News
 How
List Brokers Boost Direct Mail Results
By Alan Sharpe
Last time I checked, there were 25,000 direct mail
response lists and 50,000 compiled lists currently
on the market. Among all of these lists, you’ll find
hundreds that work for your product or service.
Actually, you likely won’t find them. Locating the
best names for your mailing is complicated and best
left to an experienced list broker.
A list broker is a specialist who researches and
recommends lists for you, and manages all the
paperwork and other details of acquiring the list.
An experienced list broker can:
• Help you find new lists
• Identify profitable segments on unlikely lists
• Help you create a matrix for testing your mailing
against other lists
• Negotiate the best prices for you with the list
owner
• Recommend other media (such as email) to consider
testing
• Make sure the list gets to your lettershop on time
• Help you evaluate your response rates, net revenue
and other results
• Manage invoicing for lists you rent
A Typical List Rental Transaction
1. You phone a list broker that specializes in lists
for your kind of buyer.
2. You describe your business and what you sell.
3. You describe your ideal customer.
4. You tell the list broker the following:
a. the selects you want, if any*
b. how many names you want to order
c. when you will mail your piece
d. when you need to receive the names
e. where you want the names to be sent (your
lettershop, usually)
5. The list broker prepares your list and sends it
to you or your lettershop or service bureau.
6. Your lettershop keys your reply device and other
components so you can track the results of this
mailing back to this list.
7. You mail your package to the names on the list.
8. You process each order you receive, adding the
names to your database (they are yours to keep), and
flagging each new customer record to note the list,
package and offer used to acquire the customer.
* A select is a process that the list broker
conducts on your behalf to choose only some names
from the entire list. You might ask the broker to
select names from a particular ZIP Code™, for
example, or only people with cats, or only women,
and only rent you those names.
Mailing list brokers know the industry. The firms
they work for have researched and tested thousands
of lists. So working with a qualified mailing list
broker is vital.
--- Alan Sharpe is president of Sharpe Copy, Inc., a
B2B direct mail copywriting agency. His website is
www.sharpecopy.com.
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