While subscriber lists (also called response lists) have traditionally been considered the gold standard for direct mail, compiled lists are growing in power and popularity.
What’s driving the change? The new capabilities of massive computerized data warehouses, many of them accessing online data in real time.
Compiled lists, once based on phone directory information, are now created by matching and cross-referencing rich sources of public information (business licenses, birth and wedding announcements, real estate sales, car registrations, and political donations) as well as participating databases and websites. Types of information that once took months to make it into print directories are now available to the data warehouses in hours or days, thanks to online records.
In this new environment, many compiled lists can now offer much fresher data than subscriber lists, which tend to go stale.
In addition, the richer sources of available data mean that compiled lists are increasingly easy to refine into truly targeted lists. Using selects, lists can be tailored using lifestyle criteria (political affiliation, vehicle preference) as well as basic demographic criteria (age, ZIP code, etc.)
For example, a company doing high-end landscaping in a suburban area wants a targeted list for a direct mail campaign. The company could rent a subscriber list of local residents who receive a high-end garden design magazine (a small list of people with proven inclination to spend money on their yards). Or the company could rent a compiled list of addresses with residential postal carrier route codes within particular ZIP codes that represent homes valued above $1 million — a much larger, and only slightly less targeted, list.
Compiled lists won’t beat subscriber lists in all situations, of course, but a number of Marigold clients have been surprised and pleased by the strong ROI from campaigns using lists based on compiled data. Please contact us to find out how Marigold’s compiled lists can be tailored to meet your needs.