing notes from previous campaigns.

The process of a direct mail campaign starts with identifying who you will want to mail before you develop your printed material.  This way you get your creative juices flowing in the right direction.  Once the mail pieces are printed, you’re stuck with them.  Depending on the acquisition mailing list you are ordering, some will have restrictions as to what they can mail.  If there are restrictions, you’ll want to gain approval with the art and copy before you go to press.  And make sure your mail piece pairs well with the audience you are planning to mail.  We’ll talk more about pairing the piece with the audience later.

Align yourself with a team of industry experts.  Talk to the printer and list broker to make sure you’re comfortable with their experience level in the industry you are in.  If nothing more, they can help you properly set your expectations and run through the numbers with you such that you can determine if this investment is right for your business.

The printer may have the ability to provide the mailing list for you, if so; have them run counts of the audience you want to mail so you can firm up your potential market territory.  Be sure there are enough mailing list records that fit your desired audience within the market boundaries you wish to mail.  This mailing list count will give you a clear picture of how large your potential audience truly is such that you may want to make several mail drops over time, staggering them in equal quantities to accomplish your campaign goals.

Your printer will not only tell you how much everything will cost and how long everything will take, but they will also be able to tell you how long the postal service will take to deliver your mail to it’s final destination.  Talk to printer about timing, and realistic delivery times.  Make sure this timing matches your desired “open day” and in the case of an event, be sure you give the mail recipient enough time to plan his/her week to fit your event day into their schedule.  Again, aligning yourself up with an industry experienced printer or mail service provider will help you plan accordingly.

So basically you identify your audience, decide on some preliminary themes and offers for your mail piece and sit with your creative artist.  Explain your concepts and ask for suggestions.  Again, if you’re working with experienced professionals in your industry, you should be able to get some possible samples or input as to how this layout might look before the final copy is completed.  The artist will provide his/her final mock-up for your approval.  This mock-up should impress you, if it doesn’t, ask for a revision.  Be sure to read every word on the mail piece to check for spelling errors that the address and phone number are correct.  This final piece then goes to print and is quickly applied your mailing list address.  Once this is complete it’s off to the post office.  This whole process could drag on for weeks, or happen within a few days, depending on how efficient you and your team are.  Should you plan for multiple drops with the same mail piece, your printer can save you quite a bit of money but printing all the pieces the same day and storing any unused pieces for later drop.  Be sure to ask ahead of time if your campaign will include a volume discount.

Mailing List Data
For starters, let’s consider your most valuable asset; your existing customer list.  By far, most every business can benefit from compiling and maintaining an internal database of customers.  If you’re in an industry that generates potential repeat customers, mailing to this existing list of customers for new business is the most success direct mail prospecting you can do.  We’ll discuss this type of direct mail campaign shortly.  For those businesses that do not generate potential repeat customers, you can still benefit from maintaining a database of existing customers.  This too will be discussed in greater detail shortly.  The main point here is that your database of existing customers should to be compiled and maintained.

Information to include in this database are first and last name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and any transactional data you can capture on your customer; how much do they purchase, how frequently they purchase, how recent did they purchase, what products or services they purchased, and did they respond from a previous direct mail campaign or other form of advertisement.  The more you are able to segment your internal customer database, the better you’ll be able to version specific communication to them whether it be postal direct mail, email, or other mediums.

Repeat customer type businesses
For those businesses which pay special attention to existing customers to keep them coming back for more, it’s imperative that you systematize your communication with them in an attempt to develop a communication dialog.  Like a good restaurant owner remembers his/her customers, refers to them by name, and knows what they would like on the menu, your existing customers too must be remembered, or be forgotten.  Direct mail is an excellent way to develop this relationship.  Through invitations to an event or offering a discount for loyal customers only, you can recognize your existing customers and make offers to them differently than you would to non-customers.

As this database grows, look for patterns within the transactional data you’ve collected.  You may find that your most profitable and frequently purchasing customer base all reside within 4 miles of your store location.  Identifying this pattern allows you to mail reminder letters to this group, while the customers who live further away might be mailed a discount loyalty card offer.  The more you understand your customers, the better you’ll be able to identify opportunities for growth.

