Mailpost Leadership

To share information with your prospects and customers through e-mail, you’ll need an e-mail list.

That may sound a bit simplistic, but as anyone new to Internet marketing will tell you, it’s not the easiest thing on their “to do” list.

As an internet marketer, you may have found or created a great product or service. You may have a super website that does an awesome job of describing what you have to offer. You may have accumulated information that you really believe would be helpful to your prospects or customers.

What you need, however, is an e-mail list.

Here are some suggestions on how to build your list:

how to attract e-mail subscribers
how to keep the information you collect safe
how to sort and use the data appropriately

In this era of information overload, getting people to share their e-mail address isn’t always easy. People want their privacy…and sometimes they just don’t want to be overwhelmed by one more e-mail.

There’s good news, though. People do want to receive information that’s useful to them. Relevant information delivered when they want it, when they need it, and where they want it delivered.

The challenge, then, is to meet them where they are…in their needs, desires, fears, and accomplishments.

If you’re getting visitors to your websites, but not e-mail opt-ins, review your website. Are there multiple opportunities… and incentives… for prospects and customers to provide their e-mail information?

Is there something in it for them to do so?

Is there a reasonable expectation that if they provide you their e-mail address, they will get something in return… immediately… that could be a solution… or part of a solution to their problem?

Maybe it’s a coupon; perhaps a free report; or an opportunity to contribute to, or be a part of, something “bigger” than them. What might appeal to your target audience?

How easy is the sign-up? If your prospects or customers know you well, they may not mind giving you more than their e-mail address. However, to attract new e-mail subscribers, providing just their e-mail address is often all they’re willing to do.

As you’re reviewing your website, this is a good time to check your graphics. Do they draw attention to your opt-in box? While it’s not necessary, you may want to consider a variety of sign-up options, such as buttons, text links, and check boxes.

Got it? OK, then let’s move on.

You may have someone who’s fingers are poised on the keyboard, but they need something else. They need you to ensure them you will use their information only as they want… and give you permission to.

Remember the importance of your first impression. If it’s not right, it may be your last one.

Once a prospect or customer has opted-in or given you permission to send them e-mails, the first e-mail they receive from you is your “thank you” note, which clearly states exactly what the user has signed up for, specifies where they saw it, and requests a confirmation.

Your first impression is made here. Within minutes of providing their information to you, the recipient should receive their e-mail response. Make sure you’ve asked them to white-list, or place you on their “safe contact” list. Whatever incentive you may have offered, make sure they receive it promptly.

Before you begin your first e-mail campaign, prepare an e-mail database for collecting information. It’s important to make sure you organize your data so it’s easily viewed, and can be sorted to help you make the best use of it. In addition to Excel, Access, and many other database programs, most ESP’s (E-Mail Service Provider) have database utilities you can use. If you need something more sophisticated, there are many more available. What you want, however, is something that’s easy and functional, while protected from hackers, and never shared without explicit permission.

Auto-responder software is a “must-have” if you have an e-mail campaign. Auto-responder software is always under your control, and you and your e-mail recipients know that your list is safe. There are numerous choices, and it’s good to review as many as possible before selecting what will work best for you.

Now that you have permission to send e-mails to a list of subscribers, make sure you constantly review your database. If you don’t have a lot of information yet about what your subscribers want to receive, ask them. Get relevant information about the type of information they’re interested in, the frequency they want to receive it, and who else they think might also be interested. Keep your database updated constantly…and whenever someone opts out, make sure they’re promptly removed from your e-mail list.

All e-mail permission can be revoked if your e-mails get repeatedly reported as spam, and all your efforts in carefully building your list will be for naught!

Just like in the old “Simon says” game, make sure your e-mails match the permission granted.

Mailpost Business Franchise Opportunities

Here are some tips to help your mail order business be successful.

1. How do you develop a personal relationship with your customers?

Successful mail order firms make every effort to personalize their mail!

2. What inspires people to buy by mail?

Convenience and saving of time it would take to make a personal trip. Avoidance of rush hour crowds. Many find it fun to buy through the mail.. Many prefer to buy personal items, such as certain kinds of books, by mail. Exclusiveness of many mail order products.

3. How do you begin with a mail order business?

Check at the post office to obtain information on various permits and fees for bulk mailing and all the other services which will fit in with your operations. You need very little capital to begin. The main thing is to use impressive printed letterheads and envelopes. Test before you splurge. Start with just a few classified ads, then build your programs from there.

4. Why are most mail order ads losing money?

The product, the price, the media used, the timing of the ad and the right prospect are all critical factors. Proper items must be selected, those that will readily sell by mail. The price must be especially attractive. Ads must be simple and easy to understand; attention producing with strong eye-arresting leads. They must convince customers and make it easy for them to order. All these ingredients need to be present to get good response.

5. What moves well in mail order?

Good novelty merchandise and scarce items. Books of interest to a large audience. Certain Multi-level marketing plans are good planswith good, reasonably priced products as a base. However, there are a great deal more poor, worthless, MLM programs floating around than there are good ones so one must be very cautious in choosing this kind of operation.

6. What make customers come back again and again?

The right product with orders handled carefully and quickly. Satisfied customers always come back, even via mail.

7. What limits the mail order business?

There is no limit to the mailorder business if you are willing to learn and expand. A real good hot item, even at a high cost can be a real winner. Don’t let your programs just sit idle. Test… Test and more tests. Keep on the top of all your activities and follow through.

