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Mailing List Personalization

Posted by Brian Berg Google+

 

The importance of including a personal name within the mailing address label where ever possible instead of “Current Resident” could not be overstated.  People today demand to be spoken to as individuals.  The better you know your direct mail prospects and direct mail customers, the better you’ll be able to communicate to them – and the more likely you’ll experience a favorable direct mail response.  By including a persons name on the direct mail piece, your message becomes more compelling and your offer becomes more credible.

 

Personalized Digital Direct Mail Printing

 

In today’s advanced technology, digital printing allows the direct mail marketer to include the personalized names within the content of the mail piece as well as mailing label such that every direct mail piece will be unique.  Further, this technology allows the direct mail marketer to include personalized variable text.  You may have multiple segments within your mailing list.  Each of these segments can receive a different text message on the same print run.  This technology allows the direct mail marketer to get as personal as he/she wishes. Consider the following example.  An established real estate office has 19 agents prospecting the local market.  Each of these agents has a different cell phone, different email, and of course, a different photo. 

 

Additionally, several of the agents deal exclusively with buyers where some of the others go after listing contracts, and still others do both listing and sales.  The owner of the real estate office decides to purchase a mailing list from his trusted mailing list broker.  Working with the mailing list broker, they decide on a mailing list containing both home renters and home owners.  The mailing list is also segmented to encompass specific areas around the city that include a higher end neighborhood, and many homeowners around the new school. With digital printing, the digital print computer is programs to identify each of the segments on the mailing list and assigns each record to each of the 19 agents. 

 

Further, depending on the record and agent, the text message includes an offer that’s custom tailored to the audience.  The outcome is that each of the agents will be making a very specific offer to the audience they are assigned to and therefore maximizing their chances of a positive response. As the sales leads come in, the names and addresses of each are recorded and matched back to the original mailing list.  This “matching back” measurement allows the direct mail marketer to see patterns of response, match changes to the offers, creative design, and mailing list audience, so as to improve on their next direct mail campaign. 

 

Over time, this direct mail marketer will continually understand his own unique direct mail campaign market, as well as the mailing list that captures the highest rate of quality sales leads.  The bottom line is that a higher response of more qualified sales leads means better return on direct mail investment.