How to build and validate address lists for direct mail marketing
Looking to build a direct mail marketing campaign? You’ve come to the right spot.
Before you can send marketing mail like a pro, you’ll need to build a list of verified addresses. Otherwise, frequent misdeliveries and costly redeliveries can take the wind right out of your campaign’s sails. On top of that, a bad address list could lead you to miss out on mind-blowing postal discounts. 😱
Don’t let bad addresses capsize your campaign. With a US Master Address List of over 210 million verified addresses—available by state, county, or nationwide—and shipshape US Address Verification, you can construct new lists or clean active ones with the swagger of a seasoned captain.
Come aboard to learn how to get a list of mailing addresses that will boost your delivery accuracy, data compliance, and marketing mail response rate. Plus, we’ll give you a few direct mail marketing tips along the way.
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Before this ship runs aground, we’ll cover:
- What is direct mail marketing?
- Why does accurate address data matter in direct mail marketing?
- Bulk address validation: the key to direct mail success
- How to build and manage an address list for direct mail campaigns
- Direct mail marketing tips to boost response rates
- Bringing direct mail and address validation together
- FAQs
What is direct mail marketing?
Direct mail marketing is a type of marketing campaign where promotional materials (e.g., approved credit card applications, health insurance brochures, home goods catalogues, postcards from political candidates, a message in a bottle 😉) are directly delivered to the address of a potential consumer.
Marketing to every address on a mail carrier route can have hit-or-miss returns. Direct mail marketing, on the other hand, allows direct mailers to reach a designated target audience with personalized content. The result? Better returns.
Why does accurate address data matter in direct mail marketing?
Here’s the short answer: direct mail marketing is most effective when marketing mail reaches the correct address. This means seaworthy addresses are essential for any direct mail campaign. The long answer? Direct mail lists built with verified addresses drive ROI. Here’s how.
The role of verified mailing addresses in campaign ROI
Direct mail campaigns utilize verified mailing addresses, enabling companies to send personalized marketing materials to specific demographics.
When customers receive personalized content, they’re more likely to be satisfied with their experience and become repeat customers! Plus, personalization increases revenue by strengthening brand message & reputation, enhancing lead generation, and optimizing customer retargeting. Now that’s a return worth anchoring for! 🥳
Response rates can also indicate the ROI of mailing address verification. According to The Tradeshow Network, 42% of direct mail recipients read or scan their mail, and 28% purchase more items than those who didn’t receive direct mail marketing.
Similarly, Discover Publications reports that while response rates for social media and email marketing are 0.08% and 0.12%, respectively, the response rate to direct mail ranges from 2.7% to 4.4%.
Plus, direct mail marketing boosts ROI through waste reduction. Direct mail campaigns target the most likely demographic to respond, meaning your cost per conversion sinks to the bottom of the ocean, while your ROI goes up. 👏
How undeliverable mail impacts marketing budgets
Mail gets marked as Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) when an essential component of an address is missing. For direct mailers, UAA mail means time lost fixing address errors and money lost resending mail.
In 2023, a single piece of UAA mail cost direct mailers an average of $3.50. If a single piece of mail isn’t delivered, that cost isn’t too high, but direct mailers send out thousands of pieces of marketing mail. If 3–6% come back as UAA, that cost begins to add up. Shiver me timbers!
Enter CASS-certified address validation software. When an address verification tool has been CASS certified, the USPS ensures that it provides the most current and accurate address data through delivery point validation (DPV) and a locatable address conversion system (LACS).
The USPS created LACS to keep track of addresses that have been changed to aid in emergency situations. For direct mailers running a direct marketing campaign, LACS means you won’t waste money sending direct mail to outdated addresses.
Smarty offers CASS-certified mailing address verification that can help you sail straight into the UAA storm so you can save thousands by avoiding costly redeliveries and reducing time spent correcting address errors.
In addition to reducing mailing costs, address verification boosts revenue by improving strategic planning.
Without bad addresses cluttering your mailing list, your analytics will be more accurate. You’ll be able to see which demographics or geographic areas generate the highest response and purchase rates, and build direct marketing campaigns around the most profitable addresses, counties, or states.
Then, with residential delivery indicators (RDI), a data point Smarty returns alongside verified addresses that marks an address as residential or commercial, you’ll be able to identify customer types and further personalize your campaigns. Like we mentioned earlier, personalization drives revenue.
With a mailing list full of validated addresses, you won’t just create more efficient marketing mail campaigns; you’ll create smarter campaigns that generate revenue through high response rates and repeat purchases.
Bulk address validation: the key to direct mail success
In addition to preventing UAA mail, bulk address validation can improve direct mail marketing success. Between increased delivery rates, decreased postal costs, and postal discounts, validation is a treasure chest of benefits for direct mailers.
Why bulk address validation should happen before every campaign
As it turns out, around 5% of marketing mail isn’t reported back to the mailer when a delivery is marked as UAA, meaning while you think your marketing materials have reached a potential customer, it’s really been treated as waste by the USPS.
With bulk address validation, you’ll boost your mailing address database accuracy by catching incorrect addresses before they cause a snag in your sails. Not only does bulk address validation ensure you check mailing address accuracy, it returns a DPV confirmation indicator with each address.
With this data point, you’ll be able to identify whether an address is deliverable or not long before the Postal Service does because you’ll know whether it has a missing or invalid secondary address.
