| Glossary
of Common Direct Mail Terms:
Business
Reply Mail - Pre- addressed mail, usually cards,
envelopes or labels that can Be mailed without prepayment
or postage. After delivery of the mailing piece, the U.S.
Postal Service collects postage due, based on a printed
permit number on the piece that Identifies the addresses.
Business Reply Mail usually mails at first class rates.
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Compiled
List
- A list of names and addresses that is created specifically
for renting to Direct mail markers and represents a particular
targets market. Names are usually taken from directories,
trade shows rosters, public records, or list of other people
with common characteristics.
Consumer Profile - An
outline of significant demographic and psycho graphic details
about the user of a particular product. The data may include
the user’s age category, Marital status, income level, education,
occupation, sex, area of residence, and/or purchase behavior
patterns.
Control Group - A standard
against which test results are compared, such as previously
utilized direct mail package that is being compared to new
packages that offer some variation in copy.
Conversion - The transformation
of a prospect into a customer through a first-time purchase.
The new customer is then added to the house list.
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Database
- A collection of data stored on a computer storage medium
in a common pool for access on an as-needed basis.
Direct
Response - advertising whereby the only connection
the consumer has to the product is the advertising, and
the only way a consumer can act on the advertisement or
commercial is to return a coupon or make a phone call.
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House
List
- A customer file or database of names of previous responders
and/or customers that is owned by the company doing the
mailing. There is no charge to use these names, and can
be mailed as often as the company chooses.
Laser
Personalization
- Creating a personalized letter, catalogs or reply device
by laser-printing (Or ink-jet printing) unique information
on or in each copy. Personalization enables advertisers
to create reader-specific versions of their mailing that
will enforce relationship marketing and improve response.
List
Broker - An agency that arranges for the rental
of list user on behalf of the list owner in return for a
commission on the rental fee.
"
Nth "
- Extraction of a sample form a list of names on an interval
basis. For example, a 7th - name selection would take every
seventh name on the file based on whatever sequence the
names are in.
Postal
Presort -Process of sorting mail destination
address and type of headline prior to mailing in order to
comply with US Postal Service regulations for Standard Mail
preparation and, in most cases, to qualify for the postage
discounts.
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Relationship
Marketing
- Marketing strategy employed to create customer loyalty
and establish One- on- one communication with a target audience
or customer base.
Response
Rate
- The gross or net responses received as a percentage of
total pieces mailed or contacts made. The response rate
to a direct marketing promotion rarely exceeds 5%.
Selection
Criteria
- The basis for extraction of a subset from a group. Selection
criteria often pertain to a list selection made on the basis
of some characteristic of the individuals on the list, such
as income, age, occupation, purchase history, etc.
Self-Mailer
- A direct mail piece that is designed to be mailed without
an envelope. It can either be folded and sealed, like an
envelope, or tab sealed with a water seal and mailed.
Shared
Mail - Direct mail promotions from several companies
sent to the same list of individuals in order to share the
costs of list rental and production.
Solo
Mail - Direct mail promotion from one company
for one product or service. It is the opposite of A shared
mailing and represents the majority of direct mail promotions.
Test
Matrix
- A system of organizing the mailing file into statistically
valid test cells based on what is being tested: the offer,
the list or the creative execution. At least one control
cell is always included in the matrix.
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