Acquisition Mailing List data
Not all businesses have repeat customers.  Many businesses will generate a sale from a customer which satisfies the customers need for years to come.  Businesses such as real estate, life insurance, and mortgage lending all win a customer, and then likely not see them again for years to come.  In order for this type of business to survive, you must sell a “high-ticket” item, be located in an extremely busy industry where flocks of people are walking by their store front, or focus on nurturing referral business.  For these types of businesses, it’s still important to maintain a database of internal customers.  If only to follow up, thank them for their business, and ask for a referral.

With simple analytics, you can also profile your customer database to get a better idea of what they look like, to then mail to other similar looking people.  The purchase of this “other” data is considered an acquisition mailing list.  It’s one that you acquire from a mailing list vendor.  Your goal is obviously one of finding new prospects that look exactly like your current customers, thus increasing the likelihood of a positive response.

Internal Customer Database Profiling
Database profiling is the process of appending demographic and psychographic elements to a customer list of names and postal addresses.  This is done by passing your internal customer mailing list against a larger universe mailing list of the population that contains not only the names and addresses of the these people, but also various demographic and psychographic elements, and appending data where there is a match of name and address.

The larger the internal customer database of names and addresses, the more statistically valid your profile results will be.  The ideal quantity for a statistically valid sample is 10,000 records or greater, however, many businesses will draw conclusions about their own customers with quantities as low as 3,000 records.  Of course, the higher the quantity, the greater the accuracy will be.

Many service providers will offer a number of predetermined “bundles” of append-able elements for consideration.  Depending on your product and service offerings, you should choose the most relevant bundle for your profile.  As an example, if you’re a multi-location home remodeling business with multiple markets, you may want to choose a bundle of elements that include property / mortgage data instead of one that includes hobby / interest data.  Elements such as year build, dwelling type, homeownership, length of residence, home value, and estimated LTV will likely paint a clearer picture of what your current customers look like in each market territory that’s relevant to buying behavior in your industry.

The process can be fairly simple.  So long as your database of customers is in a digital form and that all the fields in your database are consistent, the programmer should be able to perform the task within a few days and provide a penetration summary of the percentages of your database that have been appended and by what element.  From here you can draw conclusions about your existing customers, i.e., what income and age range most closely represents your customer, what is the value of their home, and is there a pattern of how long they’ve lived at their current residence?

There are many more complex variations of utilizing this technology.  The profile of existing customers might be compared to the profile of other residences in the same market territory.  In this case you would be looking for not only what your customers have in common with each other, but also how they look differently as compared to the rest of the population.  This information can be used for versioning your advertising messaging across all mediums.

The small business owner may not have an internal customer database that’s sizable enough to profile.  If this is the case with your business, you may still have a fairly good idea of what your customers look like.  Talk to your mailing list provider to determine how close you can get to your “wish list”.  Until you’ve properly accumulated a sizable “profile-able” database, you will most likely have to depend on your “best guess”.  Continue collecting your names and addresses as best you can so that you’ll be able to use this information to serve your data mining needs later.

Pairing your audience with your offer
Many a small business owner makes the mistake of coming up with a direct mail piece before truly considering their audience first.  For practical purposes, let’s assume you are planning an acquisition mailing.  Decide first who you are going to mail to before you begin designing your direct mail piece.

Considerations
•    Consider things like what your competition is mailing and how you will look as compared to your competition.
•    Consider the time of year you are mailing and what seasonal events might be competing for your potential customer’s attention.  As an example, mailing during the holiday is potentially dangerous in that many might have their attention (and available dollars) spent on the holiday occasion.
•    Consider the affluency (and location) of people on your mailing list.  Are they the type that will travel across town to save $5.00.
•    Consider the age range of your mailing list and what you would communicate to them to truly grab their attention.
•    Consider multiple versions of your mail piece to better communicate to more than one cluster group.  You may want one mail piece drafted for a younger segment, and another mail piece drafted for a senior audience.