8. After you have been in the business a short time what can you use to build confidence?

You can accumulate testimonials from you customers and use them in your ads to build customer confidence.

9. What one mistake costs the mailorder operator a lot of money?

It is a waste of money to present established items that people can get most anywhere.

10. What are the 13 most powerful words for your ads?

Free, Rush, Limited, Guaranteed, Save, Sale, New, Get, Look, Money-making, Profits, Act, Now!

11. How do you get income coming from every direction?

After you have built up your programs (Sale of merchandise, books, publication, MLM, or whatever) and have a good customer list, rent or sell the names. Offer big mails for SASE to build up and expand your name list. Mail circulars of others, for a fee or commission, with your own Big Mails.

12. What should you know about catalog deals?

Stay away from catalog deals until you can check them out with simple tests that prove them profitable.

13. How do you realize your dreams to be a success in the mail order business?

Keep your mind open for new ideas and don’t give up. Don’t throw away your dreams because of only a few failures. Proceed carefully; watch out for fraud and fast buck artists. Hang in there and you can become a great success!

14. What is one of the most common questions asked by the would-be customer of most any money-making, how-to, self-improvement, mailorder, idea, or success publication?

What can it do for me! With the millions of books on the market it is an difficult question, to be sure. It’s certainly much easier to expound on the advantages of one book over another “because it has more pages” or “It has a more expensive cover”. But those are not the answers. The foundation of knowledge is learning and the best way to learn is to simplify everything possible. Eliminate all the useless non-essentials so the reader is not overburdened with worthless detail and let them know through proper advertising what your publication or book can do for them!

15. What are a person’s two main alternatives for success or failure?

As chaotic conditions increase in this mad money world they can crawl in the corner and let the world pass them by, or learn new methods required to format their future wealth! Waiting for the day when they will have everything they need will never come without know-how!

16. Whether you are in “Big Business” or just working from your “Kitchen Table”, what secrets must you apply in order to find riches?

Wealth will not materialize until you take action and generate the force needed to start the wealth-building process. Most people are just not oriented to do anything about gaining new wealth, while others believe it would take too much of their time and money to follow through a project to completion. They don’t realize that knowledge is power and wealth favors the trained mind. This leaves the market place wide open for those who apply the proper ideas and methods. The ones who discover the ways to exploit the future. You must move ahead of the times, extend your knowledge and open up new avenues of personal growth! Expand your horizons!

17. Who to contact pertaining to any questions about the mail service?

Your local Postmaster or the Consumer Advocate, U.S. Postal Service, Washington DC 20260-6320, Phone (202) 245-4514.

18. If you suspect Misrepresentation, Mail Fraud or want to stop sexually oriented mail, who do your contact?

Your local Postmaster, or Chief Postal Inspector, U.S. Postal Service, Room 3517, Washington, DC 20260-2100, Phone (202) 245-5445.

19. Where to get help from problems or questions about unordered products or non-delivery?

Consumer Inquiries, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, DC 20580, Phone (202) 523-3598.

20. From whom can you get the most general mail order questions answered?

The local Consumer Protection Agency, or the Direct Mail Marketing Association located at 6 East 43rd. St., New York, NY 10017, Phone (212) 689-4977.

21. Why do a great percentage of persons fail in mail order?

Mail order is a complex business. Every phase must be analyzed and tested. The right products must be selected, the correct type of ads placed in the proper media and 1,001 other details attended to constantly. The mailorder enthusiast is led to believe they can be an overnight success with very little work. When they find this is not the case they drop out before giving themselves a chance to learn the right methods.

22. What is the “Inner Circle” of mail order?

A Mailorder House is commonly defined as “An establishment conducting business by Mail”. A Mailorder Dealer is simply one who sells by mail. The circle of mail order relates to the thousands of mailorder dealers operating throughout the country. The “Inner Circle of Mail Order” refers to those successful professionals who have “climbed to the top” in the mail order field by long, hard work, study, knowledge and persistence.

23. How do you get in the “Inner Circle of Mailorder”?

As you learn and progress in the many and varied phases of mailorder business methods, you will set various goals. You must continuously change plans and programs to attain these goals. Unless you are one of those fortunate few who hit it “lucky” overnight with some special program, product, or gimmick, the best way to arrive at Ultimate success in mailorder is to “Dive” right into the “outer fringes of the Inner Circle” and start “climbing”. When your successes overtake and offset your failures, as you work your way up to the “Hub of the Wheel”, you will have finally reached the Ultimate height in Mailorder… The Inner Circle!

24. Where to Start in Mailorder?

The best way to start is to work with those who are already there. Obtain several small mailorder trade magazines. Get one page ad sheets and various circulars. You can spend a small amount on BIG MAILS and be flooded with magazines, adsheets, circulars, etc. with thousands of different offers and potential opportunities. For a dollar or two you can get listed in these various media as wanting offers and “be assured”, you will get your money’s worth!

25. What is one of the most valuable assets for the mailorder beginner?

“Junk Mail”. As you receive information and various packets, analyze the offers and send for full information on the ones that appeal to you. File and keep all the information you receive by the kind of program or plan, and we don’t mean to put them in “File 13″. None of this “Junk Mail” is Junk; there is no such word in the vocabulary of mail order dealers. It is one of their most valuable assets, if properly analyzed, filed and used intelligently.

