ACT! Software

Database Marketing

Mailing Lists

ACT! Software

Q: My partner and I work from our respective homes. How can we share our customer database information on ACT!?

A: You have 2 options. The first way is to have your database hosted on a web server (which you set up or Aviva can host for you). Each of you would log on to the Internet to access your ACT! database, and it would be updated in real time. Or each of you has a local version of your ACT! database on your home PC or laptop and synchronize it regularly to the hosted server. You will always be as updated as the last time your partner syncs.

The second way is to set up Hamachi, virtual private network (VPN) software. The VPN acts as a server to allow your 2 databases to share updates. Your IT company can set this up for you, and then Aviva sets up ACT! to synchronize your databases properly. (You can each set up “sync sets” to define which data you wish to share, so you can still use your database to keep some contacts, notes and histories private.)

A third solution (not one we recommend) is to use one database that one of you would access through desktop sharing software. We recommend LogMeIn for this, which is free. How much do you trust your partner? If you are the one with the database and your partner logs in to it, he or she will have access to your entire computer. Additionally, you won’t be able to work on your computer when your partner is logged on. So we strongly suggest you pick one of the first two, more professional options.

Mailing Lists

The internet is full of companies selling mailing lists. I’m getting ready to send out a very important direct mail campaign. How can I be sure I don’t buy a bad list?

I only need 500 names. How much will that cost?

I want to send a mass email campaign. Do you sell email lists?

How much is a list?

I have a specific part of town I want to target my marketing to, but it crosses several zip codes and I don’t want the entire zip code. Can you help?

I just bought a prospect list and I want to be sure I don’t mail my current customers.

The internet is full of companies selling mailing lists. I’m getting ready to send out a very important direct mail campaign. How can I be sure I don’t buy a bad list?

You are right to be concerned about the list—it will make or break your direct marketing campaign. A Direct Marketing Assn. study shows 60% of the success of your campaign is due to choosing the right list. The highest response will come from mailing your own customer list. But if you’re looking for new customers, you’ll need to buy a prospect list. Most lists today are sold through list brokers—even list compilers sell the majority of their lists this way. So choosing the right list broker is critical. A list compiler typically has dozens of sales reps with a sales quota selling their list products. It’s usually a high-turnover business and your rep may not be very knowledgeable about your specific business needs.

An experienced list broker, like an independent stock broker or travel agent, places your company’s best interests first. Find someone who has had years of experience brokering many different lists (there are more than 40,000 on the market for sale).

A broker with a diverse client base who has directed hundreds of campaigns will know what works and what fails and can coach you on how to maximize your results (usually at no extra charge). If you are shopping for a mailing list online, and you don’t purchase mailing lists very often, get the company’s phone number, and call to interview the broker personally. Ask, “What kind of deliverability guarantee do you have”, “What three lists would you recommend for my business” and “Tell me about other mailings like mine you’ve worked with.” Interview at least three brokers before making a decision on who to trust and never—never—buy on price alone. A cheap list that doesn’t work jeopardizes your entire production and postage investment.

I only need 500 names. How much will that cost?

Aviva does not recommend direct marketing to such a low quantity. Even if you got a respectable .5% response, you would not be creating much momentum in exchange for your expense and effort. Statistically it’s not a very good test size. Industry experts agree that direct marketing tests should be at least 5,000 names. That is how most lists are sold. Even if you don’t need that many names, that is the minimum for most list orders. You will have to pay for a minimum order even if you do not use all the names at once—usually about $200 - $700.

But if you are going to venture into the world of direct marketing—like many successful marketers before you—you will want to do it right. That means a series of campaigns released in a measured amount of time. Aviva recommends at least one mailing per quarter with a follow-up phone call for maximum results.

If you truly need such a small quantity of names, try building a list yourself off the internet from directory and membership listings, and then send it to Aviva to clean it up and verify its deliverability. Aviva sells a product called egrabber that is perfect for downloading hundreds of leads with no data entry and accurate formatting for downloading into your ACT! Database.

I want to send a mass email campaign. Do you sell email lists?

