Renting Mailing Lists: More Secrets

As a business person involved in renting mailing lists, selling and/or promoting something by direct mail, you should know the most important aspects of your mailing. It has to do with the sales letter you send out and the mailing lists. With these thoughts in mind, and assuming you’ve got what should be an order-pulling sales letter, let’s focus our attention specifically on the problem of finding mailing lists that produce profitable orders.

Common Sense

Common sense should tell you that without a good mailing list, the time and money you spend on market research, advertising layout and knowledge relating to the rules of direct mail will just be wasted effort.  In other words, unless you get your offer to the right buyers, you might as well save your time and money.

To reach your most likely buyer, you must first identify your target audience.  This is not as hard as it might appear.  It’s just a matter of recognizing that automotive items will appeal to car owners, household gadgets will sell best to homemakers, and baby items will appeal to new moms. Don’t kid yourself by thinking, “Anyone could use my product!” Instead, focus on identifying the typical buyer of your product and tailoring your marketing efforts to them.

Regardless of how easy it is, this is the most often overlooked part of planning your direct mail project.  Suffice it to say that if you don’t know to whom you’re going to sell a product or service, your product or service will be pretty hard for you to sell.

Competition and Customers

The next thing to consider is the competition your product or service faces.  If it has a limited market – not too many people would stand in line to buy it – and you are competing with virtually the same product as supplied by other companies – then you’re going to have to either come up with a strong ‘hidden angle’ or else face defeat before you even begin…

These are the keys to success in selling anything via direct mail – pinpointing exactly who your buyers are, presenting your offer to them with an angle not being used by your competition, and concentrating all your sales efforts only on your most likely prospects.

Assuming you know who your most likely buyers are, that you’ve got a winning sales letter, and a product or service these people will stand in line to buy, your only challenge is getting the message to these people.

Don’t Go Cheap on a List

Avoid saving money by renting or buying inexpensive mailing lists that seem too good to be true. You’ll waste a lot of time and money mailing to these lists, which you will find very inaccurate. Typical accuracy rates for consumer lists are 92% deliverable, and business lists should be around 85% deliverable. That means if you send out 1000 letters to consumers, you can expect about 80 to come back to you as undeliverable. And out of 1000 letters sent to businesses, you should have fewer than 150 returned.

Before renting a mailing list from a list broker, use the common sense you use in deciding upon a doctor, lawyer or auto mechanic. Please find a list broker and call them on the phone. Tell your list broker about yourself, what you’re trying to sell, how much you’re asking for it, and your long-range plans.

Questions you will be asked to target the Best List

A good list broker will ask many questions and likely want to see a sample of your mailing piece.  Don’t be afraid to talk with these people – they’re in business to help you, and if they rent you a list that doesn’t make money for you, they figure you’ll not buy from them again, so it’s to their benefit to see that you get the right list for your mailing piece and offer.  Most of them will even critique your mailing piece and offer, making suggestions for improvements when appropriate, and in general, act as a consultant to help you realize a profit through their services.

Minimum List Orders

Once you and the list broker have decided upon the mailing list best suited to your offer, they will generally require you to rent a minimum of 5,000 names, but it depends on the list source.  The going prices will range from approximately $70 to $150 per thousand names.  It might seem expensive, but not when you realize that the mailing list is the least costly component of your direct mail project, while at the same time the most crucial part. Look at your budget and your projected ROI to determine how much you can spend on your list. And don’t be afraid to tell your broker what your budget is. It will make their job easier if they know what you can afford. Always ask for the accuracy guarantee of the list(s) you are renting and steer clear of any list vendor that will not offer you an accuracy guarantee in writing.

Target your Buyers

So, the key is to get your offer to your most likely buyers.  The fastest and least expensive way to do this is to work with a reputable mailing list broker, and forget about all those various subscription deals and whatnot you’ll find online these days.

The bottom-line reason for most failures in the direct mail business is that beginners often try to cut corners by using less productive mailing lists.

Remember:  There must be a hungry market for your product or service.  You must project the most professional image of yourself or your company in your sales letters, advertising and/or dealings with prospective buyers.  And you must know who your buyers are and concentrate your efforts to reach only those people with your offers… A reputable mailing list broker will help you find exactly who you need to get.