26. What must you do as your files accumulate, in order to succeed?

Don’t just send off for the many deals, then wait until you accumulate a room full of files. Time is money. You can handle only a small percent of the programs available, so right away, jump in and “lightly” test several of the programs that interest you. Spend only a minimum on each plan or program, until your tests prove out, then hit the winners hard and fast!

27. Some great money-makers to include in your mailorder business?

Printing and publishing… publish your own mailorder books and manuals. Manufacture your own product in your garage or basement. Purchase your product direct from factories at distributors cost. Get involved in the sale of the thousands of How-To books and programs available. Make up unique How-to-reports, stories, etc., in cartoon form. Write valuable promotion deals for the millions of merchants and retailers… put it on tape. Sell or lease your name lists. Make up your own commission circular programs and adsheets. Offer big mail… Mail others commission circulars with your own mailings. i.e. Do everything possible through the mail that is legal until you find the right programs to make your million.

28. How to stay ahead of the game?

You must constantly keep up with what other dealers are doing! Check out the successful programs and build your own around them. Give constant attention to your ideas. Write them down and act on the good ones. Find new products, develop “solid” plans around them and test them in the market place.

29. How to double your earnings in mailorder?

Begin by running one or two ads in several different mailorder publications. When orders begin coming in take a full 50% of the profits and invest them in more advertising. You must continue to expand your advertising in order to double your income.

30. What is another method to double your income?

Multiply the number of products or services. If you are offering the right products and advertise in the right media you can be greatly surprised by the results. Continuous investment of profits for advertising and new items that generate orders are the secret if you wish to succeed in any business and mailorder is certainly no exception.

31. How do you get set up as a Co-publisher?

You place your ad in a trade magazine or adsheet that is “Co-Publishable”. Send your ad and remittance to the Co-Publisher who will forward the same, along with 50% of your payment to the Prime Publisher. Your ad will appear in the next issue and the publisher will send you full details on becoming a Co-Publisher.

32. What are the usual benefits of Co-publishing?

As a Co-Publisher, you generally get your future ads placed at one-half the published rates; 50% on commission ads you obtain; 50% for subscriptions received; 50% on products advertised in the publications which are to be ordered through you, the Co-Publishers, and receive 20 to 100 or so publications for your own mailings. You simply stamp your name and address as Co-Publisher and mail them out! If the ads don’t pull, you may still come out ahead from orders which come to you as the Co-Publisher. When you receive orders, retain 50% (or whatever amount is the agreed commission) and forward the balance with the order, to the Prime Publisher… He will take it from there… It’s that simple. Your own ads, of course, get full circulation based on the total published and distributed.

33. How you can control the number of orders you get as a Co-Publisher?

The number of orders you receive will depend on who you mail them to. If you mail to other Co-publishers, orders obtained will usually be for small one inch ads. They will reserve expenditures for large ads, until they become Co-Publishers of the publication themselves, thus getting their advertising at one-half rates! If your mailings are directed to mailorder beginners, opportunity seekers, or direct to the consumer, orders you receive will probably be for books or products offered under “Order From Co-Publisher” ads.

34. What must you do to get started economically and efficiently as a “top” commission mailer?

Order a good rubber stamp… Send for some free commission circulars, pay only the postage for these. They are available from prime source mailorder firms… Send for some free names who want Big Mail… Buy a supply of envelopes and stamps… Address the envelopes to the names wanting big mail… When you receive your circulars. stamp your name and address in the blank space provided, put one of each type of circular in each envelope, filling to the maximum weight for each level of postage rate; mail them. When you receive orders, take out your commission and forward everything else to the Prime source… And you are in business!

35. How do you make $50,000 a year by working from your kitchen table 4 hours a week?

There is money in the mailorder business but not as some advertise it. Don’t believe it. You won’t make $50,000 a year by working 4 hours a week. NO! It doesn’t work that way! If you will follow instructions, be happy with from $100 to $400 a week spending a few hours every night, five nights a week, then you too can make money in mail order.

36. What is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a commission mailer?

It is good policy to never get your circulars, and your mailing list, from the same dealer.

37. How do you get started with your own adsheet?

Adsheets are sometimes started by the publisher cutting others ads from various adsheets or magazines and pasting these on their own adsheet without cost to the advertiser. This adsheet is then mailed to these various dealers with an offer to re-run the ads at the published rate. This is not the best method. It is better to find publishers who will send you partial page, or full page ads that pay from 50% to 100% commission. You run these ads over your name in the first few editions of your adsheet. As paid ads come in you simply replace these free commission ads with the paid ads. Until you get paid ads for your publication, you have a chance to make money whether you have paid advertisers or not. Moreover, some companies will give you substantial discounts on their various mailorder programs if you will run their ad in the first edition. Thus you can make money off of their ads and also get professionally designed mailorder programs at very little cost.

38. How do you keep your Co-publishing costs to Zero?

The discounts for your own ads are generally 50% with most of the mailorder publications. In return for the discount you are expected to mail a few copies. “Piggy-back” the copies in orders you fill and in your big mails, or advertise offering them free for payment of postage. Using these methods your postage cost to mail your copies can be Zero!

39. What colors are the most appealing to women, in order of preference?

Red, Violet, Blue, Green, Orange, White, Yellow.

40. What colors are the most appealing to men in order of preference?

Blue, Red. Violet, Green, Orange, White, Yellow.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
Note to editors:
To show my appreciation to the editors that use my articles, I offer a free solo
ad. Simply send an email to me by using the form on the contact me page on my
website to tell me the url the article was used on or send me a copy of the ezine
it was used in.

