- How accurate are DMA's databases?
- How is DMA's Title and Deed Property File compiled?
- How is DMA's consumer database compiled?
- How will I receive my list?
- Was my Direct Mail Campaign a failure?
- How do I unzip my prospect file?
How accurate are DMA's databases?
In addition to multi-sourcing, our consumer data is continuously updated and processed against both the National Change of Address File (NCOA) and the Delivery Sequence File (DSF). Our information is updated continuously from new sources on a monthly basis. It is the best information available anywhere, but it is not perfect. You will still find a small percentage of errors. It is not uncommon to have 10-15% undeliverable names in any given list. It is estimated that 23% of the US population moves each year.
How is DMA's Title and Deed Property File compiled?
The property selects in the file are compiled at the county level. Counties are required to share this infomation with the public. This information is pulled from the counties by various companies throughout the United States. DMA licenses this data from these companies. The telephone numbers and demographics are then appended from the consumer databases.
How is DMA's consumer database compiled?
We use many sources for compiling our consumer/residential database, including:
- White Page Telephone Directories
- Mail Order Buyers/Responders
- Magazine Subscribers
- Credit Card Information
- ...and other public sources
How will I receive my list?
You have many choices of delivery. Most digital formats will be sent as comma separated variable (csv) files. Talk to your DMA rep to request a special file format.
Delivery choices include:
- E-Mail
- 3.5 Diskette
- CD
- Bulletin Board/ FTP Transfer
- Mailing Labels
Was my Direct Mail Campaign a failure?
There is a Direct Marketing myth that says that you should get at least a 1% response or the mailing was bad. The fact is, response rate alone does not tell you whether a mail campaign was successful. What matters is, did you make money? You need to look at the return on your investment for the mailing.
Here is a simple example:
- Average Order from a Customer = $1,000
- Your profit margin is 40%
- Gross Profit per Order = $400. Cost of mailing is $.40 per piece (Cost includes printing, postage, mailing service)
- To mail 1,000 pieces, your cost is $400
- Assume you get 4 orders: Gross profit is $1,600
- Percent Response = 4/1000 = 0.4%
- Your return on investment is 4.0 times: you quadrupled your money, in gross profit.
- Was this mailing a success? You would probably say, "Yes".
How do I unzip my prospect file?
You will need to obtain a copy of WinZip. You can download a copy from http://www.winzip.com. You will need to unzip the file and save it to disk before attempting to import your data into any other program.
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