...One of my clients was starting a golf catalogue with young, hip, male-oriented merchandise. We purchased a list from the biggest list house in the country and were looking for a very specific demographic: young, male golfers. There were some red flags that we should have heeded before sending out a VERY expensive catalogue...

First warning sign: The list company had a tough time getting enough names for our mailing list.
Second warning sign: We were in a rush to get the catalogue out before Christmas.
Third warning sign: We were on a tight budget, being a startup business.

We were ecstatic when we finally put the piece in the mail. But when mail started bouncing back with bad names and addresses, we were a little worried. Then, instead of orders, the client was getting phone calls that the people we sent catalogues to were either not interested in golf at all, or they DIED, and had been dead for several years.

After some investigation, we discovered that our list company actually bought the list from a third party. The third party, supposedly without informing our list company, dug up records as far back as eight years. The list was terribly corrupt and nearly bankrupted the young startup. Hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in a catalogue were blown all because of the list.

What would I have done differently? I would have taken a few extra days to call a random sample of the list. We could have called 20 names and discovered the list was bad. But because of the rush and the budget, we failed to see where things could have gone wrong. P.S. I've sent out millions of direct mail pieces (literally) and the one thing I can say to your readers is don't underestimate the power of a hand-written address and a live stamp. It's worth the time and aching wrists, especially for B2B mailings.

Jim,

In lists as with everything else, "let the buyer beware".

Unfortunately you or your client got caught up in an unfortunate confluence of events that included a less than honest list broker, no time for testing, and a slim budget.

The sad thing about lists is that although they are the most important single factor in determining the success of a mailing program they are often little more than an afterthought.

And whereas mailers in the past took pains to test lists including calling a random selection of records as you suggest, everything today seems so rushed that no one has time for these basic quality assurance steps.

Remember the saying "There's never time to do it right but always time to re-do it".

Anyway good luck with your new agency and keep in touch.

Tom Mac Arthur
WELLSPRING COMMUNICATIONS GROUP INC
414 273-4877
414 276-6239
wtm@wtmdirect.com