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You know how the song goes, "...he's making his list.  He's checking it twice.  Gonna find out who's naughty or nice..." 

That Santa is one smart fella.  He knows his Christmas campaign depends on a good, reliable list.  We can't have good gifts going to the naughty folks while the well behaved get nothing but coal and fruitcakes, now can we?

Remember the 60-30-10 rule with direct mail marketing.  60% of your mail success depends on the list, 30% on the offer, and 10% on the creativity of the mailing piece.  With so much riding on a good list, you want to be like Santa and check it twice to make sure it's targeting the right audience to get the most responses and the best return on your investment.  Here are some key points to help you obtain the right mailing list.

Know Your Objective

Before starting your direct mail campaign, ask yourself, "What am I trying to accomplish?"

Are you trying to drive foot traffic to a new store?  Are you trying to get orders for a product?  Are you trying to get leads?  Determining your goal is the most important step in your direct mail campaign because each step thereafter needs to get you closer to the goal.  A clear objective will help you identify and narrow your target market and get your message out to the right prospects.  It will also help you determine the best sources for your mailing list.

Understand the List Types

There are basically two types of lists you can purchase - response lists and compiled lists.  Response lists contain names of people who have responded to an offer in some way.  Either they've purchased a product or requested information.  These lists are usually higher priced because the people on them are proven responders and are more likely to do it again.  It's important to know that individuals on response lists may have responded to a media other than direct mail (telephone solicitation or email, for example) and may not even open their "junk mail."  Make sure your response list is comprised of direct-mail responders.

Compiled lists are names gleaned from various sources, such as the white pages, public records (marriages, births, home purchasers), credit card purchases, magazine subscriptions, warranty cards, trade associations, and virtually any source where a person has given information about himself or his business.

Focus on Your Audience

Before you purchase a list, think about your objective and analyze the traits of the individuals likely to fulfill your objective (be it ordering the product, visiting your store, requesting information, etc).  What income level would they be?  What age?  Male or female?  Married or single?  Homeowners or renters? What interests would they have?  Knowing your customer is critical to purchasing the right list.  Today's direct mail can be very precisely targeted due to the detailed mailing list data available.

Use List Sources

Magazine subscription lists are an excellent place to start.  Subscribers are obviously interested enough in the magazine's topic to pay for a subscription and since the publisher has to pay for every return, the names and addresses are accurate and up to date.  There are over 10,000 magazines published in the United States and chances are one or more of them are being delivered to your exact target audience.  The reference section of your public library contains free magazine directories with profiles of magazine to help you determine if its readers would be likely responders to your mailing.  Two other magazine directories which you can pay for are Bacon's Directory of Magazines and Oxbridge Communications Standard Periodical Directory.

Catalog houses earn a good portion of their income from selling their lists of subscribers and buyers.  Use a directory, such as The Directory of Mail Order Catalogs from Grey House Publishing to find catalogs that would appeal to your audience and ask their purblishers about purchasing their list.

There are companies whose sole purpose is compiling, gathering, and renting lists.  There are also list brokers who rent lists, and mailing companies who rent their list of responders.  Mailing lists are usually rented, not sold, and can only be used one time.  However, anyone who responds to your mailing is yours to keep and these responders are how you build your own list.  Simply google "direct mail marketing lists" and a plethora of companies who can help you will come up.  Be careful, because like any industry, there are reputable services and not so reputable ones.  Do your homework and ask the right questions (see the next section) to make sure your list is exactly what you want.  Email us and we would be happy to give you the names of reputable list services that we've worked with.

Ask the Right Questions

Whatever the source of your list, ask these questions to make sure it's the right list for your objective:

1. How often is the list updated and cleansed of undeliverable addresses and address changes?
2. How frequently do people on the list make purchases and how much do they spend?
3. Have earlier customers rented or purchased the list already?
4. How frequently has it been rented by other companies?  You want to avoid lists that have hardly been rented at all as they are probably poor quality, and lists that have been rented quite often mean those people are saturated with offers.
5. What is the list company's policy on returns?  Are the addresses quaranteed to be correct and who will pay for any returns that occur?
6. What is the source of the list?  Are they names from a trade show, subscription, or public records?  Is it an opt-in list, meaning the people asked to receive information?
7. Are the names known buyers and how recently did they buy?  A person who bought a month ago is a hotter prospect than someone who bought a year ago.
8. How old is the list?  If it's 12 to 18 months old, as much as 30% of the data could be inaccurate.
9. What is the success rate of previous mailings?

Cleanse Your Data

This is where we come in.  Our software checks for duplicate records and inaccuracies and cross checks against Postal Service records to further cleanse your list and reduce return mail.

A Few Random Tips

• Don't order your list before your campaign is ready.  Information can spoil over time so ordering your list when you're ready to launch your campaign results in a higher percentage of deliverable mail and responses because the list is fresh.
• List prices are usually tied to the number of records, so don't buy more names than you need.
• Once you've built a list of responders, you can trade your list with a company that sells similar products or offerings and expand your list.
• List brokers are experts at analyzing, researching, and evaluating the thousands of lists available so they can help you find the right list for you.  Utilize their marketing expertise and listen to their advice.

Be like Santa and make your list and check it twice so your mailing campaign is as successful as possible!  For more information about mailing lists, here is a good resource, and for more sources for mailing lists, this article was very helpful.