Mail piece absolutes
There are 3 primary elements to a mail piece you absolutely must include.  They are as follows:

1.  Creative
Creative design is that artistic side of you mail piece that for many is the most difficult side.  What colors, font, clip art, photographs, design, paper quality, and white space should be included on your mail piece?

2.  Copy
What are you going to attempt to say to these prospects?  What are you not going to say to these prospects?  How much content will you include in relation to the artistic design of the mail piece?  All these questions will be answered in what we call “copy”.

3.  Offer
The offer is a crucial element of this mail piece.  Many small business owners miss this extremely important element.  What exactly are they offering the mail recipient?  If you cannot offer something of value to your direct mail audience, you’re doing little more than reinforcing your brand.  The absolute goal with any small business owners’ direct mail campaign is response / results.  Make an offer that causes your mail recipient to respond.

4.  Call to Action
The “call to action” is the time frame the offer is extended for.  If you’re having a grand event, state the time and date for this event is to occur.  Without a call to action, you’ll miss out on “sense of urgency” that brings people to take action.

Remember, what’s vitally important is that you have something of value.  If you don’t have something so totally awesome available that you want to scream it to the world, you probably shouldn’t use direct mail.  Likewise, if you don’t have something so totally awesome available that you want to scream it to the world, then maybe you should focus on creating something worth screaming about.

Campaign Measurement
The last portion of this tutorial article is to discuss measuring your response.  It’s very important that you measure something every time you mail.  Why?  Because you can.  Unlikely many types of advertisement mediums, direct mail is as measurable as you want it to be.  And the more you measure, the more you’ll learn, and the better you will mail again.  The key is that you make smarter and smarter improvements to every direct mail campaign so that direct mail yields a greater return on your investment.

At the very least, count the number of people walking through the store on event day, or an increase in sales revenue immediately following a direct mail promotion.  Better yet, offer a discount coupon that’s redeemable at point of purchase so that you’re able to track actual redemption, when the redemption started, and began to slow, and how much sales came in as a result of your coupon mailing.  Consider new customer sales from increased sales of existing customers.  Measure what type of customer responded from those who didn’t respond.  Look for patterns with the types of people visiting your business, going to your website, purchasing vs. browsing.  Poll these people if you can and directly ask them exactly what they would need to see happen so as to act today, as opposed to just browsing.
Campaign measurement is extremely valuable and should always be implemented.  Even if your results are less than satisfactory, what you might learn may be far more valuable to you that the dollars you’ve invested.

For more information about what you can do to make improvements with your next direct mail campaign, talk to one of the many helpful consultants available to you at BB Direct.  Visit our website at BB Direct, or call (866) 501-6273.

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5 Business Growth Strategies for Mailing List Brokers

January 8th, 2009

Want to excel your business growth in today’s competitive mailing list brokerage business?  Take heart to 5 key strategies which all list brokerage firms can benefit from.

1. Identify and stick to your core products and services
Your service bundle should include only those mailing list products and services which you have experience with and can competitively position.  Resist trying to be all things to all people.  Instead, stick to offering your core products and services, and know them extremely well.  Likewise, identify the vertical market(s) you have the most experience with and work to penetrate this group.  You’ll gain more growth traction in repeating success over and over that attempting to master all.  Too often, list brokers take on any project that comes their way, waste precious time and energy, ultimately offer less than optimum products and services, and lose the potential for repeat business.  Think of yourself as an athlete attempting to excel as all sports at the same time.  You’ll score more points when practicing the same sport every day, than on learning many sports all at the same time.

