Address hygiene software provider QAS North America will begin a three-step direct mail campaign this month after identifying its best prospects in a test that ran from December through March.
Results from the 72,000-piece test campaign showed that subscription magazine and mail-order companies responded more than other segments by a slight margin. Those groups had a response rate of nearly 3 percent, compared with an overall response rate of 2 percent. Call center managers and chief technology officers were the best respondents.
QAS, which has been operating in England for the past 12 years, opened its first U.S. office in November and began testing a number of lists for this month’s campaign to build brand awareness.
The software speeds the recording of addresses, verifies them against the U.S. Postal Service database and formats the address. Pricing ranges from several hundred dollars to $1,000 per seat.
Call center and direct marketing trade magazine subscription lists proved most effective in the test campaign, but QAS also used SIC code lists from Dun & Bradstreet and trade show attendee lists.
The three-step effort will target call center managers and chief technology officers at mail-order companies and in-bound call centers. Those who did not respond to any of the mailings in the test campaign may receive this new series of mailings. But those who have responded in the past will not receive any of the pieces.
Joel Curry, U.S. business manager at QAS, Woburn, MA, said he expects to reach 15,000 to 20,000 names with each mailing.
The mailing this month will be based on a mailing in January to attendees of the Dallas Call Center Management Show.
The piece, which was designed inhouse, was an 8-inch-by-8-inch self-mailer that opens up to become a three-page foldout. The bright yellow cover reads, “Are you forcing your customers to spell it out for you?”
Inside, the piece details what types of problems call centers can encounter when trying to take down addresses. Alongside those problems are solutions that QuickAddress provides. Recipients interested in receiving more information and a demonstration CD-ROM are asked to call a toll-free number or mail a business reply card. The BRC asks only for standard information such as title, name, company name, address, URL/Web address and e-mail address.
QAS has used the piece for a number of years in the United Kingdom.
The last two pieces are in the design stages. Curry said the size and coloring would most likely differ from the first piece.
Curry said the campaign’s cost currently was about $75,000 to $80,000 and that based on early results, the test campaign has nearly paid for itself already.