Mailpost opportunities

A recent Aperture Research Institute study reported upwards of 70 percent of organizations have adopted a green initiative of some kind. While those companies should be lauded for their efforts at environmental stewardship, bad days on Wall Street and for the economy have seen some companies abandon or scale back their green initiatives as they tighten their belts. Now is the time to take a realistic look at your company’s green initiatives and ask whether or not the practices undertaken are “evergreen” – promoting not only environmental sustainability, but also sound business practices and solid return on investment so as to be sustainable in good economic conditions as well as bad.

For instance, over six million trees and more than 300 million pounds of paper are wasted each year on undeliverable-as-addressed Standard class mail, as reported by UAA Clearinghouse. It costs the Post Office over 2 billion dollars annually to process this true “junk mail”. And the cost to mailers is even more dramatic – undeliverable mail costs direct mailers over $6 billion dollars a year.

So, is Postmaster General Jack Potter’s call to reduce UAA mail by 50 percent by 2010 a green initiative designed to decrease global warming and unnecessary environmental waste? Absolutely. But it’s also a common sense business initiative that will save both the USPS® and mailers a tremendous amount of money – money better spent on job creation, product development, and effective marketing.

Here are steps 1 through 5 you can easily implement to save money as you green your mailings – reducing waste, while improving deliverability, effectiveness and response to ensure you stay in the black, even as the economy sees red.

Steps 1 – 5 for Greener Mail – from Start to Finish

Step 1: Correct it!

Annually, a little under 5 percent of the mailstream, or about 10 billion mail pieces, are undeliverable-as-addressed. The majority of these mail pieces are handled as waste, adding ten million tons to the municipal solid waste stream. By reducing undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail you are not only helping the environment, you’re also saving money. With the postage and cost increases, bad addresses have become more costly than ever. As such it is important for companies to correct and standardize addresses before they enter a database or CRM to help ensure they don’t waste money later on sending mail to incorrect and undeliverable addresses.

Thankfully, cleaning up addresses is easy these days. Mail preparation software is available that will reduce errors due to missing or incorrect directionals, incorrect street names, missing or incorrect suffixes, incorrect ZIP codes, and more. Make sure that the mailing software you purchase is CASS Certified. To be CASS Certified, software must pass an annual USPS test to verify and correct addresses to the ZIP + 4® level with 98percent accuracy, among other requirements. Starting in 2008, CASS(TM) processing now includes DPV and LACSLink for a greater level of accuracy. DPV confirms an address has an actual point of delivery, while LACSLink identifies and updates business and residential rural route addresses to street-style addresses.

Additionally, mail preparation software will presort and barcode your mailings, helping you qualify for the lowest postage rates and applicable discounts. Here’s how one company achieved their goals.

A college magazine publisher mailed out thousands of copies of their monthly publication but needed to find ways to cut down on their costs. They investigated and purchased mail preparation software to barcode their mailings for postal discounts. Not only did the software qualify their mailings for presort discounts resulting in thousands of dollars a year in savings, it also verified and corrected incomplete and incorrect addresses which dramatically cut down on the amount of returned mail.

Step 2: Update it!

Another culprit in the high cost of undeliverable mail is customers – they are a constantly moving target. An estimated 43 million Americans pick up and move every year. That means up to 20 percent of the people or companies in any database could have a new address – a fact that presents some pretty big hurdles to maintain quality mailings lists, and low postage and production costs.

The USPS provides postal discounts for mailers that meet Move Update standards by keeping their lists up-to-date with current addresses. Authorized methods to meet Move Update standards include: NCOALink processing, FASTforward processing (letter mail only), and Address Change of Service (ACS(TM)).

The USPS maintains a database with approximately 160 million records or 48 months of permanent address changes. It’s called the NCOALink product. You can submit your mailing list or database records to USPS approved vendors for NCOALink processing to match your addresses to the change-of-address records on file with the USPS. Since 1986 when the USPS introduced the product, NCOALink has saved mailers billions of dollars that otherwise would have been wasted in paper, postage, and labor costs.

NCOALink processing your mailing list before mailing can have a significant impact on the ROI for a direct mail campaign. Let’s take an example of a 100,000 piece mailing at bulk rate with a total cost of $0.50 per piece. For this example let’s say that the mailing will generate a 1.5 percent response rate and $50 in average sales. Let’s assume that the mail list hasn’t been NCOALink processed in the last 12 months and there is a “bad” address rate of 5percent. As bulk mail is rarely forwarded, that means that 5,000 pieces never made it to their destination. At $0.50 per piece that is a loss of $5,000 right out of the gate. Now, consider that those prospects never got the opportunity to respond to the offer. At the 1.5 percent response rate and $50 average gift threshold in this scenario, that is an additional $3,750 in potential sales lost. So, in this example, not utilizing NCOALink resulted in an $8,750 mistake. And, this isn’t an extreme example. Take a look at how outdated a database can get.

Recently, a state Republican Party recently submitted its voter lists for NCOALink change-of-address processing. Of the 3.9 million voter records processed, about 528,000 records were matched to recent movers in the USPS file – almost 14 percent of their total mailing would have been undeliverable-as-addressed without move updating.

Today some type of move update processing is required every 185 days to receive First-Class Mail® automation and presort discounts. In the USPS’ effort to continue reducing UAA by 50 percent by 2010, on November 23, 2008 new Move Update standards will take effect – shortening the minimum processing window for move update processing from 185 to 95 days and making move updating mandatory for both First-Class and Standard Mail automation and presort discounts.

