by Brice | August 21, 2009
For years the generally acceptable way of creating a direct mailing list was to find as many target consumers as possible, and build up the biggest list possible. Sometimes these direct mail lists would grow to include hundreds of thousands of names and in some cases even millions.
Such a large target audience would deliver some sort of response, but even in the best case scenario response rates were rarely greater than 3%. Sure, 3% of 100,000 targets could potentially bring in a lot of money, but all those mailers came with a price (averaging around $0.45 to $1.00 a piece).
Recently marketers have begun to find that reducing the size of their mailing lists, and targeting only the consumers who have a high chance of responding to their offers, can greatly increase their return on investment. For example, eliminating duplicate names and the names of the deceased and those who have signed up for Do Not Mail lists can really pay off.
Even better is that with a smaller list of customers, you can begin to focus on the needs of your clients, and start to create a real connection between your brand and your consumer. That’s something that’s hard to do with a massive mailing list campaign.
At Dukky we tend to subscribe to the “quality” camp. Particularly because we’ve built a cool online platform that lets marketers engage with recipients and build an even more customized mailing list for their next direct mail campaign. The original direct mail list is just the starting place for a Dukky campaign – and we like starting in a “quality” spot.
But it is hard make a general rule about what approach is best. Some might like getting their product in front of thousands of people, while other brands enjoy the exclusivity of mailing to only a carefully selected group. However, what is important is that you carefully examine and research your direct mail campaign before jumping into it, and to make absolutely sure that the method you use, is the right one for you and your brand.
Any of you out there think “quantity” is the way to go? If so, let us know! We’d like to hear why.
Terrific article, very well said. I subscribe to the quality over quantity belief, having a mailing list with quality clients will trump your sales than a list with a ton of names. I think that the emergence of opt-in mailing lists has also made finding quality clients a little easier.