2.  Convert prospects to customers by listening to their needs and acting on them
Your customers will tell you what they want from you if you ask them.  The magic happens when you develop the skills of asking the right questions.  This strategy shouldn’t be confused with a sales skill, but a business development exercise.  Customer centric businesses develop loyalty with their clientele and add new customers onto their book of business at a pace that increases bottom-line profit but doesn’t delete the resources to serve existing customers.  Think of your customers as partners in your business growth.  Center your business planning solely on the popular needs of your clientele.  Focus on differentiation such that your business serves those needs not satisfied elsewhere.
It’s important to understand that most of your clients businesses are on various stages of an expansion plan.  The more you can engage in discussion about these plans, the better you’ll be able to adjust your services.  What’s most important to your customers today may be replaced by something more important tomorrow.  Stay in tune with the goals of your clients and you are more apt to be viewed as an integral part of their expansion plan.

3.  Make a conscience effort to develop your vendor relationships
Whether your vendors have the same client centric focus business mindset as you do, remember that your vendor relationship is just as important as your customer relationships.  Your vendors of course want your business and thrive on the business their customers provide to them.  But consider for a moment that they themselves have a “book of business” with you in that mix.  If they’re doing their job, they’re focused on your growth.  Be the customer that expresses a desire to sell more of their product.  Continually ask for advise on how to better utilize their products and services.  Look for opportunities to engage in a richer understanding of their products and services without eating up too much of their precious time.  And be their favorite customer, i.e., polite and understanding, fair and non-emotional when problems arise, don’t be a “price gouger”, and pay all your bills on time.  In general, consider they too are in the business to earn a profit and don’t abuse the relationship.
In return, look to your vendor for information about the competition in general terms.  What’s selling more of than less and why?  What changes within the industry are potential red-flags to be mindful of and what might produce opportunities for you and your vendor?  Nurturing this level of relationship will afford you with more than your competition is receiving.  Likewise, by abusing this relationship you’ll likely get less than your competitors will get from these vendors and miss out of many potential opportunities over the years.

4.  Align yourself with a source of quality compiled data
How does your current source compare to the other databases available?  If you can’t answer this question, then how can you expect to sell the data?  List broker businesses win new business because they know their data, how it’s compiled, updated, how it compares to other sources, and how it’s best used.  One of the key attributes to data compiled data source is one that works with you, understands your desire to win new projects and grow your business, and support in these areas.  Your source for quality compiled data should continually seek new ways of growing business together.  Have a heart to heart conversation with your data source, not just about the data, but about your business growth.  If you don’t feel they are in support of your businesses, consider alternate options.  There are many sources for compiled data, all boasting the lowest prices, greatest number of selects, and largest count coverages.  It’s vitally important that you align yourself with a source that you can be proud of when you deliver a data solution.  Imagine this mailing list to be purchased for your own business.  Can you think of a better database to draw from that what you are providing?  If so, then make that change immediately, even if it means paying a premium.  In the long run your customers will thank you and keep coming back.

5.  Know when to turn business away
There are times when it simply doesn’t make sense to do business with certain businesses.  As a regular part of your business cycle, you should meet with your controller to review the types of accounts that not only pay well, but more or less profitable.  Put pen to paper and evaluate those accounts with low marginal profit but a high labor expense.  Many mailing list brokers get into a price war to win new business and many times the winner unconsciously bids below the profit breakeven threshold.  It’s only later that they realize they are simply unprofitable and must either make drastic changes or go bankrupt.
When thinking through your how profitable your business is, you should look at a customer comparison as they relate to profit vs. COGS, commission payouts, late pays, labor expense, project oriented verse online business.  Also consider those difficult, energy draining customers that, though they pay their invoice on time, they eat up precious time and energy looking for problems to nag you about.  Nothing zaps energy more than a those customers who always have problems.  Weigh your book of business, how many clients fall into this category, and consider ridding yourself and other of this burden.

To learn more about growing your list brokerage, visit http://www.bbdirect.com or call us at (866) 501-6273.

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Generating Buyers, Not Leads

January 8th, 2009

When working with your mailing list broker to build your target mailing list criteria there are a number of key points to keep in mind.  Below are a number of simple but important points to do to remember that may make the difference between generating buyers, not leads.  A few simple adjustments can improve your direct mail targeting, response results, and your bottom line. I urge you to consider these 6 absolutes before purchasing any mailing list.

