Saturation Mail

A saturation mailing can be a valuable tool when you are looking to reach a broad based audience in a local area.


“Carrier route saturation” is a class of Standard Male offered by the US Postal Service to marketers who are looking to hit on virtually every address in a zip code. A beauty parlor might saturate a single carrier route while a big box store might hit on everyone in an entire zip code. There is no exact figure but if you do a saturation mailing you can usually get 5 cents to 6 cents per piece lower on your mailing! Not too shabby.


In order to qualify for the rate, automation guidelines must be followed in regard to sorting, bar coding, packaging and tagging. The mailing must also include at least 75% OF ALL addresses (including commercial) or 90% or all residential addresses in the carrier route of the mailing.


To get in on this there are a few things that must be followed. I would contact your postmaster for all the details.


Addresses may be eliminated down to 75% to 90% penetration level. You can do this by taking out current customers and or removal of addresses that are most likely not to respond. (See your direct mail expert for help if you need it).


Assuming that distance is important to you in securing a customer, you need to understand distance and buying preferences. When figuring out your ideal buying structure you need to take a random saturation out to 20 miles or so, in lager metro areas like Chicago you might want to tighten that down to 10 miles or less. In finding the results this random mailing you need to quantify the response and distance in terms that can be translated into a factor which when put into a model or response possibilities you can target harder to build a saturation model unique to your business. Then armed with your unique distance and saturation and target gain factors you can then determine the best mix of saturation in a targeted mailing that is right for you.


You might find that you want to hit all carrier routes inside of 5 miles. Those addresses 6-8 miles out 9 out of 10 carrier routes. In the 9 to 10 mile range 8 out of 10 and so on.


If geography matters to your business direct mail saturation might be the ticket to increased customers for your business.


Larson Notes & Satire: I like mail. I like it better than email. Even if they toss it in the bucket they need to look at it as they do. They will see your name, your address, your logo. With email one click and your gone! Being B2B I don’t do saturation mail as in geography but I do use mail in a saturation way to target my market in geography, that being by state and business listing. One of my company’s goals is to have a customer in each of the lower 48 states. Right now I have targeted Florida, Texas, Colorado and Washington State as my next states to penetrate. All I need to do is get the right SIC number target the right sized company and down load my list.


Now when I attack it is more that a mailing, it is a phone call or 2 or 3 followed by a mailing than another 2 to 3 phone calls followed by a mailing till I reach my goal. Does it work? It works for me, will it work for you? That is what you need to figure out.


Of course that is the same way I work with my clients to find them new business. I use what I sell. (Another interesting concept, do you use or follow what you sell? Think about it.)


It’s not my way or the highway. Each of us and our businesses are unique. There is no right way and wrong way, there is only a way and no way. Doing something, anything is a way. To sit and do nothing is the no way to going about things.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate


P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.


P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.