In addition to making Move Updating mandatory for both First-Class and Standard discounts, the USPS has proposed enforcement penalties for mailings that are not in compliance with the new Move Update standards.

According to Business Mailers Review, the USPS will use the MERLIN® verification system to check for Move Update compliance. If there are mail pieces that are deemed noncompliant, then the entire mailing is noncompliant. As a result, the mailer could be subject to a $0.07 per mail piece penalty for every mail piece across the mailing, not just on the undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) pieces.

Such a penalty could be very costly. For instance, if a mailer delivers a 100,000 piece mailing, and the Postal Service determines that it is not Move Update compliant, the proposed penalty would be $7,000 for that noncompliant mailing.

While that figure may raise eyebrows, USPS does plan to institute a 60 or 90 day grace period, in order to allow everyone an opportunity to go back and address the issue.

Step 3: Dedupe it!

Picture this. You walk out to your mail box and discover you’ve received four solicitations from your favorite charity — one addressed using your full name; one addressed using your initials; one addressed to your spouse; and one addressed to your entire family. Why are they wasting my donation on multiple solicitations you wonder?

While receiving duplicate mailings annoys recipients, the problems it causes sending organizations are even more significant. Especially considering the average customer database contains 10 percent duplicate records. Maintaining that level of duplicate records costs companies money, reduces response rates and hurts marketing efficiency.

One way to tackle duplicate records is to provide customer incentives, such as a discount on their next purchase, for notifying the company of duplicate mailings they have received.

In addition, there are easy-to-use merge/purge software programs available, as well as data hygiene services, which can quickly dedupe your mailing list – or multiple lists. And you can dictate the type of matches you’d like to find in your database from names, addresses and city/state/ZIP structures to telephone numbers, customer numbers or email addresses.

Step 4: Suppress it!

According to the latest statistics available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2005, 659,000 people under age 65 died. Now imagine an insurance company sending out a direct mail campaign with a call to action “save 15% or more on car insurance” addressed to a young mother that had been killed two years ago in a car wreck? Ouch.

While mail that is sent to deceased persons via relatives is a fraction of the overall amount of undeliverable mail each year, it is still costly – to your bottom line and your company image. Before you mail, use a data service provider to process your mailing list and suppress names that are deceased, on the DMA’s Do-Not-Mail List, or prison inmates.

You can also create and maintain an in-house suppression file that enables customers and prospects to opt-out of your company’s mailings on a selective basis. This helps ensure lists are accurately maintained at the highest level by removing inappropriate recipients, and should result in higher response rates, as well as lower production and postage costs.

Step 5: Target it!

Being able to accurately locate your customers, best prospects and competitors is the key to any cost-effective marketing campaign. Affordable geocoding services and products are available to help you put your customers on the map.

Geocoding is the process of assigning geographic locations (latitude and longitude) to the ZIP+4(TM) level of addresses in a database to help marketers identify profitable areas for mailing and the best prospects for increased business.

One direct marketing firm uses geocoding technology to help clients that are realtors “farm a neighborhood” around a house they have sold. Once the latitude and longitude coordinates are appended to the address, the firm creates a mashup of the data with Google maps – this allows the client to see exactly where the material will be sent – down to the individual houses which their mail will be delivered.

This location intelligence and accurate geographical coordinates can help mailers develop more targeted strategies that are incredibly cost-effective by reducing mailing costs.

Mailpost Franchise

There are two types of lists that e-mail marketers are…or need to be…well aware of. First, there’s the list you don’t want to be on. It’s the black list.

ISP’s (Internet service providers) use different methods and techniques to deliver e-mails that people want, and to block e-mails that people don’t want. One of the primary techniques used is the reputation of the IP address of the sender, linked with the reputation of the ESP (e-mail service provider).

However, having an unknown…or little-known IP address…can be enough to keep your e-mail from getting through. This can happen even if your ESP is well-known and has a blue ribbon reputation. And…if you decide to switch your e-mail service provider, your combined IP/ESP rating will begin again in order to re-establish your ranking with the ISP. Of course, the ISP will also always check their databases to see if the email sender’s IP address is on the list of known “spammers.” Your IP address can erroneously get on that list, or through various errors you’ve made when sending e-mails.

If this somehow seems too confusing or unfair, take a moment to remember how we got here. The proliferation of spam, or undesired e-mail, some of them with serious viruses, were responsible for spam cops and other “cyber supers” to “protect” us.

If you approach this issue from the desire to be whitelisted, then, rather than blacklisted when you begin your campaign, you may well be able to keep your e-mails from disappearing into the “blacklist black hole.” To avoid blacklists, and get whitelisted:

Get opt-in confirmation. This is critical and can’t be overstated. Let double-opt-ins…confirmed opt-ins…be your new best friend. Send a welcome message to further verify that the recipient is giving you permission to send them e-mail.
Maintain opt-in records. Without being legalistic, suffice it to say there is great truth in the simple statement “Document, document, document.” In the event you are somehow erroneously blacklisted, being able to verify an opt-in will go a long way toward clearing up the mistake.
Use a feedback loop. Set up your program to ensure that you get a report if your e-mail is reported as spam. Rather like having your jealous sister start a nasty rumor about you while you’re both in high school, if you are unaware that your e-mail got reported as spam, your reputation can be ruined while you’re totally innocent.
Have malware protection. Make sure the hardware you are using is free of malware, with ongoing reliable virus protection that scans your systems and keeps your servers and computers malware free.

