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Direct Mail
January 30, 2025

Scale Your Reach with Smarter Direct Mail Audience Targeting

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Does your customer acquisition strategy include direct mail? If not, you’re missing out on a powerful channel that integrates with digital and packs a punch when it comes to conversion and retention. While digital marketing is often the go-to for marketers looking to tap into new audiences, digital channels rely on proxy data that is a best-guess at consumer attributes. 

Read on to learn how to expand your mailing address database to target your future best customers.

The biggest roadblocks to digital targeting

When building your customer acquisition campaigns, relying solely on digital channels might feel like a safe bet, especially if you have a large email database or feel confident in your digital marketing targeting strategies. But have you stopped to assess how effective those channels truly are at converting prospects into loyal customers? 

Here are the biggest roadblocks we see marketers encountering when they limit themselves to digital channels:

  1. Data decay: Email databases degrade at a rate of 22% annually, making it harder to reach your audience.
  2. Inaccurate data: Digital proxy data often lacks precision, leading to wasted efforts on irrelevant audiences.
  3. Limited audience pools: A narrow target audience can restrict growth and prevent you from scaling effectively.

The good news? Expanding your audience with laser-focused targeting and tapping into the power of direct mail will help you overcome these challenges. 

How direct mail solves targeting challenges, boosting your customer acquisition 

Direct mail audiences are more reliable than digital because they use accurate physical addresses instead of proxy data. Mailing addresses are public record, creating transparency that just doesn’t exist in the digital world. Demographic information is also readily available for addresses, making targeting easier and more accurate. 

From the consumer perspective, there’s something uniquely impactful about receiving physical mail. Unlike digital ads or emails, which are often ignored or deleted, direct mail is tangible. It creates a personal touch that builds trust and leaves a lasting impression, especially for consumers who aren’t already familiar with your brand.

Direct mail audience expansion

Effectively reaching consumers who haven’t engaged with your brand—and who are likely to convert—requires careful planning and strategy. Acquiring new addresses involves a financial investment, so it’s important to ensure you’re targeting the right audience.

What to consider when expanding your direct mail audiences

Before you invest in new address lists, think carefully about audience attributes—and how long it will take to receive and start using your new lists.

  1. Geographies: Where are your potential customers located? Are there regions where people are more likely to convert?
  2. Demographics: What age, income, or lifestyle factors define your highest performing customer segments?
  3. Customer profiles: Consider attributes like purchase behaviors or interests that define your ideal customers. Use this information to build look-alike audiences.
  4. Speed of list delivery: Timely data is critical. Ensure your expanded lists are delivered quickly to meet campaign deadlines.
  5. Integration: Simplify the process of importing and managing audience lists so you can focus on sending mail, not tedious tasks.

How to get the most out of expanded audiences

Once you’ve set your audience criteria and received your new audience list, it’s time to get to work. To ensure you get the most out of your new audiences, follow this checklist:

Put it into practice

When done right, expanding your direct mail audiences will get your brand in front of customers in key geographies and demographic groups that are likely to convert. Using lookalike data or retargeting from digital channels will take your strategy over the top.

Expanding your audience lists and integrating direct mail into your acquisition strategy will help you reach more new customers, achieve higher conversion rates, and scale your business effectively.

Try Lob Audience

With Lob Audience, you can access precise audience lists that are ready for action. Our platform simplifies audience expansion with fast list delivery, seamless integration, and data you can trust. Grow your customer base and boost your campaign results with ease.

Learn more about Lob Audience

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