1.  One per household vs. one per address

Traditionally, counts and orders have included duplicate records for the same mailing address.  Your mailing list will most likely default to “One Per Household.”  This means that for every home where there are at least two roommates sharing the same mailing address, but not the same last name, or where there is a married couple not sharing the same name, there will be two records made available to you.  Thus, two mail pieces will be delivered to that same mail box.  This may or may not be appropriate for your campaign.  A cellular phone coupon offer that might include a new phone with a 24 month activation and service commitment would be ideal for multiple mail pieces arriving in the same mail box the same day for different people.  However, an offer announcing the grand opening of a new summer camp for your child would not.
To correct this default, be sure you request your original count and order to “One Per Address”, instead of “One Per Household.”  This will likely reduce your total mail file by up to 10 percent and significantly increase your return on investment.

2.  Consider capping your filter ranges for a tighter, more accurate target audience

For many campaigns, the mailing list criteria set may include demographic filters such as age and income.  For example, your target audience could be all households with an estimated household income range of $40,000 +, or an age range of age 45 +.  Depending on your offer, those highest income and age ranges might not be any better than those ranges below your starting point.  Ask yourself if your ideal customer is one with an income greater than $125,000 income or one with an age of 75 or 85 years or higher.  If not, then stop your age and income at the top range and eliminate unwanted mail waste.  Remember, the goal is not to mail more but to mail more accurately.  Reducing any “non-responders” will only improve your response rate and overall bottom line return on investment.

Other selects to consider are Home Value/Assessed Value, Length of Residence, Home Year Built, Mortgage Loan Amount, etc.  You may also want to consider mailing more than one mail piece version to various ranges that reach a type of potential buyer.
Likewise, you could version your mail piece creative and offer to gain lift in response.  As an example, rather than eliminating the senior population from your campaign, mail a different version of your mail piece that’s more appealing to this older age bracket.  This mail versioning is also helpful when focusing on more affluent households.  Some offers including discounted services designed for the budget conscience, while those more affluent households are generally looking for quality over price.

3.  Properly set response and deliverability expectations

It is important to understand that no mailing list is perfect.  Therefore you should expect that there will be some degree of inaccurate mailing list records and undeliverable mail.  If you’re a direct mail service provider and you’re working with a new mailer, always run through possible deliverability rates for certain types of mailing lists with your client.  Be sure you explain the potential for error on accuracy.  If you’re a new mailer yourself, talk with your mail service provider or mailing list broker about these expectations so that you’re comfortable with the reality of mail piece returns.  This will save you or your client a great deal of headache before it’s too late.

You should also have a clear understanding of realistic response rates and/or return on investment.  If you or your client has never used direct mail as a way to bring in new business, talk to your mail service provider or mailing list broker before you invest in this advertising medium.  Go through the process of determining your return on investment break-even point so that you can truly understand the risks involved and the realistic response you should expect.  Compare this potential return on investment risk with the other advertisement mediums you’re currently investing in or considering.  Likewise, measure the performance of any advertising investment so that you can learn where your investment dollars are best spent.

4.  Closely match your acquisition list with your current best customers

There are those “ideal” customers who purchase on site, pay on time, and return for more.  There are others who are loyal to your competitors and indifferent to your offer regardless of the price, value, or competitive edge.  How do these two groups of people differ?  Can you describe the “ideal” audience in terms of a mailing list in hopes of finding more just like them?  Does your current “targeted mailing list” identify the first group over the second?  Doing so is crucial to successful response rates.  Consider investing in some mailing list analytics to allow a statistician determine these minute differences that may mean big differences in return.

With an acquisition mailing, the better you’ve thought through what your current best customers “look like”, the more apt you are to finding more.  It’s always far more cost effective to pay a little more in the way of additional mailing list filters, than to mail to a larger, less responsive audience.