Mailpost Peter Kritas

In today’s world of technology consumers can socialize, network, find information, and make purchases however and whenever they want. They are also in total control over the information they want to receive which has created a challenge for the Marketer to get their message read. The consumer can turn their spam filter to high, fast forward through commercials on their recorded TV shows or delete messages without even looking at them.

This new ‘techy’ consumer has created a unique challenge for businesses to develop successful marketing programs that speak to the right audience, at the right time, and through the appropriate media. Using the Internet for marketing has opened up new ways to communicate with your audience but using it exclusively is not the answer to a successful marketing campaign.

The possibilities surrounding the dawn of online marketing does not mean that print is dead. The tools used by the new techy consumer are not used by every consumer. Print’s history of success can not be forgotten. Current research and statistics show that direct mail marketing is still effective and remains a very effective marketing tool.

According to the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) 2006 Statistical Fact Book, direct mail marketing is the medium used by most Marketers. According to the DMA, in 2005 more than $54 billion was spent on direct mail advertising. That is almost three times the number that will be spent on online advertising in 2010.

Here are some compelling reasons to use direct mail vs. online:

1.) There are many consumers who do not have a computer and/or have regular access to e-mail and remain unsure and don’t trust what is on the Internet.

1a.) Everybody does, however, have a mailbox. Although there is a fair share of junk mail received everyday your piece has a chance to be seen and read. Your challenge is to make it stand out and interesting enough to be kept and looked at instead of being thrown in the ‘recycle bin’ on the way into the house.

2.) Complaints associated with the Internet include downloading software, receiving unwanted ads and/or pop-up ads, requesting upfront personal information before you receive what your wanting, issues dealing with privacy, and the potential of fraud.

2a.) The consumer who receives a direct mail marketing piece has the deciding power if they want to do business with you.

3.) Email spam filters keep marketing messages from reaching a target audience, unless the individual is already on one of your lists, so marketers can’t assume that an e-mail is actually delivered.

3a.) With direct mail, you know that each piece is delivered with the opportunity to be read.

4.) Email lists do not necessarily enable the Marketer to send out a broadcast message that reaches their target audience. Reaching their target audience, especially their ‘niche market’ remains a challenge.

4a.) Direct mail lists provide Marketers the opportunity to drill down for information based on customer characteristics and a wide range of available demographic filters such as gender, age, income, ethnicity and lifestyle data. When these targeted lists are used Marketers isolate their specific audience and send them offers that they really need.

5.) Offers are hard to incorporate online since everyone expects to receive a reduced price, free information, and a money-back guarantee anyways.

5a.) Free trials or samples, coupons, and a good call to action is easier to access when they come through the mail.

6.) Internet Surfers must bookmark you or may only visit your site for a short period of time or only once.

6a) Direct mail gives the recipient a hard copy that can be filed, reviewed at a later date and shared with friends and associates.

Mail plays a vital role with today’s consumers. Its primary function is to help with three household-related jobs – browsing for new consumption, managing the home and overseeing finances. By making your mail fit more naturally into these jobs – and providing the emotional satisfaction people desire from their mail – you can reach your target on a richer, deeper, more meaningful level.

According to research done by the United States Postal Service:

The Postal Service’s Mail Moment research shows that Americans value and look forward to receiving their mail. The Mail Moment lasts 30 minutes on the average and involves consumers bringing their mail into their home and sorting, reviewing, and acting upon it.

Research also revealed that the two mediums work together, with consumers using mail catalogs to assist with online shopping. Typically, people are more “Web active” when they receive a catalog.

-They made 16% more site visits.

-They viewed 22% more pages.

-They spent 15% more time at the site.*

To further increase direct marketing’s effectiveness, marketers should consider postcard campaigns. DMA’s 2006 results prove that postcards are read more, because they provide a ‘quick read’ and the greatest ROI. In fact, their response rates are higher than newspapers, catalogs, radio and e-mail.

Postcards ROI is higher by saving Marketers money and time.

-Postage generally runs about 40% of the total expense associated with sending out a direct mail piece so the reduced cost of postage for postcards creates a great option,

-A printing company that offers a full-service option helps avoid shipping charges, deletes the need for mail houses, and gets the lowest postage rates possible.

There are marketing advantages on the Internet and direct mail marketing. A Marketer needs to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each medium and design a marketing campaign using both mediums to compliment each other. This will provide the opportunity to get your message read by a wider range of your target audience.

Mailpost direct marketing

What type of advertising works the best for television repair companies or apliance repair companies? If you own a television repair company what kind of marketing have you been doing and is it working for you now?

It seems that the television repair companies are not doing as well as they have in the past and this might be because television sets are so inexpensive these days. In other words it does not pay to fix your old TV when you can buy a brand new one that just came over on the boat from China and only cost $50.

Nevertheless the television repairman needs to stay in business and make money and therefore he needs new customers all the time. What kind of advertising should a television repair company do? Well, may I recommend direct-mail marketing advertising in those little coupon packages that are sent out that you often get in the mail?

Why you ask? Well because if the direct-mail marketing piece is sent out in a 10 mile radius of the television repair person they will be able to draw from a huge area and perhaps get enough customers to stay in business and generate some worthy word-of-mouth advertising so they can get a steady stream of customers. I certainly hope he will consider all this in 2006.

