List and Data Strategies: Using Co-ops to Optimize Rented Lists

| Tim Parry

Not too long ago, the relationship between list firms and the cooperative list services was about as friendly as that of the Hatfields and the McCoys.

But as targeted mailings become ever more important in light of the U.S. Postal Service’s May 14 rate increase, more list firms are seeking to have their lists optimized by the co-ops.

Developing Business Rules for Matchback Allocation

| Jim Coogan

With the flood of web buyers arriving without source codes, matchback analysis has become the methodology for reading results. Matchbacks are simply matching the mail file of the circulation with the response file of orders received during the life of the catalog being measured.

Choosing a NCOALink Option

| MCM staff

In its Best Practices White Paper on Address Hygiene, East Greenbush, NY-based database marketer I-Centrix identifies one key difference between these products: the amount of move history contained in the file. The NCOALink 0-48 month process provides 48 months of move data and assigns nixie return codes to records that are almost, but not quite, NCOA hits.

Spring Clean Your Lists Before Postal Rate Hike

| MCM staff

As the May 14 postal rate increase draws closer, it is essential for companies to understand the complexities of those changes. That means mailers need to get in the habit of keeping their databases extra clean, says Arnie Cohen, senior manager of product logistics for Carlsbad, CA-based marketer/mail house Modern Postcard.