The Importance of Data Processing in Creating Cost-Effective Direct Mail Campaigns

The recent round of USPS^® postage increases underscores the importance of thinking about cost effectiveness when creating direct mail campaigns. While the USPS Promotions & Incentives Programs can help brands save on postage costs and create more dynamic, engaging mailers that are more likely to get a response, building a direct mail campaign around accurate customer data helps ensure you’re reaching the right audience without wasting a single stamp. 

This is where optimizing your contact database can be valuable in reducing waste and print costs, and data processing can also help brands create more targeted, relevant messaging that is more likely to increase response rates. Here, we’ll look at why customer data optimization is important in creating cost-effective direct mailers that generate ROI.

What is data processing in direct mail marketing?

Data processing in direct mail marketing is how brands create accurate, complete, and organized mailing lists to help ensure mailers are reaching an intended audience. Inaccurate mailing addresses, duplicate records, or incomplete data can produce mailers that never reach customers, and inaccurate or incomplete customer data can make it difficult to create custom, personalized content that resonates with recipients. 

For example, a mailer that’s missing personalization data like a job title can hamper the ability to create a connection with your target audience. A data service program can help verify that the contact information in your mailing list is up-to-date and complete. 

Varispark’s data processing services include: 

• Deduplication, which removes any duplicate records based on name or address
• List cleansing to improve address accuracy and remove any unmailable records
• Mailpiece tracking to report on delivery dates and locations, which helps brands better understand where their print investment is at all times

This kind of data optimization program helps brands take a more strategic approach to direct mail marketing, an approach that prioritizes a clean and complete mailing list in service of accurate and relevant communication.

How can data optimization help create more cost-effective mailers?

Personalization is at the core of what can help increase the response rates of their direct mailers — a recent study found that more than 75% of consumers say they’re more likely to purchase from brands that personalize their offers. By investing in data optimization, brands can not only ensure the accuracy of variable data fields like first name, last name, and job title, they can take personalization to a whole new level by leveraging more detailed customer data. 

For example, imagine creating a direct mail campaign that uses mailing addresses to communicate how close a new brand location is to your targeted audience. A data service can help ensure your list contains complete mailing address information in the right format to ensure the content of your mailer is both relevant and accurate. 

Varispark’s data processing service also creates custom variable mapping to pinpoint up to four store locations, giving customers a wealth of options as to which location they want to visit. Plus, our route mapping service generates a route from the recipient’s mailing address to up to four store locations. 

What’s more, data processing from Varispark offers more than just removal of mailing addresses with incorrect or incomplete information. Our data processing service offers address resolution via our proprietary database to resolve incomplete mailing addresses, helping to maximize your investment on direct mail campaigns. This component of our data processing service also ensures that contacts with incomplete information are not simply left out of your mailing.

On a similar note, our Proprietary Change of Address software (PCOA) uses a variety of consumer information like credit card statements or magazine subscriptions to update mailing addresses in the event your contacts have recently moved. 

Varispark’s data processing services include a range of other options to help brands in nearly every industry communicate with the right customer at the right time. Plus, our services include elements to help make your direct mail campaigns a more omnichannel experience with digital integrations like quick response (QR) codes, personalized URLs, and USPS Informed Delivery^®, which provides customers with a digital preview of mailers before they arrive. 

Ready to harness the power of data processing to create more cost-effective direct mail? Tell us about your project and we’ll get started.