Resident List Demographic Selections – Income

Smart direct mail marketers use all the tools at their disposal to filter and target their mailing lists so that their message reaches those most likely to respond. It’s all about ROI, Return on Investment. We’ve talked about the use of geographic selections to narrow the list to the optimum or ideal geography be it county, zip code, carrier route, or zip+4 code. We’ve talked about using radius and/or drive time mapping to define the geography most likely to respond to a direct mail campaign. Our last discussion was about using dwelling type selections to narrow the list and make it most responsive.

Another tool available when using the resident list is demographic selection. The most popular demographic selection is income. Income is defined as the median household income of the carrier route. If you remember, a carrier route has an average of 500 households. Since a typical zip code might contain 10,000 households, that zip code is made up of 20 individual and unique carrier routes. In one of the zip codes near our office the carrier route median income ranges from $49,000 to $218,000. Quite a wide range! Think of each carrier route as a neighborhood with its own unique characteristics, income being one of them.

The smart marketer will use the carrier route income selection to their advantage when filtering the resident list. If their offer requires a higher level of disposable income, the marketer has the option to select only the higher income carrier routes in a zip code that they want to reach. Conversely, if their offer is value-oriented with coupon savings that would appeal to a lower level of income, they can select the lower income routes in the zip code. Other creative uses of carrier route income selection are possible.

Be sure to consider income when selecting or filtering the resident list.

Take a look at resident list counts by zip code and carrier route by downloading free count reports. The income level for each carrier route is available.

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