Start With Your House Names

Well, Christmas is over... my son loved his Barbaro model horse and his new wheelbarrow. Really. No hip computer games or trendy BS. We're not the typical family, but hey, I'm a lawyer turned marketer. So not much should be a surprise.

So back to list building...

The best place to start your list is with your existing customers. These "paid names" or buyers are going to be your best names. The highest dollar per name.

So if you already have customers… get ALL the e-mail addresses from current customers. ALWAYS ask them for their email address. Be it via the mail, email, web site, post cards, and telephone customer service. By converting just 5%-10% of your DM list to email, you could see a 25% increase in revenue.

So it's worth the effort to review every contact with your customer base to ensure that you are asking for their email address at every opportunity.

Once you've triple checked that you are doing the best to acquire these addresses at each contact point, take the next step and hire an email append service that will research your DM or print names and find a corresponding email address for the subscriber.

Just a few sales will pay for this process. AND since they are your clients, sending them an email is not Spam. It's gray I admit, but with proper multiple unsubscribe opportunities on every mailing, this should not cause a problem.