We’re hearing a whole lot of buzz, chatter and concern about the new USPS “Every Door Direct Mail” (EDDM) program launched in December 2011. Essentially, the program uses an old and outdated method of mailing (simplified addressing) to deliver mail to every address on a carrier route. EDDM was ostensibly designed to try and lure small-medium sized businesses (currently not direct mailing) into the mailstream with the promise of a simple and cheaper approach to putting a mailing together – the USPS idea being that eliminating so many of the obstacles to mailing (for instance acquiring an address list) will convince new mailers to dive into the direct mail pool.

Many small-medium businesses are happily jumping on the EDDM bandwagon in the quest to save a postage buck or two – seemingly without a thorough understanding of the effectiveness of this approach to direct mail. In addition, while appearing to provide a valuable tool to these companies, the initial effect of the program has been devastating for some other companies – notably Mail Service Providers (MSPs). Amidst growing complaints and reports that some list companies are seeing a 30% reduction in saturation list sales, some in the industry are questioning the USPS’ EDDM promotional techniques to existing mailers and the seeming strategy of attempting to eliminate the MSP from the business equation altogether!

Cutting through all the conflict, chaos, and concern here are some basic points to ponder and share with customers considering this approach:

EDDM Disregards “Do Not Mail” requests:
People care about waste and the environment – some concerned households are making more of an effort than ever to reduce the amount of mail they receive. Any responsible mailer respectfully honors the Direct Marketing Association’s guidelines for managing “do not mail” requests and removes these records from a potential mailing list altogether. EDDM currently has no method in place for removing these addresses. Continuing to mail to consumers who have extended great effort to be removed from mailings is not only somewhat rude, but makes for complaints and threats from some very irate customers… negative for brand image to say the least.

Not a “one size fits all” solution:
EDDM may be fine for a minority of mailers with no need for personalization or any wish to intelligently target their customer base. However for most mailers the disadvantages of this approach include not only an inability to use a name or otherwise personalize a mailpiece, but also an inability to do any demographic selections or further audience targeting at all. Even dwelling types (such as apartments or trailers) may not be excluded.

Mailpiece design & mail quantities are limited: EDDM mailpieces are limited to flats or parcels only – period. Letter size mail is not acceptable. In addition, mail quantities are limited and no more than 5,000 pieces per day may be submitted.

EDDM is the direct opposite of targeted mailing: It is not possible to personalize a mailpiece through the EDDM program. Years of experience and effort have taught marketers that it is vital to target our message personally and clearly to those customers most likely to find value in our products/services. Reverting to blanket generic “postal customer” approach to mailing flies in the face of everything we have learned about the known value and proven results of defining our target market and making our marketing messages as personal and relevant as possible.

EDDM still requires a basic understanding of postal requirements: Businesses go to a MSP because they want to avoid the hassle of preparing direct mail. Not only do EDDM users have to deliver everything to the appropriate post office(s), they still have to print “Postal Customer” on a mailpiece, bundle the mailpieces, download the route information, fill out postal paperwork and deal with postal employees… in short everything that our Mail Service Providers are here for!

Every Door Direct Mail… A little more than meets the eye? Perhaps. At the very least it benefits anyone involved to carefully consider the limited cost cutting advantages of this throwback approach to direct mail before utilizing it – and to remember the hard won lessons we’ve learned in terms of a focused, targeted and strategic approach gaining the best response levels overall.

Mary McCarty
List Services Director
Compact Information Systems

Ever felt like the data you are buying from some vendors performs like a vehicle made of lead at a drag race? Sometimes we do too, that is why we go the extra mile to ensure our Resident, Consumer and Auto direct marketing lists are the cleanest they possibly can be before you get to see them.

To give you some idea of how intense our data hygiene processes are let’s lift the hood and see what goes on. First and foremost we start with the best data we can acquire; you know the old rule, “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” Once we receive the raw data, it is run through several processes on a monthly basis to sift out the good stuff and discard the bad. These steps include, NCOA, CASS, Name Normalization, Merge/Purge, Deceased Removal and DMA Do-Not-Call/Mail flagging. Below is a glimpse of what each of these processes does.

NCOA – This process ensures we have the most current address available for each recipient on our file. On average 2% of the public moves any given month.

CASS – This process ensures that each recipient’s address is in line with the US Postal Service. The address is then checked for deliverability and assigned a Delivery Point Validation (DPV) code. Those records that do not code as deliverable are removed from the system.

Name Normalization – We then pass each record through a stringent name normalization process to ensure each name is spelled correctly. This process is always being fine-tuned as we discover new spellings of common names like, Allyx for Alex as an example. The variety of names is almost infinite, so our job is never done!

Merge/Purge – This process ensures we do not have duplicate data in our files when we are updating a file. This helps to cut down the cost of doing direct mail by removing duplicates. The trick is identifying duplicates when something minor may have changed from one update to the next. There are many tricks to this process.

Deceased Removal – As you know this process touches a chord with everyone. No one wants to receive direct mail offers to their departed loved ones. We have over 2 million records in-house and purchase 15 million plus records from the DMA to use as a filter against our direct marketing lists, we believe our processes are some of the best in the industry as we use quite a few sources monthly.

DMA Do-Not-Call/Mail – Lastly, we flag records of those individuals that have asked to be suppressed from direct mail campaigns. All phone numbers have been screened against all national and local databases to ensure compliance with federal and local laws. We collect our own Do Not Mail data from our several thousand customers, and we also use national files.

As you can see, we take our data hygiene very seriously. What this allows us to do is provide the best deliverability to our mail customers in the industry, so good in fact that we guarantee it at 94% deliverable, the highest percentage you can get anywhere.

Randy Kienzle
VP Data Processing
Compact Information Systems