5.  Mailing List Update Schedule

When is your direct mail drop?  Is it shortly after the next mailing list update?  If it can wait, order the list extraction to take place after this date to ensure your highest deliverability.  Depending on the database you’re renting, the list may be passed against the NCOA every 60 to 90 days, or for some managed properties, only once a year.  Knowing the schedule of this process, and the frequency will tell you what you should expect in terms of deliverability.  If the file hasn’t been NCOA’d in the last 60 days, you may want to consider paying to have the process completed with your acquisition file.  Should your plan include mailing both your internal database and an acquisition list, it never hurts to NCOA update both files.  Talk to your list broker about the update of the list you’re about to order, as well as what goes into this process.  Ask for details on combining an NCOA and DSF2 pass on the data before you mail, chances are high you will benefit from this hygiene process.

6.  Consider reviewing the usage report on any managed files

Most every managed database has been tested by other mailers.  When selecting from a variety of potential files, ask to review the “usage report” before making your selection.  You may find that some of the files have been tested by similar “competitive” mailers but have not mailed to this file again.  “Continuation” means that the company performing the mail campaign was satisfied with the test mailing and decided to mail again to the same file.  No “continuation” means that the test was likely unsatisfactory.

Keep in mind that newer files may have little or no usage.  “Little or no usage” isn’t an indication of how well the database will perform for your campaign.  It may simply mean that few have tested the database.  It could also indicate that the manager hasn’t recorded the usage yet and therefore is unable to report.  It is not likely that you will find a usage report for mailing lists that are not managed properties.

To learn more about how to maximize your direct mail return on investment, visit http://www.bbdirect.com or call us at (866) 501-6273.

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Buying a Mailing List

January 8th, 2009

When embarking on your first direct mail campaign, it’s imperative that you think through all facets of the campaign.  From creative, to offer, to keeping your message congruent with the other advertising mediums.  Below are some of the more important points to remember when creating a mailing list.  Do it right the first time may mean the difference between a positive ROI or never testing direct mail again.

Here are seven very important points to remember:

1.  Know your customer
The absolute best way to understand your best prospects is to understand your current best customers.  You as a business owner can describe in detail what your customer looks like based on his or her attributes and need for your product or service.  But the key here is to be able to describe your customer in terms that are relevant to a mailing list broker.  If a mailing list broker is unable to build a criteria set that describes your best customer, then no matter how well you’ll be able to describe this person, you won’t be able to find more just like it.  As an example, let’s say you’re in the business of selling high-end office furniture.  You may describe your best customer as one who desires to have the most cutting edge modern attractive desk-system on the market.  Your customer may buy your office furniture products because they want to impress their clientele.  Your office furniture is a direct reflection of what your customers want their clientele to think of them…modern, classy, cutting edge.  Though this is a very clear description of what why your clients might buy your products over the competitor, the description is better suited for the direct mail marketers’ creative team that will assemble a congruent message and offer to your direct mail prospects.  A better description would sound something more that this.  “My customers are businesses such as law offices, CPA’s, Real Estate investment trusts, and a personal banker whose business employee’s greater than 50 employees’.  These customers businesses that are both new and established, but the decision maker is usually the owner located at the headquarter location.”  Notice the identifiers that describe this business clientele are consistent with the filters available from a business mailing lists database.

2.  Provide your mailing list broker with an accurate description of your product or offer.
The broker may have suggestions as to the type of list that would best suite your needs.  Most mailing list brokers can offer suggestions based on the available selects of the databases they typically use.  If you’re unsure of the filters (selects) available on a particular database, your mailing list broker should be able to offer you a data card that describes in detail these selects as well as the pricing for these selects.  In summary, a well informed list broker has a greater chance of helping his direct mail marketer.

3.  Know the difference is a response and a compiled mailing list.
-Response mailing lists are comprised of individuals who have responded to an offer either through the mail, phone, and television or through other means of mass communication.
-Compiled mailing lists are a compilation of information from public records and sources such as the phone book, courthouse records, bankruptcy filings, mortgage deed records and more.
The more you understand the differences with the various available mailing lists, the better you’ll be able to use them to your advantage.  The primary reason for understanding the difference between these two mailing lists is because the compiled mailing list will naturally contain more records per a given geography.  Should your market territory be finite, the available compiled mailing list data will be larger in number than the response file type mailing lists.  Likewise, if your market territory has no boundaries, your ideal mailing list is one in which those individuals have already responded favorably to an interest or offer such as yours.  Though the mailing list data usually costs more, response files are typically considered more responsive.

