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If the most important part of any
business-to-business direct mail package is the list,
how can you be sure that you have a good list
before you drop your money (and your reputation) in
the mailbox? Answer: Ask the right questions before
you rent that
list.

1. Who is on the list, exactly?
Let’s say your potential list is high-tech prospects.
Are the people on the list analysts, network
administrators, product managers, chief information
officers or sales managers? Knowing makes all the
difference. So make sure you can select names by
job title or function.

2. What is the source of the list?
Is the list a compiled list, where names and
addresses are compiled into a list from directories,
newspapers, trade show registrations and other
public sources? Or is the list an opt-in list (such as
subscribers to a particular trade publication, or
buyers from an online store)? Lists of names that are
compiled from phone books and directories usually
age more quickly than names from opt-in lists and
usually produce more undeliverable mail.

3. Are the names on the list known buyers?

The best B2B lists contain names of businesspeople
who have bought your product or service or one like
it, regardless of how they bought it (online, by mail,
retail).

4. How recently did they buy?
In the trade, we call this Recency. Prospects who
bought a product or service like yours recently are
better prospects than ones who purchased years ago.

5. How often do they buy?
We call this Frequencyhow often someone buys.
Naturally, someone who buys your product or service
often is a better prospect than someone who buys
less frequently.

6. How much do they spend?
We call this Monetary value, and it’s the third
component in the standard test of mailing list
qualityRecency, Frequency, Monetary value.
Buyers who spend the most are the best prospects
for your mailing.

7. Are the people on the list “direct-mail
responsive?”
Sometimes a list owner or list broker will know if the
names on her list respond to direct mail offers. A
good example would be a catalog merchant who
would know the percentage of names on his list who
buy through the mail.

8. How fresh are the names?
Some business-to-business lists decay at a rate of
25% a year. In other words, at any given time, 25%
of the names on a given list will have moved (new
address), been promoted (new job title), undergone
a restructuring (new email address) or quit. Ask your
list owner or list broker how often they update their
list.

9. When was the list last cleaned?
List owners “clean” their lists by comparing them
against the postal service’s National Change of
Address file. Ask how often this is done.

10. How often is the list rented?
If the list is rented often, it is likely a good list (but
one that contains names of prospects who may have

been inundated with offers like yours). If the list is
rarely rented, it is either no good or it contains a
highly specific group of prospects that no other
business except yours wants to mail to (not likely).

11. How many other mailers tested the list
successfully?
You should conduct a test mailing to a list before
rolling out your entire mailing. Ask how many other
businesses tested the list and then declined to
rollout, and how many tested the list and decided to
rollout. The answers you get give you an idea of the
value of the list to your business.

12. Who else rents the list?
Do your competitors rent the list? See if you can find
out!

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About the author
Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter and lead generation specialist who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using business-to-business direct mail marketing. Learn more about his creative direct mail writing services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com.

© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the “About the author” message).

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