Additionally, companies can qualify for postal discounts by using bulk address validation to comply with standards set by the Postal Service. In the US, sending bulk mail saves direct mailers up to $0.005 per mail piece, and $25–$50+ per returned mail piece in postage and shipping costs. Talk about ROI! 💃
Smarty’s tools for bulk address validation
Bulk address validation instantly verifies and cleans large direct mailing lists of addresses from every corner of the seven seas to keep your address data up to date. With each address validation, you’ll also get up to 55 points of metadata, which includes everything from RDI to geocodes.
Whether you’re looking to validate 1000 addresses or 10 million addresses in Google Sheets, Excel, or a web tool, we’ve got your back. Check out our solutions, or talk with an expert to see which one is right for you.
How to build and manage an address list for direct mail campaigns
But before you can validate your direct mail lists, you need to build an address list. That can be difficult, so here’s how to stay on course.
How to get a list of mailing addresses legally and ethically
When creating direct mailing lists, companies often start with a list of addresses, whether they’re collected from the personal data of current customers, newsletter sign-ups, or tradeshow meetings. The first step towards accurate direct mail lists is validating what you have.
If you’re looking for more addresses, there are two main list providers used for data sourcing: public records and private list providers—like Smarty.
Our US Master Address List can be used to add to or create an address list sized to fit your needs. Whether you need a mailing list for a county, state, a mix of both, or the entire nation, we’ve got you covered.
By only purchasing direct mail lists from reliable sources, keeping clear records of where addresses come from, and continually validating address lists, you can ensure your address data stays compliant, your customers’ personal data stays safe, and you stick to the best marketing practices.
Privacy regulations and compliance tips for marketers
Looking for a checklist so you can see what you’re missing? Drop anchor here! 😆
Does my address list:
- Follow data privacy laws set by the country you’re mailing to, which includes the Federal Trade Commission, the General Data Protection Regulation, and federal laws?
- Collect marketing consent—and offer a way to opt-in and opt-out of marketing mail?
- Follow correct Do Not Sell/Do Not Share practices?
- Keep your address data protected with a persistent unique identifier?
- Consistently update your consumer mailing list?
Direct mail marketing tips to boost response rates
So, you’ve created your targeted mailing lists, validated your addresses, and now you’re looking to boost your response rates even further. Here are three direct mail marketing tips:
1 . Personalization using verified address data
Personalization goes a long way, and with the best mailing lists, it can go the extra nautical mile. 🤣 Here’s how:
- Utilize geocodes: With rooftop-level geocodes for each address on your mailing lists, you can personalize direct marketing mail based on an address’s exact proximity to another location. Think personalized marketing towards those within walking distance to a store, and those two hours away.
- Turn Smarty’s address data into Intelligent Mail barcodes: Smarty’s address validation tools will return everything you need to print an IMb—a barcode used to streamline mail processing. With the end-to-end visibility these barcodes provide, you’ll have more insight into when customers receive marketing mail, meaning you can align response data to delivery times. Boost your ROI by measuring what personalization actually changed.
- Avoid duplicates: Mailing address verification flags duplicate addresses. By avoiding sending duplicate personalized marketing mail to one household, you’ll save both money and your reputation.
2. Segmenting lists for better targeting
Smarty returns each verified mailing address with a unique SmartyKey®, a persistent unique identifier (PUID). Smartykey® can be used to segment address lists into groups based on shared attributes, such as geography, demographics, purchase data, new homeowners, and company size, with a PUID rather than an address, which counts as personally identifiable information (PII).
3. Tracking, testing, and measuring results
Using key KPIs to calculate ROI can help you track how effectively your direct marketing campaign reaches your target audience. By testing different campaigns, you can find what works and refine your process.
Keep in mind that the average response rate for direct mail campaigns is 0.5% to 2%. With the boost in accuracy mailing address verification offers, the rate can be as high as 9%!
Bringing direct mail and address validation together
Looking for the addresses you need to start your direct mail marketing campaign? Smarty’s US Master Address List includes 193 million USPS and 20 million non-USPS addresses, and can be customized so your list only includes the addresses you need, whether those are addresses for a specific county, ZIP Code, state, or type of ship sailing the seven seas. 😉
Our US Master Address list can be used to create mailing lists after a customer signs an agreement that they’ll take full responsibility for compliance. Whether you’re looking for an address list or for a validation tool to validate your active list, we’ve got you covered.
If you already have an address list for your direct mail marketing campaigns, US Address Verification may still be the captain you’ve been waiting for.
Not only does verification keep mailing addresses accurate, it boosts ROI by empowering personalized messaging, limiting mail bounce back, and helping companies qualify for postal discounts.
FAQs
What is direct mail marketing?
Direct mail marketing campaigns are the opposite of blanket marketing campaigns. Rather than delivering marketing mail to a whole bunch of addresses on a specific mail carrier route, direct mail marketing targets the addresses of potential consumers, often with personalized messaging.
How do I get a list of mailing addresses?
Smarty’s US Master Address List houses 210+ million verified addresses. While this list was designed to help companies manage and analyze data, it can be used as a list for mailing if customers agree to comply with all direct mail laws and regulations. Just reach out!
Why is address validation important for direct mail?
With address validation, direct mail campaigns can create more personalized content, increase response rates, reduce redeliveries, improve Postal Service compliance, and qualify for postal discounts.
How often should I clean my address list?
Street numbers, street and city names, and ZIP Codes change frequently. To keep your direct mail lists clean, we recommend re-verifying your addresses every 90 days, if not more frequently.
What tools can help with bulk address validation?
Smarty’s Bulk address validation tool can standardize and validate thousands of addresses with wave-making speed.
Other solutions include our Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets extensions, QGIS Geocoding Plugin, and Command-Line Interface, all of which can validate your addresses just as quickly and accurately.
