List Ordering FAQ

Common Questions about ordering a list.

Q: How do I select a geography?
A: First, identify the geographic region that you would like to target. The following are the available geographic targets as well as some guidelines for selecting:

• STATE – Select this option if you want to target people from a particular state (e.g., anyone who lives in the state of Hawaii).
• COUNTY – Select this option if you want to target people from a particular county within a certain state (e.g., anyone who lives in Norfolk County, MA).
• CITY – Select this option if you want to target people from a particular city. A city is defined as an aggregate of ZIP Codes identifying an urban area (e.g., anyone who lives in Oakland, CA).
• ZIP CODE – Select this option if you want to target people who share a particular ZIP Code (e.g., anyone with 74820 as their ZIP Code). SELECT FROM A LIST will allow you to narrow down your choice of ZIP Codes by first specifying a state, and then selecting from the ZIP Codes of that state. TYPE IN will allow you to enter in ZIP Codes that have been pre-determined by you.
• SCF – Select this option if you want to target people who share the same first three digits of their ZIP Code (e.g., 76008 and 76043 have the same SCF). TYPE IN will allow you to enter in SCF’s which have been pre-determined by you.

Q: What are carrier routes?
A: Carrier routes are boundaries set by the USPS to show the delivery boundaries of a postal carrier.

Q: How do I select the demographics?
A: After you define your geography, the next step is to identify the type of consumers you would like to contact. The Targeting Criteria screen provides several demographic variables from which to choose including income, age, and marital status. The more criteria you select, the more precise your list will be.

Q: Should I add phone numbers to my list?
A: It depends on your goal. Phone numbers are great if you have a sales or telemarketing staff equipped to make follow up calls. However, phone numbers will cost an additional per name, and you’ll need to plan for the activity. After-mail calls can be a very effective technique, but it does require both planning and resources. Example: if you have 10 outbound telesales reps, and they can make 50 calls per day, you can follow up a 10,000-card mailing in 4 weeks.

Q: Help! My available count is too low!
A: If your list count is lower than you expected, you may want to expand your geography and/or broaden your list criteria. For example, suppose you plan to target married couples with middle incomes in the San Diego market, defined by ZIP Codes in that area. One option is to add neighboring ZIP Codes. Another option is to change the geographic area to cover the entire San Diego metropolitan area. If you prefer to broaden your list criteria, you could include additional income levels to increase your available count.

Q: Help! My available count is too high!
A: There are two ways to shrink your list. The first is random selection: suppose you plan on mailing 8,000 prospects this month, but the list selection process yielded 15,000 prospects. By entering in 8,000 in the Desired Order Size box on the Your Order screen, you will get 8,000 prospects randomly selected from the original 15,000. The other way to decrease a list count is to further narrow down your geographic area and/or your selection criteria.

Q: Can I order just a portion of the entire list?
A: Yes. Simply enter your desired order quantity in the ‘Desired Order Size’ box, and a list of this size will be randomly selected from the entire available count.