What Do Your Customers Look Like?

Many of our clients maintain a list of their customers. They use this list to communicate regularly with their customers via direct mail and email. They send their customers newsletters, notifications about sales and special offers, new product and service announcements, etc. Smart marketers know that the cost of acquiring a new customer is very high and that it is wise to spend marketing and advertising dollars to retain your current customers and to encourage them to continue doing business with your company.

However, every business continually needs to add new customers. As happy and satisfied as the current customers may be, there is always some attrition and loss of customers for a variety of reasons. Thus, it is also wise to allocate some part of the marketing and ad budget to acquiring new customers. If you are using direct mail or email for your new customer acquisition efforts, the decision about who to target is crucial to success. Ideally, you would like to try to reach those who have the same characteristics or look like your existing customers. But, what do your customers look like? And, how can you find out? The answer is Customer Profile Analysis.

Take a look at some Customer Profile Analysis Success Stories.

Or read a Case Study.

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Want to Reach More of Your Potential Market?

Recently our Sales Manager told me of a creative solution she implemented to help one of our clients reach more of their potential market. The client operates a national chain of dental offices. Their normal marketing consists of reaching all the carrier routes that have a median income of at least $35,000 and are within 8 miles of an office. They use the resident list to reach this market and enjoy all the benefits of using this type of list which include delivery to every address within the carrier routes that meet the income and distance criteria, a low $/M list cost, and the lowest postage cost possible.

However, since there are carrier routes within 8 miles of their offices that they are not reaching due to the income limitation, the client was looking for possible ways to profitably reach more of their market within these carrier routes. In a strategy session to discuss marketing tactics and better understand how their business generates profit, we realized that households with children between the ages of 7 and 18 have high profit potential based on normal on-going dental hygiene and maintenance needs plus the prevalent need for orthodontia. To reach this highly profitable potential market we tapped the consumer list to select at the household level those households containing children in the target age range that met the income criteria. This is a market not penetrated before and the initial results from their direct mail campaigns have been very encouraging.

Consider combining household selects from the consumer list with your resident list mailings to reach more of your potential market.

Take a look at resident list counts by zip code and carrier route by downloading free count reports.

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Email Marketing?

Why am I talking about email marketing in a blog about resident lists? Because it is becoming more and more relevant as marketers move to embrace integrated or multi-channel marketing. This new marketing revolution allows marketers to reach their target audience through a variety of channels, each of which supports the other. The various channels available could include direct mail, email marketing, paid Internet marketing, and social media networks like Facebook or LinkedIn.

I am watching this new revolution unfold for one of our clients who mails a coupon publication monthly using the resident list. For several months now they have been mailing as usual, but supplementing their direct mail with two email marketing campaigns during the month. The email campaigns target demographically appropriate prospects within the zip codes that encompass their advertiser’s businesses. So far, the results are meeting their expectations as they watch traffic on their web site jump substantially following each email broadcast. Once on the web site visitors are able to download coupons that are available through the printed publication as well. Integrating these two channels, direct mail and email, is allowing this client to broaden their reach and response and improve resulting coupon redemptions at their advertiser’s businesses.

Take a look at resident list counts by zip code and carrier route by downloading free count reports.

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Make the Most of the Holiday Season

Halloween is right around the corner and Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it. For many marketers the holiday season represents a unique business opportunity because many consumers open their wallets at this time of the year and up their spending. For most retailers the holidays and the 4th quarter represent their highest quarter for sales and profits. For non-profits this time of the year is also the time when they receive their highest level of donations as many find themselves feeling generous to those who have needs (and many also time their donations at year end to maximize their tax deductions). Churches, too, find that this is the time of year when people are moved to attend religious services. Home improvement, painting, and interior design businesses thrive at this time as the holiday hostess and host want to spruce their home up so that it looks its best for holiday guests and visitors.

What does all this have to do with the resident list? Well, many of the successful businesses and organizations noted above—retailers, non-profits, churches, and home improvement services—promote their businesses and causes using direct mail marketing. In addition, many use the resident list as their list of choice to reach their target audience—in the right neighborhood, around their store or church location, and reaching those with the right demographics. I hope that you already have your holiday direct mail campaigns planned and organized. If not, there is still time to make this most of this special time of the year. But, don’t wait, get started now!

Take a look at resident list counts by zip code and carrier route by downloading free count reports.

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Can the Resident List Work for Non-Profits?

Conventional direct marketing wisdom would say “No, the resident list will not work for non-profits.” Conventional direct marketing wisdom dictates that when mailing to acquire new donors one would rent a list(s) of names of individuals who are known donors and often donors to a similar non-profit cause.

However, I have seen a number of significant non-profit organizations use the resident list very successfully to generate new donors. Their acquisition mailings were holiday appeals and the mailing package was very simple and low cost. They used the resident plus list that contains names on approximately 80% of the records so there is an element of personalization on the majority of the pieces. In addition, the resident list was selected using an income demographic so that the appeal mailing was directed only to higher income carrier routes. Potential donors in high income routes logically have more discretionary income available to donate to a non-profit.

I think their secret to success is a combination of factors that converge to create a very low cost in the mail. First, the resident list is a very low cost list relative to a named known donor list—probably 1/10 the cost. Second, using the resident list allows for the lowest postage rate possible, ECR WSS. Finally, the package mailed is simple and low cost. When the appeal is over and the donations are all in, the $ donated per $ spent ratio is high enough to make the campaign successful based on the usual non-profit financial ratios that benchmark success.

Consider using the resident plus list for your next appeal mailing.

Take a look at resident list counts by zip code and carrier route by downloading free count reports.

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Are You A Coupon Mailer? If So, Read This!

An article published in yesterday’s New York Times business section, A Clip-and-Save Renaissance, notes that coupon use has risen dramatically during the past year as the economy has been in recession. It notes that even though “it may be the digital age, when it comes to pinching pennies, most consumers are opting for a method that is well over a 100 years old: the paper coupon.” Not only has coupon redemption risen 23 percent during the first of half of 2009, paper coupons account for 99.5 percent of the coupons redeemed in the country.

The resident list is the primary list used by many coupon mailers who mail coupons in envelopes, printed in magazines or publications, or as part of a self-mailer.

Take a look at resident list counts by zip code and carrier route by downloading free count reports.

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Do You Want to Reach Businesses?

Some direct mail marketers offer products and services that are targeted to businesses. A simple example might be a fast food restaurant that wants to reach businesses around their location with a coupon offer to drive lunch traffic. Since the resident list (res/occ list) reaches all addresses that are delivered by the US Postal Service, there are over 10 million addresses that the USPS identifies as business deliveries. Business marketers can tap into this subset of business addresses to reach their target market. The business list can be targeted geographically at the zip code or carrier route level. But, since this is an address-only list, demographic targeting by SIC code, employee size, sales size, etc. is not possible. Address quality for the occupant business list is excellent since the USPS maintains the address database and deliverability is close to 100%. If the marketer wants to reach both residences and businesses, they can mail to an integrated list containing both types of addresses sorted in postal carrier walk sequence so that they can take advantage of the lowest postage rates possible.

In summary, the business addresses that are part of the resident list offer a great opportunity for marketers who want to reach a business audience with high deliverability and the lowest postage cost possible.

Take a look at resident list counts by zip code and carrier route by downloading free count reports. Business counts are included.

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