Sending your direct mail letter to the right people is even more important than the quality of the copywriting and even the offer in the sales letter.
The wrong people don’t want or need what you sell.
What Should You Look For When Buying A Mailing List?
Here are a few questions to ask.
- How old is the list?
- How is the mailing list refreshed and how often? People move, die etc.
- What is done to check the accuracy of the data on the list?
- What extra information do they hold? Sadly very little information needs to be filed at Companies House by small companies.
- Are there any guarantees on the data?
- How often can use the data on the direct mailing list? Some lists are sold for one-off use.
- How is the data is delivered? You want the information to be ready in digital form.
- How consistent is the format of the information so that it is ready to use? I’ve seen too many lists that are obviously compiled by disinterested college kids on a lowly paid holiday job with no regard to common practice. Names and addresses all in capitals. Addresses combined on to one line or split across multiple lines inappropriately.
Can You Put Your Own Mailing List Together?
The most responsive mailing lists are likely to come from your own contacts:
- current customers
- past customers who have stopped buying – data needs to be checked in case they have moved away
- prospects who enquired but didn’t convert – again the data needs to be checked