Mailing Lists

General Notes

Both E-mail and Direct mail lists are intended to provide your business with a large potential target audience for use in marketing, sales or promotional activities. Typically, only a very small number (.05%-4%) of recipients will respond to your mailing.

Lists can be refined to include only certain psychographic or demographic criteria. Targeting your list will allow you to reduce the list size and increase the chances of response. However, it will increase your cost per name depending on the particular "filters" you choose. It is also possible that you will not be able to get the specific filters or list size you desire.

Vendors will advise you of concerns or options available given the details provided in this quote request. Remember that there will always be exceptions and options, which will affect type of list available to you. Be sure to discuss your goals with the vendors who respond to your request.

Direct Mail/Postal Lists

Fees for direct mail list rental do not include the design, printing, fulfillment or postal costs. You will need to consider these costs when evaluating your overall program costs.

There is typically a 5,000 name minimum on postal lists. Postal list can run about $50 - $100 per thousand names, making the list cost a minimum $250 - $500 depending on filters or list type. As mentioned above, filtered or highly targeted lists will cost more per name.

E-mail Lists

E-mail lists can only be transmitted via the list owner's e-mail system and fees stated may or may not include this transmission cost. Be sure to ask if it is not clear.

For consumer e-mail lists, the minimum size is usually around 5,000 names. The average cost is between $200 - $350 per thousand, including transmission fees, for a total cost around $1,000 - $1,750. For business targeted lists, the minimum is typically around 3000 -5000 names. Average price is about $300-350 per thousand for a total of about $1,500-$1,750.

List Size

Typically, lists will have a minimum size of around 5000 names. That said, highly targeted lists may simply not be available in that size. Costs per name will reflect this availability and filtering.

It is also important to remember that list size should match up with the intent and goals of your mailing. If you are looking to contact consumers, in a large demographic region and with very few filters, the list size may be as large as tens of thousands of names, or more. Please review your filtering and target audience needs to ensure that it is aligned with the list size you choose above.