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How to Choose a Mailing List

Direct marketing guru Ed Mayer famously said that the mailing list you use accounts for 40% of the responses from your mailings.

With that much of your revenue riding on the result, it's important to make sure that you use a high-quality list. The trouble is that there are a bewildering array of lists; thousands and thousands of them. There are lists of businesses, lists of physicians, lists of gardeners, even lists of Jewish vitamin buyers (?!). And, prices range from $25 for a list of thousands of names to $1,000 for only a few hundred names. How do you find the right one?

Types of Lists

Compiled

Mail Order/Online Buyers

Subscribers

E-mail

In-house lists

Check the list's profile

Each list has a data card (its profile), which will tell you:

• the name or description of the list
• whether it's a business list (made up of companies) or a consumer list (made up of individual people)
• how many names are on it
• the last time it was updated
• details about the people and businesses on the list (such as number of employees, type of business, and job titles)

Look to see if the details match the profile of your target audience, and how many of them there are. For example, if you want to mail to 5,000 people, but only 200 of the people on a particular list meet your requirements, you'll need a different list.

Renting a list vs. buying

There are many lists available both for rental and purchase. Purchased lists are generally compiled, and less responsive, plus you can't update the data.

• Before you pay for a list, consider what you're going to use it for, and how long you want to use it.
• Rental lists are generally for one-time use and the llist owner will often want to see a copy of the material you are mailing (a draft is usually OK).
• You will save money (even for a list that costs more) because you will have fewer undeliverable names and less wasted paper and postage.

How much to pay

Prices can range from free (and generally worthless) to thousands of dollars. Here are a few general rules to follow:

• Business lists usually cost more than consumer lists
• Subscriber, mail order, or house lists will cost more than compiled lists
• Costs are generally quoted in $ per thousand names, such as $50 per thousand or $300 per thousand.
• "Selections", or narrowing down the list, by certain job titles, geographic locations, or other criteria will cost a fixed price per thousand names. The list owner may also charge additional fixed fees for different media (such as labels, disk, or electronic delivery).
• The list that's "best" is not the one that costs the least, but the one that will get the best response.

The best list for your product or service will get a response rate that is ten times higher than the worst list.

Make sure the list is fresh

Like fish, lists become less and less appealing the older they get. While they won't literally stink, the quality will go down considerably.

• Look at the data card (the list profile) to see when the list was last updated. Older lists will have more errors (people who have now moved, businesses that have closed, or subscribers who have expired).
• Newer names are more likely to be "clean", and also more likely to buy. Try using a "hotlist" or names of recent subscribers or purchasers.

See where the names come from

Are the names from a single source, such as subscribers to a particular magazine? Or does it contain several files grouped together (such as subscribers to several magazines, plus general inquiries, plus expired subscribers)?

Lists from multiple sources give you access to a larger number of names, and often have additional data added (called an overlay). This can include company size, personal income ranges, etc. However, such lists can also be too broad, or include compiled names and directories. Check carefully, and make sure you know what you're paying for.

About the Author

Jodi Kaplan, founder of KaplanCopy, fixes "broken" marketing. If your marketing is costing more money than it's making and people leave your Web site without buying, your marketing is broken. For more tips, and a free 25-page marketing guide, go to KaplanCopy Free Marketing Guide.

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