Peter Kritas Mailpost

A recent Aperture Research Institute study reported upwards of 70 percent of organizations have adopted a green initiative of some kind. While those companies should be lauded for their efforts at environmental stewardship, bad days on Wall Street and for the economy have seen some companies abandon or scale back their green initiatives as they tighten their belts. Now is the time to take a realistic look at your company’s green initiatives and ask whether or not the practices undertaken are “evergreen” – promoting not only environmental sustainability, but also sound business practices and solid return on investment so as to be sustainable in good economic conditions as well as bad.

For instance, over six million trees and more than 300 million pounds of paper are wasted each year on undeliverable-as-addressed Standard class mail, as reported by UAA Clearinghouse. It costs the Post Office over 2 billion dollars annually to process this true “junk mail”. And the cost to mailers is even more dramatic – undeliverable mail costs direct mailers over $6 billion dollars a year.

So, is Postmaster General Jack Potter’s call to reduce UAA mail by 50 percent by 2010 a green initiative designed to decrease global warming and unnecessary environmental waste? Absolutely. But it’s also a common sense business initiative that will save both the USPS® and mailers a tremendous amount of money – money better spent on job creation, product development, and effective marketing.

Here are steps 1 through 5 you can easily implement to save money as you green your mailings – reducing waste, while improving deliverability, effectiveness and response to ensure you stay in the black, even as the economy sees red.

Steps 1 – 5 for Greener Mail – from Start to Finish

Step 1: Correct it!

Annually, a little under 5 percent of the mailstream, or about 10 billion mail pieces, are undeliverable-as-addressed. The majority of these mail pieces are handled as waste, adding ten million tons to the municipal solid waste stream. By reducing undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail you are not only helping the environment, you’re also saving money. With the postage and cost increases, bad addresses have become more costly than ever. As such it is important for companies to correct and standardize addresses before they enter a database or CRM to help ensure they don’t waste money later on sending mail to incorrect and undeliverable addresses.

Thankfully, cleaning up addresses is easy these days. Mail preparation software is available that will reduce errors due to missing or incorrect directionals, incorrect street names, missing or incorrect suffixes, incorrect ZIP codes, and more. Make sure that the mailing software you purchase is CASS Certified. To be CASS Certified, software must pass an annual USPS test to verify and correct addresses to the ZIP + 4® level with 98percent accuracy, among other requirements. Starting in 2008, CASS(TM) processing now includes DPV and LACSLink for a greater level of accuracy. DPV confirms an address has an actual point of delivery, while LACSLink identifies and updates business and residential rural route addresses to street-style addresses.

Additionally, mail preparation software will presort and barcode your mailings, helping you qualify for the lowest postage rates and applicable discounts. Here’s how one company achieved their goals.

A college magazine publisher mailed out thousands of copies of their monthly publication but needed to find ways to cut down on their costs. They investigated and purchased mail preparation software to barcode their mailings for postal discounts. Not only did the software qualify their mailings for presort discounts resulting in thousands of dollars a year in savings, it also verified and corrected incomplete and incorrect addresses which dramatically cut down on the amount of returned mail.

Step 2: Update it!

Another culprit in the high cost of undeliverable mail is customers – they are a constantly moving target. An estimated 43 million Americans pick up and move every year. That means up to 20 percent of the people or companies in any database could have a new address – a fact that presents some pretty big hurdles to maintain quality mailings lists, and low postage and production costs.

The USPS provides postal discounts for mailers that meet Move Update standards by keeping their lists up-to-date with current addresses. Authorized methods to meet Move Update standards include: NCOALink processing, FASTforward processing (letter mail only), and Address Change of Service (ACS(TM)).

The USPS maintains a database with approximately 160 million records or 48 months of permanent address changes. It’s called the NCOALink product. You can submit your mailing list or database records to USPS approved vendors for NCOALink processing to match your addresses to the change-of-address records on file with the USPS. Since 1986 when the USPS introduced the product, NCOALink has saved mailers billions of dollars that otherwise would have been wasted in paper, postage, and labor costs.

NCOALink processing your mailing list before mailing can have a significant impact on the ROI for a direct mail campaign. Let’s take an example of a 100,000 piece mailing at bulk rate with a total cost of $0.50 per piece. For this example let’s say that the mailing will generate a 1.5 percent response rate and $50 in average sales. Let’s assume that the mail list hasn’t been NCOALink processed in the last 12 months and there is a “bad” address rate of 5percent. As bulk mail is rarely forwarded, that means that 5,000 pieces never made it to their destination. At $0.50 per piece that is a loss of $5,000 right out of the gate. Now, consider that those prospects never got the opportunity to respond to the offer. At the 1.5 percent response rate and $50 average gift threshold in this scenario, that is an additional $3,750 in potential sales lost. So, in this example, not utilizing NCOALink resulted in an $8,750 mistake. And, this isn’t an extreme example. Take a look at how outdated a database can get.

Recently, a state Republican Party recently submitted its voter lists for NCOALink change-of-address processing. Of the 3.9 million voter records processed, about 528,000 records were matched to recent movers in the USPS file – almost 14 percent of their total mailing would have been undeliverable-as-addressed without move updating.

Today some type of move update processing is required every 185 days to receive First-Class Mail® automation and presort discounts. In the USPS’ effort to continue reducing UAA by 50 percent by 2010, on November 23, 2008 new Move Update standards will take effect – shortening the minimum processing window for move update processing from 185 to 95 days and making move updating mandatory for both First-Class and Standard Mail automation and presort discounts.

