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It's All About the List! by Accutips.com

Did you know that 40% of any direct mail campaign's success lies in selecting the right list? Read our Top Ten Tips for creating, sourcing, expanding and maintaining top-quality data.

Top Ten Tips for Selecting the Right List

1. Find the right data consultant. Almost all list brokers, managers and owners are willing to handle the administration of your chosen list. However, it's best to find a consultant who can offer more: good advice, proven experience and a wealth of options for you to consider. A reputable consultant will spend considerable time collecting information about your business and your needs, before making a recommendation.

2. Practice list hygiene. Mailing to a poorly-maintained list can be very costly and inefficient. List hygiene will help you maximize your customer data and keep your house list clean so that you can catch outdated information before it costs you.

3. Play by the rules. In these days of increasing privacy concerns, make sure any list you buy has been scrubbed against the national Do-Not-Call list. For increased response, you might also look into purchasing an "opt-in" list, comprised of people who have given permission to be contacted, or a "double opt-in" list, which contains targets who have confirmed their desire to be contacted.

4. Use what you've got. Your own customer data may be the most responsive list you'll ever use. Many companies falsely assume that their customers already know all about their products and services—but in many cases, they would be likely responders to new or even current information and offers. Mail to your house list at least once a month. Remember, you own it—it's free!

5. Expand your list whenever you can. Your list can become even more valuable as you add to it with names of people and businesses through customer referrals, invoice stuffers or on-site signups.

6. Ask yourself two important questions. First, if you could identify your perfect customer, who would that person or business be? And secondly, how do you know that your perfect customer has those particular identifiers?

7. Be specific. When you define your perfect customer, don't be afraid to go into detail. There are so many lists available today that the right data provider or broker will be able to find almost anything you desire. Looking for first-time home buyers within a certain salary range? Or retired pet-owners in a particular state? From complied to response, from consumers to businesses, your list is probably out there.

8. Test, test, test! This is common advice in the direct marketing world, but followed too rarely. Don't give up after one shot. You could have a wonderful design, great copy, and a solid offer, but be mailing at the wrong time. In the end, you have to test until you see what works for your situation. Test variations on lists, design and timing to find out what works.

9. Work your best lists. As part of your testing program, use parts or all of your best lists frequently, until response starts to wear off. Until you test, you won't know how often your new customers want to hear from you.

10. Monitor your results. Of course, this tip goes hand-in-hand with testing, above. But it is crucial to keep good records of all your results, even for tests, for a year or more so that you can put all that learning to good use. Use "keycoding" (a unique code on mailing or parts of mailings) so that you can accurately monitor your responses. Then be sure to share the results with your data provider, so that you can tweak your list purchases to get better response next time.

AccuTips is a free monthly e-newsletter full of direct marketing news and legislation, strategies, how-to information, case studies, resources and more. For more information, visit www.accutips.com.