Question

Topic: Other

Average Postage Return On Direct Mail Campaign

Posted by Anonymous on 11/20/2009 at 5:41 PM ET 25 Points
We do a yearly mailing of approx. 180,000 to consumers in the US and Canada from our customer database.

We have the list NCOA'd and deduped twice---once by a contractor and again by the mailing house.

I'm wondering what's the average percent we should expect for postage returns.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 11/20/2009 at 6:20 PM Accepted
    Dear Johnc,

    According to the U.S. Census, in any given 12 month period 43 million people in USA move house.

    That's 16 percent of the population.

    Postal returns will also kick in for deaths, divorce, name changes, demolitions or disasters, because mail cannot be delivered, and due to errors in your list regardless of how many times it's been checked.

    Adding all these possibilities together may well give you up to 20 percent.

    I can't prove this but with the Census figures and the other variables,
    16 to 20 percent seems likely, so that's possibly up to 36,000 people (addresses) on your list.

    Other contributors MAY be able to give you harder facts but I hope this helps.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA


  • Posted on 11/20/2009 at 6:35 PM Author
    Thanks. I appreciate having the upper possibility of returns, but I'm looking for more an avg. on mailings.

    I've typically built in around 5% and I'm wondering if that's accurate.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 11/20/2009 at 6:53 PM Accepted
    There is a big variable that would make asking about other mailings and yours - the quality of the list. This is by far the largest variable in determining how many returns there will be.

    Actually, many large mailings have a 0% postal return rate, as they are using 3rd class mail, and post office does not return 3rd class mail. Any with bad addresses get tossed.
  • Posted on 11/20/2009 at 6:59 PM Author
    We used first class presorted. The list is our own customer database.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/20/2009 at 8:46 PM Accepted
    According to infoUSA.com: Return rates of 5-10% for businesses and 10-12% for consumers is to be expected. Businesses close their doors and people move every day (https://list.infousa.com/cgi-bin/abicgi/abicgi.pl?bas_session=S736025508005...)
  • Posted on 11/21/2009 at 8:13 AM Accepted
    If the list is your own customers, the return rate should be fairly low. InfoUSA lists have lots of nixies (return mail) because they are compiled (meaning nobody bought anything or subscribed, or asked to be on those lists).

    So, from your own house list (people who, presumably, want to hear from you, and would tell you if they moved), the rate should be about 2-3%.

    Jodi

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 11/22/2009 at 9:50 AM Accepted
    Dear Johnc,

    Jodi makes an excellent point, one I'd not thought through (thank you Jodi).

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA



  • Posted by Levon on 11/23/2009 at 10:37 AM Accepted
    You should normally have a .5-3% response rate on direct mail campaigns.
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