So, you’re thinking about venturing into direct mail marketing? Great idea! Direct mail definitely works. According to the Direct Marketing Association’s Response Rate Report, direct mail gets 10 times the response rate of email marketing and 50 times the response rate of display advertising like newspapers or TV. Who knew?

Here are a few simple things to consider about direct mail lists to make sure your campaign is as effective as it can be:

1. Mailing List

Do you have an existing list from your clients/prospects or will you need to purchase a list? Having an existing list is always a head start. However, if you’re new to the industry or prospecting, purchasing a list is a great way to get leads.

2. What kind of list do I buy?

Purchasing a list through a vendor can seem daunting, but it really isn’t. You can drill down as specific or narrow of a field as you want. Think about your target audience. Are they homeowners? Are they a certain age? Do they have children in the home? Is a certain income level a better fit for your goods/services? These are all things that can narrow down your field for potentially better results.

3. Single-Use vs. Multi-Use list

A single-use list means just that – you can only use the list one time. With multi-use lists, you can use the list as many times as you want for one year. After one year, you may continue marketing to anyone who responded to your campaign or who you picked up as a client. But, the individuals on the list who never responded to your campaign are off the table. You may no longer contact them. In order to contact those individuals after one year, you would need to re-order the list. We recommend you do this anyway because over the course of the year, the list will change – people move, addresses change and others may have asked not to be contacted. To maximize the deliverability of your campaign, it’s important that you use the freshest available list.

4. Consumer List vs. Occupant List

A Consumer List allows you to use demographic and psychographic filters to reach your best prospects and is addressed to a specific individual within the household. An Occupant List is addressed to the ‘Current Resident’ and is appropriate when you want to reach every household within a geographic area.

5. What about Every Door Direct?

Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is a service provided through the US Postal System. EDDM allows you to choose the zip code and carrier route that will target your best customers. For this option, you don’t need to obtain a mailing list. You pick a mail route (or routes) and your piece goes to each address within that route. You also get a postage discount because you take a lot of the leg work (pun intended) off of the Post Office! This service is useful for those serving specific communities not necessarily based on variables that target lists provide.

We realize that this is a LOT of information, and there are so many other factors that can make or break your campaign. At Farmhouse Creative, we can help you with the entire project from start to finish – your mailing list, effective design, and mailing the pieces.

It’s what we do!