In addition to making Move Updating mandatory for both First-Class and Standard discounts, the USPS has proposed enforcement penalties for mailings that are not in compliance with the new Move Update standards.

According to Business Mailers Review, the USPS will use the MERLIN® verification system to check for Move Update compliance. If there are mail pieces that are deemed noncompliant, then the entire mailing is noncompliant. As a result, the mailer could be subject to a $0.07 per mail piece penalty for every mail piece across the mailing, not just on the undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) pieces.

Such a penalty could be very costly. For instance, if a mailer delivers a 100,000 piece mailing, and the Postal Service determines that it is not Move Update compliant, the proposed penalty would be $7,000 for that noncompliant mailing.

While that figure may raise eyebrows, USPS does plan to institute a 60 or 90 day grace period, in order to allow everyone an opportunity to go back and address the issue.

Step 3: Dedupe it!

Picture this. You walk out to your mail box and discover you’ve received four solicitations from your favorite charity — one addressed using your full name; one addressed using your initials; one addressed to your spouse; and one addressed to your entire family. Why are they wasting my donation on multiple solicitations you wonder?

While receiving duplicate mailings annoys recipients, the problems it causes sending organizations are even more significant. Especially considering the average customer database contains 10 percent duplicate records. Maintaining that level of duplicate records costs companies money, reduces response rates and hurts marketing efficiency.

One way to tackle duplicate records is to provide customer incentives, such as a discount on their next purchase, for notifying the company of duplicate mailings they have received.

In addition, there are easy-to-use merge/purge software programs available, as well as data hygiene services, which can quickly dedupe your mailing list – or multiple lists. And you can dictate the type of matches you’d like to find in your database from names, addresses and city/state/ZIP structures to telephone numbers, customer numbers or email addresses.

Step 4: Suppress it!

According to the latest statistics available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2005, 659,000 people under age 65 died. Now imagine an insurance company sending out a direct mail campaign with a call to action “save 15% or more on car insurance” addressed to a young mother that had been killed two years ago in a car wreck? Ouch.

While mail that is sent to deceased persons via relatives is a fraction of the overall amount of undeliverable mail each year, it is still costly – to your bottom line and your company image. Before you mail, use a data service provider to process your mailing list and suppress names that are deceased, on the DMA’s Do-Not-Mail List, or prison inmates.

You can also create and maintain an in-house suppression file that enables customers and prospects to opt-out of your company’s mailings on a selective basis. This helps ensure lists are accurately maintained at the highest level by removing inappropriate recipients, and should result in higher response rates, as well as lower production and postage costs.

Step 5: Target it!

Being able to accurately locate your customers, best prospects and competitors is the key to any cost-effective marketing campaign. Affordable geocoding services and products are available to help you put your customers on the map.

Geocoding is the process of assigning geographic locations (latitude and longitude) to the ZIP+4(TM) level of addresses in a database to help marketers identify profitable areas for mailing and the best prospects for increased business.

One direct marketing firm uses geocoding technology to help clients that are realtors “farm a neighborhood” around a house they have sold. Once the latitude and longitude coordinates are appended to the address, the firm creates a mashup of the data with Google maps – this allows the client to see exactly where the material will be sent – down to the individual houses which their mail will be delivered.

This location intelligence and accurate geographical coordinates can help mailers develop more targeted strategies that are incredibly cost-effective by reducing mailing costs.

Mailpost Organisation

As a mail carrier, there are quite a few things that I observe that could be prevented if our customers knew about them. This is a list of common preventable reasons why your mail may not have been delivered.

No House Numbers On Mailbox. Has the neighbors mail been delivered to you? Put the numbers on your mailbox and I guarantee it will increase the odds of you getting YOUR mail.

Name/s Inside of Mailbox. Do you constantly receive mail for previous occupants at your address? Use a wax pencil or a marker and note the names of the current occupants inside the mailbox door.

Box Blocked. If your mailbox is blocked for any reason, we will not deliver your mail. This includes being blocked by cars, recycling bins, garbage cans, etc. Did you know that in most areas, the garbage cans & recycling bins can be placed on the opposite side of the driveway? It is a common misconception that they will not pick up unless you place them on the right side. Check with your local waste management company.

No Flag! Did your mail not get picked up because your flag is broken or missing? Replacement flags are available for sale for around $5.00 and you don’t have to worry anymore whether that bill will go out on time!

Broken/Damaged Box. If your box is damaged and off the post we are not supposed to deliver to it. This is true regardless of whether you have it sitting on the ground, propped on a chair, etc.

Too Much Brush! You may not receive mail simply because your plants/bushes are out of control! Usually you will receive some kind of notice asking for you to clean up around the box. However, if you do not take action, your mail may be put on hold until it is taken care of. Please keep in mind that this is safety issue – The brush may have thorns, biting or stinging insects, or it may just be grown out too far and we can no longer reach to open the box!

Biting/Stinging Insects. I guarantee you that your mail carrier has been bit by a spider or stung by a bee or wasp. Wasps especially LOVE to build nests in and around mailboxes. Did you know that you can develop an allergy to a wasp sting even if you never previously had a problem? This can be serious, even deadly, so please take care of the insects for your safety AND ours!

Also, did you know that many home improvement sites and shows say that putting up a new mailbox is one of the best ways to increase curb appeal, especially when a house is up for sale. In addition, it is one of the cheapest renovations you can make!