4.  Database analysis
The more you know about your internal mailing list of customers, the better you’ll be able to communicate to them.  A database analysis is a process where by you provide your customer names and addresses be evaluated.  The process is completely automated and relatively secure.  What is done is your internal customer mailing list is passed against a large universe mailing list.  This universe mailing list contains all the deliverable addresses within the U.S.  This mailing list database contains not only the name and the address, but also any demographic and psychographic information available on the records.  Wherever there is a match of the two mailing list databases, all the relative elements of information is temporary appended to your database.  The processor then looks for patterns within the appended data for what kinds of mailing list conclusions can be made.  This profile “snap-shot” is then compared with the “profile” of the resident consumers within the same market territory of your mailing list.  Ultimately, we are looking for a comparison of what your customers “look like” relative to the people in the same relative area that are not your customers.  We are also looking for how your customers “look differently” from the surrounding population.  The more we can tell about your customers the better.  Ultimately, we want to find other people within the area that are not customers but look identical to them.  The theory is that if we were to mail to those people who look most similar to your existing customers, the better changes are that they will become customers themselves.

5.  Mail piece versioning
Understand your customers’ needs and desires and speak to them in a manner that is specific or special them.  Not all people are the same.  Imagine walking to your own mail box tomorrow afternoon.  You reach in and find a postcard inviting you to a new restaurant in your area.  We’ve all received these types of postcards with some that appeal to us more than others.  What would this post include that would truly grab your attention?  The answer to this question is most likely different for you than it is for your neighbor.  For a young family, the piece might include a picture of a happy family enjoying a dinner out together.  The copy highlights the importance of getting the family out together and how this new restaurant caters to family dinning.  For a middle aged successful single female professional, the same mail piece may be a turn-off and would be quickly tossed in the trash.  But should the postcard include a photo of a group of other like aged singles enjoying dinner together with an emphasis on entrée’s that peak the interest of the most sophisticated palate, this mail piece might entice the single female to the very same restaurant as the young family.
With today’s variable print technology, each mail piece can be different in accordance to the recipient of the piece itself.  The customization can be as different as the graphic designer is willing to make it.  And generally speaking, the more your mail piece is versioned to the targeted audience, the better your direct mail response will be.  The ideal mailing list for such variable print mailings a “segmentation” type mailing list.  Segmentation mailing lists classify people into naturally occurring subsets of the population.  A restaurant’s market territory might include a 10 mile radius and within this territory, there might be 12 primary segments of the population.  Mailing the same general mail piece and offer to all 12 segments is less effective than mailing 12 versions of the same mail piece.

6.  Testimonials
A growing business can never have too many raving fans and a mail piece can always benefit with testimonials.  At the risk of cluttering a direct mail piece, relevant testimonials help a business establish trust, especially if the one providing the testimonial is a well known celebrity or a well branded business.

7.  Response measurement
It cannot be stressed enough to design a response measurement mechanism in your direct mail campaign.  Without measuring how many responders or orders have been achieved as a direct result from your direct mail investment, you will never know how effective this investment is as it compares to other advertisement mediums.  Direct mail measurement can be measured several different ways, i.e., responders, buyers, foot-traffic into the store location, actual gross revenue directly attributed to the campaign, gross profit directly attributed to the campaign, and the potential lifetime value of the responders/buyers/donors of a campaign.  Whatever the method of measurement, quantifying your response will help both in justifying a second test campaign to ultimately investing more or less into direct mail marketing.

To learn more about how to maximize your direct mail return on investment, visit http://www.bbdirect.com or call us at (866) 501-6273.  If it’s mortgage related, you may also want to visit www.triggerleadsdirect.com or www.armresetleads.com.

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