Speedy and Accurate Merge/Purge Solutions to Boost Mailing ROI

In the multifaceted world of direct mail marketing, the effectiveness of your campaign starts with the recency, accuracy, and specificity of the data you are mailing. There are many pitfalls that can undercut the ROI, and most of them are due to a slow or inaccurate merge/purge, or data that does not deliver results.

LiftEngine stands at the forefront of merge/purge, offering fast and bespoke solutions that provide accurate results while getting you into the mail quickly.

Here are some reasons why we stand out.

Yes, You Can Be Too Slow for “Snail” Mail

Believe it or not, time is of the essence when you set up a direct mail campaign. As you start to compile your data to support your next mailing, the data is getting older by the day. This can have massive negative effects on your ROI. Here are some examples:

• If you are mailing a time-sensitive list, like our New Movers file, waiting 10 days for your merge/purge to be completed means a larger window for your competitors to swoop in.
  If you are mailing recently lapsed customers, the longer you go without contact, the higher the chance they will forget about your brand.
  If you are mailing co-op data consisting of those who purchased from competitors in the last six months, you do not want these folks to receive the direct mail piece closer to the seven-month mark.

Guided by our world-class data hygiene team, our AMP Platform can combine multiple prospect files into a single, clean dataset in as little as 24 hours. Why is this important? Data cut-off dates can be pushed back to the last minute to allow for fresher, more responsive records to be mailed, improving campaign performance and ROI.

Tailoring Your Direct Mail Campaign with Precision

The cornerstone of a successful direct mail campaign lies in the meticulous matching via merge/purge of your prospect data, contingent on your targeting specificities—whether it be Individual, Household, or Residence level. Understanding and implementing these distinctions ensures your messages reach the intended audience efficiently and effectively.

Remember we mentioned pitfalls earlier that can undercut the ROI? A major one is double-mailing individuals or households unnecessarily. Postage and paper are not cheap!

Individual Level Matching for Direct Engagement

When your direct mail aims to connect personally with every member of your audience, the Individual level match is paramount. The criteria for this rigorous level of unduplication include analysis of each record’s name and address to ensure that your messages reach the exact individual for whom it is intended, only once.

Household Level Matching for Family-Focused Campaigns

Opting for a Household-level match aligns with campaigns intended to reach every household, embracing the potential for multiple individuals at a single address. The qualifications for a Household-level merge include the similarity of names at a specific address and other proprietary logic.

This approach ensures a single, impactful direct mail piece per household, promoting efficiency and reducing redundancy when your message is geared towards family or household-centric offers.

Residence Level Matching for Comprehensive Coverage

With Residence-level matching, we look at the address, and other proprietary logic, ensuring each address receives one piece of direct mail, regardless of the number or relationship of occupants. This can get dicey depending on when dealing with apartment buildings and multi-family dwellings, so we are careful to explain all the unintended consequences.

Stopping Bad Mailings Way Before They Happen

To reiterate, postage and paper are not cheap! That said, you only want to mail those with the highest propensity to respond. We can take several steps to make this happen.

First, we suppress those with little to no chance to respond. This includes those in prisons, intuitional addresses, nursing homes, and those who are deceased. We also can flag or remove certain types of records that are not desirable parts of your audience based on address type, address quality, or other data points. We detail this in more in a recent article.

While not a part of our normal merge/purge offering, if you want to take this concept to the next level, you should check out our Data Models. Part art, part science, our Data Models use machine learning and AI to identify those least-likely to respond to your specific mailing and drop them. This decreases your campaign costs without sacrificing response, revenue, or ROI.

The LiftEngine Edge: Precision, Efficiency, ROI

The intricacies of managing a direct mail campaign require expertise not just in data handling, but in understanding the nuances that define effective direct engagement strategies. LiftEngine’s Merge/Purge service embodies this expertise, offering:

• Customized Data Optimization: Tailored strategies that align perfectly with your campaign goals, whether at the Individual, Household, or Residence level.
• Enhanced Campaign Effectiveness: By eliminating redundancy and ensuring precise targeting, your direct mail pieces have a greater impact, driving higher engagement and response rates.
• Significant Cost Savings: Streamlining your mailing list directly translates to reduced print and postage costs, increasing your overall campaign ROI.

Include LiftEngine in Your Next Direct Mail Plans

Choosing LiftEngine’s Merge/Purge service ensures your direct mail campaigns are powered by the most accurate, efficiently segmented data. Craft your message knowing it will land precisely as intended, whether in the hands of every individual, every household, or every residence in your target area.

To further enhance the effectiveness of our merge/purge service, LiftEngine offers a suite of capabilities that serve as perfect complements to optimize your direct mail campaigns.

• Data segmentation allows for precise targeting by categorizing your audience into clearly defined segments.
• Data Appends add depth and relevance to your existing lists by furnishing additional details, such as demographic and psychographic data.
• National Change of Address (NCOA) append ensures your data is current, reflecting any recent moves by your customers.
• Prison suppression, Deceased Suppression, and Nursing Home suppressions are essential for maintaining ethical standards and regulatory compliance, ensuring that your campaigns are not only effective but also responsible.

Together, these services enrich your merge/purge results, crafting a data foundation that is both robust and actionable.

About LiftEngine

Since 2005, LiftEngine's primary mission has been to help clients better understand and connect with their most responsive prospects and customers, online or offline. Our expertise is behind the marketing campaigns of 400+ clients.

Behind LiftEngine is LiftBase, our proprietary addressable consumer database. Comprised of 250 million US consumers, 140 million US households, and 1,000+ enhanced data elements, LiftBase powers our audience development services and industry-leading products, PortalLink and LaunchPad.

Let's connect today!