How Do I Order a Direct Mailing List?

Key Takeaways

• Before choosing to order a direct mailing list, make sure that your target audience and mail piece have been finalized.
• To actually order a direct mailing list, send Geon an email with the desired list that you’re wanting to rent, along with any additional selects and/or segments, and we will let you know if we have any additional questions.
• You will receive your rented list in a .csv file.
• Rented mailing lists are for one-time use only unless additional usage rights have been agreed upon in writing.

Introduction

If you’re new to the direct mail industry, figuring out how to order a direct mailing list can look to be a difficult and complicated task. One of the most common questions that we receive here at Geon is where to start if you’re wanting to order a direct mailing list. That is what this guide is here to assist with. We want to guide prospective mailers through the process, starting with the mailer finalizing their audience and mail piece, and ending with the mailer receiving their list.

Identify Your Target Audience & Finalize Your Mail Piece

Before you order a direct mailing list, make sure that your mail piece and target audience have been finalized and clearly defined. At Geon, we want to help ensure that your mail piece has the gets the best response rate as possible, so we require a sample of the mail piece to help in identifying the correct audiences. By knowing your clearly defined audience, we can help with this task. If you’re not sure how to identify your target audience or prepare your mail piece, read Geon’s “New to Direct Mail?” guide.

Should I Add Any Selects or Segments?

Deciding whether you should add any selects or segments when wanting to order a direct mailing list should be decided on a campaign-by-campaign basis. A select is a piece of additional criteria that can be used to help narrow down a mailing list to only include individuals that meet the specific characteristics from the select, such as age, income, net worth, gender, etc. If your campaign is targeting individuals based on demographics such as the consumer’s age, gender, or income, then adding one or more selects might be ideal to help select consumers that match your target audience more closely.

If you are looking for consumers who have a shared characteristic for your direct mail campaign, consider adding a segment. A segment is defined as a group of records within a mailing list that all share a particular characteristic, activity, or time frame in which they were active.

All of Geon’s direct mailing lists contain hotline segments, and some mailing lists might have other segments. A hotline is a type of segment that contains individuals whose qualifying activity occurred within a recent time frame, usually within the past month or quarter, which can be useful in finding individuals who could be more likely to respond to your offer, due to the recency of their activity in the industry. Adding a segment can help in finding the individuals who were recently active in your industry for your campaign.

While adding selects and segments can be helpful, they don’t need to be added to every order to increase the likelihood of having a higher response rate with your offer. If you’re not sure if you need a select or segment, Geon can help you make an informed decision based on your intended audience and mail piece.

Mailing List Pricing Structure

The price that is listed on mailing lists is the base price for every thousand names. This base price just covers receiving names that fit the criteria of the mailing list, without any additional pieces of criteria added. If you do want to add criteria in the form of a select or a segment, that is an additional cost per thousand names. Note that the units for the list’s base pricing, selects, and segments are measured in units “M”, or thousand. So, if the mailing list has a price of “$100.00/ M”, that is 100 dollars per thousand names.

Charge	Cost
File Delivery	$50.00 per order
Running Charges	$6.00/ M
Key Coding	$2.50/ M

There are also additional delivery, processing, and running fees. When receiving your mailing list, there is a $50.00 delivery fee. Key coding, which is adding a code to each record to track individual responses, comes with a fee of $2.50 for every thousand names. There are additional running charges of $6.00 per thousand names that are cover the charges of producing the names for your order.

How Do I Place an Order?

When you’re ready to order a direct mailing list, contact us with the information below.

When emailing us, please include:

• Which mailing list you would like to use
• How many names you are wanting to order
• If you want to add any selects or segments to your order
• A sample of your finalized mail piece

We will then be in contact with you regarding payment and delivery terms, as well as if we have any questions or ideas regarding your target audience.

Contacting Geon with questions or requesting pricing does not obligate you to place an order.

Once you have confirmed which mailing list you would like to rent, the quantity of names, and any additional selects or segments, Geon will provide you with the final pricing and rental terms. Once you have reviewed these details and you have confirmed that you would like to proceed with the order, Geon will begin processing your mailing list.

If you would like to order a direct mailing list but are unsure which list would be the best fit for you and your campaign to use, or if any selects and segments can help with your campaign, feel free to contact us with a description of your target audience and your offer. We can help in identifying suitable options before you finalize your order.

When Will I Get My List?

When you order a direct mailing list, here at Geon, we pride ourselves on making sure that every name you receive is selected due to that person having the closest proximity of your target audience. Because of this, you will generally receive your mailing list in up to two business days from when the order was submitted, but this could take longer depending on the scope of the order and Geon’s other workload.

Your mailing list will be delivered in a .csv file and is licensed for one-time use only, unless additional usage rights have been agreed upon in writing.

Payment is required upon delivery of the mailing list, unless otherwise negotiated.

FAQ

• Q: Why do you require a sample of the mail piece?
  • A: Instead of pulling random names that are in one of our mailing lists before sending it to you, we instead will curate your list to include the names that have the closest to your target audience. Because of this, when you order a direct mailing list, we require a copy of your mail piece to help us.

• Q: Do I need to know which selects or segments I want before ordering a direct mailing list?
  • A: No, you don’t need to know which selects or segments that you would like to use before ordering. If you have any uncertainty, contact us, and we would love to help you make the most educated and informed decision before ordering.

• Q: Can I reuse the mailing list that I order?
  • A: No. Unless otherwise negotiated with bulk ordering, mailing lists are licensed for one-time use, unless additional usage rights have been agreed upon in writing.

• Q: I have additional questions on how to order a direct mailing list.
  • A: No worries. Send us an email, and we will answer it as soon as we can.

Conclusion

If you’re new to the direct mail industry, the process to order a direct mailing list can be intimidating. However, having the process mapped out and understanding the terminology that you’ll find on the mailing lists can help familiarize you with the process. If you still have additional questions about the process to order a direct mailing list, or if we can help you with your upcoming direct mail campaign, check out Geon’s Direct Mail Resources learning center, or contact us today.

Geon reviews your intended audience and mail piece to identify additional criteria that can help refine your mailing list selection. This helps us select names that more closely align with your offer and campaign goals.

Learn why mailers choose Geon Media.

New to Direct Mail?

Are you running your first direct mail campaign?

Read Geon’s beginner’s guide for to direct mail here.