marketing, united-states, email-marketingI am able to purchase a list of potential customers. I don’t want to go into the details too much here, but I believe the list is accurate and I don’t think anything disreputable is going on. The list has been created from publicly available information.
The list includes, names, emails, addresses, and even fax numbers of organizations who are excellent candidates to be customers of my company. I’m looking for advice for how to use this list effectively if I purchase it. My product is low cost so I can’t spend too much time/money on any individual customer.
Postal Mail – I haven’t found a service provider that does bulk postal mailing. I’d like to provide a Word Doc and a list of addresses, and have a company do the mail merge and send out the letters. Does this exist? Any idea what the rates would be for a 1-2 page letter?
Email – I don’t want to spam, and email reputation is very important to my business. If I won’t spam, does the email list have any value?
For email, check these two related questions:
For snail mail, literally print the letter, then fit it into a “normal” envelope (i.e. postcard format), add a handwritten address, and add a normal stamp before posting. In short, the closer it looks like a bill or snail mail spam, the more likely it’ll end up in the trash without getting opened.
The parts you can “automate” are a) printing at a local print store (can be cheaper) and b) the manual chores which can be done by e.g. hiring a student or two to do the grunt work.
Tro tip: throw in a lump factor to give the postage some volume, e.g. a poker chip sized piece of plastic or something that’s vaguely useful and fits in the envelope. This maximizes the chances of it getting opened. ;-)
And writing tip: mind the headline and the marketing copy when sending direct marketing through snail mail. Make the first line slightly bigger, bold, and make sure it instantly drives the reader in. It’s your headline, and in marketing copy headlines are everything.
Quoting John Caples (it’s called the “Caples Award” for a reason):
… I spend hours on headlines – days if necessary. And when I get a good headline, I know that my task is nearly finished. Writing copy can usually be done in a short time, if necessary. And that advertisement will be a good one – that is, if the headline is a stopper.
More related reading on copywriting:
And three useful keywords to google for more info:
If you go the route of emailing the customers, make sure you're abiding by CAN-SPAM laws. A big thing that people forget is that they have to include your physical mailing address as well as unsubscribe link, and you have to abide by someone's unsubscribe request within 10 business days.
Depending on your business and message, I think email is the easiest and most cost effective route.
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