Illegal To Direct Market?

Claude Whitacre

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Borntodefy

Is every home address fair game to send direct marketing mail to?

Of course. There is no "do not mail" list.

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Peter Lessard

11 years ago

Yes it is illegal. I advise everyone that does direct mail to stop now. Also please send me your best converting pieces. ;-)

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Borntodefy

11 years ago

Haha. Awesome, thanks!

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ronrule

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Borntodefy

Is every home address fair game to send direct marketing mail to?

It depends on the offer ... offers for credit and insurance are regulated (and there is an "opt out list" run by the FTC that marketers of those products have to honor).

Everything else is fair game, in the USA at least.

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misterme

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Borntodefy

Is every home address fair game to send direct marketing mail to?

Not necessarily. You wouldn't want to waste printing and postage mailing to households who don't have the needed qualifications for ever in a million years being your target market, generally speaking.

*I wrote "generally speaking" because of the knuckleheads who'd point out the exception as if that disproves the rule.

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ronrule

11 years ago

Originally Posted by misterme

Not necessarily. You wouldn't want to waste printing and postage mailing to households who don't have the needed qualifications for ever in a million years being your target market, generally speaking.

Haha, I doubt that he was planning on mailing every house in the country, he was just wondering if there were restrictions.

That's a great point though that a lot of direct mail marketers still haven't figured out. I mean, even something as simple as the address type. I remember when I was living in an apartment I got offers in the mail for siding, pressure washing, and other outdoor-related products and services that I would never have any use for. Something as simple as removing addresses that had a line two or #/Apt/Unit/Box/Suite/etc. in them would have been a filter that took seconds to run and would have saved the mailer thousands of dollars.

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iAmNameLess

11 years ago

Originally Posted by ronrule

Something as simple as removing addresses that had a line two or #/Apt/Unit/Box/Suite/etc. in them would have been a filter that took seconds to run and would have saved the mailer thousands of dollars.

I find that to be pretty surprising, that they wouldn't be using EDDM and just picking out the routes. Were they addressed directly to you vs. just EDDM?

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ronrule

11 years ago

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

I find that to be pretty surprising, that they wouldn't be using EDDM and just picking out the routes. Were they addressed directly to you vs. just EDDM?

I never paid attention to whether they were addressed to me or not, might have been. So many companies are selling their customer names & addresses now, it's hard to guess how you're profiled anymore.

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savidge4 11 years ago

so how much would it cost to send a mailer to ever address in the US?
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- ronrule 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by savidge4
  
  so how much would it cost to send a mailer to ever address in the US?
  
  About $70 million or so. Double it if you want to include commercial addresses. But only an extraordinarily bad marketer would do that. Even direct mail giants like Publishers Clearing House don't mail EVERYONE.
  
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Gh0zt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by ronrule

I never paid attention to whether they were addressed to me or not, might have been. So many companies are selling their customer names & addresses now, it's hard to guess how you're profiled anymore.

I hear that. Just a few months ago a female friend started getting spammy marketing calls from insurance companys - the thing is: she had a brand new phone and nobody knew her number! She had a run in with the police and was arrested, something to do with cars.... then hey presto, calls start comming in about insurance.

She put 2 and 2 together and figured the police must have sold her information to a marketing company of some sort - they are the only one's who had the details.

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ronrule

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Gh0zt

I hear that. Just a few months ago a female friend started getting spammy marketing calls from insurance companys - the thing is: she had a brand new phone and nobody knew her number! She had a run in with the police and was arrested, something to do with cars.... then hey presto, calls start comming in about insurance.

She put 2 and 2 together and figured the police must have sold her information to a marketing company of some sort - they are the only one's who had the details.

It's all public record - government agencies don't sell the data, but under the law they have to provide access to it. So marketing companies monitor all arrest records, tickets, etc. and then sell that data to insurance companies, lawyers, and traffic schools. If you get a speeding ticket, within 3-4 days you'll have a ton of offers from traffic lawyers, and driving schools who can get the points off your license.

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Claude Whitacre

11 years ago

Originally Posted by misterme

Not necessarily. You wouldn't want to waste printing and postage mailing to households who don't have the needed qualifications for ever in a million years being your target market, generally speaking.

*I wrote "generally speaking" because of the knuckleheads who'd point out the exception as if that disproves the rule.

Dammit. I was going to blast you with the few exceptions to the rule...but then I saw you said "generally speaking", and it ruined my attack.

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trevord92

11 years ago

Here in the UK there's a mailing preference service where people can opt out of unsolicited mail.

It's not compulsory to use (most of our watchdogs like this have no real teeth) but any respectable mailing house will ensure that you run it.

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GuerrillaIM

11 years ago

Originally Posted by trevord92

Here in the UK there's a mailing preference service where people can opt out of unsolicited mail.

It's not compulsory to use (most of our watchdogs like this have no real teeth) but any respectable mailing house will ensure that you run it.

The Information Commissioners Office does have some real teeth but they usually let you off with a warning the first few times if you are a small company.