How Good Is Your Mailing List? Part 2

Software for maintaining a mail list
Since a mail list is really a data base of elements needed to form an address, it is best to maintain it in a software program such as Microsoft Access that is designed for data base management. While it is easy to use the spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel to set up columns and tabular displays, it is not the first choice for mail list maintenance. Don’t use Microsoft Word for your mail list even though it has a mail merge function.

Merge/purge and de-duplication
Merge/purge is one method of improving the quality of a mail list. In this process, two or more different name and address files are combined (merged) into one list and duplicate records are identified and deleted (purged). De-duplication (de-dupe) is the same process but using only one list. One of the main benefits of merge/purge and de-duplication is to ensure that a single individual or business receives only one mail piece.

Identifying duplicates requires a set of rules to define what constitutes a duplicate. Addresses can be compared to addresses only; or names to names only; or names and addresses compared. Matches can be exact (meaning every element is identical) or near (meaning Bob Peterson or Rob Peterson would be considered a match to Robert Peterson).

Move update
We are a very mobile population. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that on average, about 1 in 6 Americans move every year. However, some demographic segments move more often – about one-third of renters move each year, compared to about 10% of homeowners, and about one-third of adults in their early 20s.

What this means for you as a mail list manager is the importance of verifying that an individual or business is at the address you have on file. One way to do this is to mail at least every 90 days and to use an ancillary service endorsement (ASE) on the outside of the mail piece. The ASE tells the USPS what to do with the mail piece if the individual or business has moved. Another way is to compare your mail list to the database maintained by the USPS of individuals and businesses who have turned in change of address notices. We provide this service, called move update verification, to our customers; if you would like more information, just give us a call.

Mail list enhancement services
If you have carefully compiled your mailing list and maintained it well, you may benefit from enhancing the list with additional information besides what is required to address a mail piece. A business list can be enhanced with information such as SIC code, annual sales, and number of employees, while household income, phone, gender and other demographic information can be added to a residential list. Data append produces a profile of your customers which can be used as the basis for selecting prospects that match the profile.

Your mail list: a valuable marketing tool
Because your mail list can be a valuable marketing tool, it is worth the effort to compile and maintain a good one. We will be glad to discuss your plans to use your mailing list for a marketing effort, and to provide information on how to improve its quality, accuracy and recency.

How Good Is Your Mailing List? Part 1

We strongly believe in the power of direct mail marketing as a way to build business. Keeping your company or organization’s name in front of customers helps to reinforce their decision to use your products and services; for prospects, it creates name recognition; and for both groups it builds top of mind awareness for your brand.


The success of any direct mail marketing campaign is determined by three factors: the quality of the mail piece itself; the offer; and the mailing list. Of these, the mailing list is significantly more important than the other two. In fact, the Direct Marketing Association attributes 60% of the success of a mailing to the list itself and just 20% each to the mailer and the offer.

The secret to an effective mailing list
The secret to an effective mailing list can be stated in one word: accurate. Accuracy starts with getting the right individuals or businesses on the list – those who have an established interest in your product or service, or those who share the same demographic characteristics. Gender, age, income, level of education and geographic proximity are all examples of shared demographic characteristics.

Another measure of accuracy is the quality of each address. The individual or business name must be complete and correctly spelled; the street address must contain all necessary elements, including secondary information (i.e., unit, apartment, space, etc.) and street suffix (i.e., street, avenue, boulevard, road, drive, way, lane, etc.); and the city and state must have the correct ZIP or postal code.

An effective list has a data field for every unique element in the mailing list, even if it occurs rarely. List managers develop data entry conventions such as using standard abbreviations for street type (St., Ave., Blvd., etc.) and secondary address elements (Ste., #, Sp., etc.), and enforce the standards by not allowing creative data entry (such as entering a company name in the place reserved for the name of a person).

Mail list structure
Maintaining data quality is a function of how the mail list is structured and how fully data entry standards are developed and enforced. It is particularly important that the list have the right number of fields to contain all the name and address information, and to size the fields so there is enough room to hold the information without extensive use of abbreviations or truncating.

The first step in structuring a mail list is to determine the total number of unique data elements and to create a separate field for each one, no matter how infrequently it occurs. For example, if your mailing list contains just one foreign address, you will need to create a country field as well as any additional fields required by the country’s postal system (i.e., addresses in Puerto Rico require an urbanization code). If you want to include a middle initial for an individual’s name, you will need a middle name field and refrain from entering the middle initial into the fields reserved for first name or last name. Similarly, a list that contains both individual and business names will need a company field so that the business name isn’t entered into a field used for the individual’s name.

People’s names consist of five basic parts: prefix (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Rev., Sen., etc.); first name; middle name or initial; last name; and suffix (Jr., III, DDS, Ph.D., etc.)

The importance of maintaining separate fields for name elements in a mail list becomes clear when searching for duplicates in the list. If an individual’s name is separated into its constituent parts in a mailing list, it is much simpler to identify duplicates than if the first name and last name are in the same field.

Print Can Drive Online Activity

As businesses and organizations continue to integrate print-based marketing with online activities, many have discovered the benefit of using a post card to introduce and drive prospects to the web site. And while a post card can be any size, there is one we highly recommend for this purpose: either 4 x 6 inches or 4.25 x 6 inches.

This size falls into the USPS classification of  card  which is a subclass of first class mail. Due to an anomaly in postage rates, it actually costs less in postage to mail a card than a larger post card. And because the smaller card is first class mail, it receives the first class mail services - delivery priority and free notification back to the mailer if the card is not deliverable as addressed.

When designing the card, keep in mind how the letter carrier will present the mail. Most likely, it will be sorted with the address facing the recipient. Be sure you include enough tantalizing information on this side of the post card to ensure that the recipient will turn it over and read your main message.

The content of your newsletter is what attracts and keeps reader interest by providing relevant, informative, entertaining and useful information. One purpose of a newsletter is to lend credibility to your company and to establish your expertise; this can only be accomplished if the newsletter is mainly information, with little or no  advertising.

• Relevant information: To provide relevant information in your newsletter, you must know the target audience. If your audience is diverse, it may be better to publish more than one version of your newsletter so the content can be fully tailored.
• Useful information: Factual articles based on research, or “how-to” tips based on experience both qualify as useful information. To encourage readers to trust the information, keep sales hype, (including superlatives and over-the-top claims) out of the articles.
• Writing style: A good writing style to adopt for your newsletter is the same one used by a newspaper journalist – objective, factual and well-researched. Focus on news that is relevant to your audience, and present it without bias. Keep the language easy-to-read and the sentence structure simple and conversational.
• Call to action: Even though your newsletter isn’t directly selling, it should include a call to action. Emphasize current offers, discounts or other specials of interest to customers and prospects, and make it easy for them to act on the information by providing instructions for what to do if interested.

Newsletter Topic Ideas

If you’re finding it difficult to find topics for your newsletter, we offer these suggestions:

• Interview an expert. Find someone within your company or from the outside to provide an expert opinion on a topic of interest.
• Use guest articles. Ask an expert in a complementary field to write an article.
• Share your knowledge in “how-to” articles. Write about topics that will help others succeed in using your company’s products or services.
• Generate a numbered list. Everyone loves a numbered list. Use any number you want, from small to large.
• Answer reader questions: Invite readers to submit questions or topics of interest.
• Simplify a technical issue. Explain a technical topic in simpler terms so it is easily understood by the reader.
• Case study: Describe a customer problem and show how your product or service solved the problem.
• Community service: Describe a community project or donation made by the company or organization and its staff and members.
• Employee profile: Provide information about an employee that shows why he or she is outstanding in their job performance.