USADATA Special Report:
Top 5 Direct Mailing List Trends
for 2010

 Download this report in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

During a time when some marketers are zipping Tweets across cyberspace and gathering followers for Facebook fan pages, direct mail can seem decidedly "old school." Yet, direct mail offers marketers many significant advantages — it's easy to implement, you can precisely pinpoint your recipients, and it's a snap to measure results.

But now, as 2009 draws to a close and the recession seems to be easing, what does the future hold for direct and email marketing? Grant Epstein, Senior Data Specialist from USADATA, a New York-based marketing services and technology company, provides these five mailing list trends for 2010:

Want to supercharge your in-house mailing list? Data enhancement is on the rise. So, you've got a robust customer and respondent mailing list — but you're looking to squeeze even more ROI from your campaign. Data enhancement helps you target your mailings even more by adding demographic data (such as age, gender, marital status and lifestyle interests) and analyzing the results. Your result? You'll uncover customer characteristics you were previously unaware of — helping you to target new customers, more efficiently.

Need to go beyond "traditional" mailing list demographic selects? Targeting options are more robust than ever before. In the past, direct mail marketers made do with age, income, marital status and a limited number of demographic selects. Today, mailing list compilers are adding more contributors to their files, including hobbies, lifestyle interests and product purchases. Instead of just targeting "homeowners," businesses will have access to more precise data, such as homeowners with an interest in do-it-yourself repairs who intend to make a home improvement purchase. When combined with well-written direct mail messaging, marketers can enjoy a higher response rate and find new customers, more easily and profitably.

Looking for local business? Saturation mailing lists will become more targeted. Want a way to target a geographic area — for less? Saturation mailing lists (otherwise known as occupant mailing lists) have traditionally been used when a company wants to "saturate" a direct mail message within a specific city, county or ZIP Code. Although the postage price was approximately 25 percent less than Standard Mail, saturating an entire area may not have been the best option for some businesses because it did not allow targeting. Now, companies can use selection options such as median home value and household income — and choose specific carrier routes within an area to saturate. Marketers will enjoy the ability to refine their list while maintaining the postage advantage of a saturation mailing list.

Want to gain new customers? Use 2010 to reach out to outlying geographic areas. Feeling like your local market is tapped out? During the 2009 recession, many local businesses marketed solely in their immediate home town and ignored outlying communities. Now, the trend for 2010 is “look beyond your local market for a new customer base.” Data enhancement and more targeted saturation lists allow companies to profile new customers in new communities.  Plus, experienced marketers can take their proven formula and expand it to outlying areas - increasing their market share.

Marketing to an ethnic market? More precise ethnic marketing selection options will improve marketers' ROI. In the past, identifying households by ethnicity has been predominately based on a surname model. This has lacked preciseness, as a Caucasian woman could be married to a Hispanic man — and the entire household would fall under a "Hispanic" household demographic. In 2010, marketers will focus on better segmenting ethnic markets with help from specialized data contributors. As a result, it will be easier to identify households by ethnicity, the primary language spoken in the household and the degree to which an individual feels tied to that ethnicity.

Finally, Epstein reminds marketers that any direct mail campaign should ideally be paired with other cross-channel efforts. Did you exclusively rely on email marketing this year? Try sending out a postcard mailer in 2010. Or, combine your "new school" social media efforts with a targeted email campaign. "Companies that integrate other forms of marketing with direct mail should see increased return on investment," says Epstein. The more touchpoints you set up with your current and future customers, the easier it will be for them to contact you, buy from you, and become advocates of your brand.