No; and we highly advise against this approach. First of all, next time you’re at a party, ask every stranger you meet if they would like to receive more advertising email or less. Dollars to donuts they answer “none!” So why, as marketers, is that often the first thing we think of when we want to promote products and services? Permission-based email marketing campaigns must be executed strategically and in combination with other marketing programs to give you a worthwhile ROI.

Even when you purchase an opt-in, permission-based email list, you will not receive the actual list. The list owner will control the transmission for you and you will receive only the “hits” to your website. You have no editing power, so your own customers may be on the list or even some competitors. Consequently, Aviva’s policy is that unless someone asked you to send them advertising email, it’s spam.

Aviva does provide an email appending service for customer names you already have. We also sell special HTML marketing software that complies with current CAN-SPAM legislation, tracks back-end results like openings and click-throughs and is compatible with ACT! contact management software.

Should you decide to continue with this tactic anyway, be familiar with the ever-changing federal privacy laws, including CAN-SPAM.
How much is a list?

This is an impossible question to answer without more information. First, every list owner sets his own list price…and there are more than 40,000 different lists. Mailing lists, telemarketing lists, email lists all have different prices. Compiled lists, such as every household in a zip code, are less expensive than response lists, like mail order buyers, membership rosters, and subscribers to publications. And if you buy in volume, say 100,000 names versus 5,000, you will be eligible for discount pricing.

If you’re looking for an estimate for budgeting purposes, you can use 2¢ - 18¢ per name for consumer lists and 5¢ - 25¢ per name for business lists. The best way to get a firm price is to have your list broker make three list suggestions for you, run list counts of these specific lists, then give you pricing.
I have a specific part of town I want to target my marketing to, but it crosses several zip codes and I don’t want the entire zip code. Can you help?

Aviva can help you pinpoint a target market with laser accuracy with its state-of-the-art mapping services. You provide us with a city map of boundaries or street names of a north-south-east-west area you want to reach, and we will provide you with consumer names or businesses from within that area only—regardless of the zip code or carrier route. Most mapping gets you to the closest carrier route, but still overshoots the boundary. Aviva’s service takes you to the household level.

This service is perfect for school district mailings, bank Community Reinvestment Act marketing, pinpointing hail storm damage for auto repair and roofers, real estate prospecting or for reaching your competitor’s customers in his own backyard. You can also give us your customer addresses and we’ll give you the closest 10-150 neighbors’ addresses.

I just bought a prospect list and I want to be sure I don’t mail my current customers.

You need merge/purge service. Aviva’s data processing department takes your two (or more) lists, standardizes them against the USPS’ Postal Delivery File, then matches them up using a combination of the name, address, zip and company. When matches are found to exist within both your customer list and your prospect list, the prospect name is removed. This process also removes duplicates, so you don’t market the same names more than once. Merge/purge saves you wasted postage and production costs, as well as the impression to a customer who receives a prospecting message and thinks you don’t appreciate him (or don’t even know he’s a customer!)
I haven’t updated my list in years. I know my good customers are in there, but they’re mixed in with all the dead wood. What can I do?

Your customer list is your #1 business asset. Most marketers know this but a lot aren’t committed to it. Just like getting your car’s oil changed on a regular basis, a database needs routine maintenance, too, or everyone in the organization loses confidence that the database has any value. Worse, sales suffer because customers move or change names and are lost from further cross selling initiatives. Aviva takes your list, finds movers from up to 3 years ago, updates your area codes and verifies phone numbers, flags your consumer phone numbers against the do-not-call list, passes it against the Social Security Administration’s deceased file (to remove dead people), corrects address deliverability errors (like missing city, state and zip codes) and appends email addresses. Once this is done, we’ll make one last pass to find and remove your duplicates. We can even “household” your list, grouping multiple people living in the same dwelling together so you only contact them once.
I have several shoeboxes of business cards and sales receipts. How can I create a database?

Send us everything. Data entry is our specialty. Afterward, we’ll download your new list into ACT! contact management software or return the file to you in Excel. We can even help you set up groups you so you can market your contacts by “source,” for example, networking, personal and new prospects. If you’d rather do-it-yourself, we sell the Corex CardScanner that downloads business cards directly into ACT!, Outlook, Palm and other contact managers.
Postage is so expensive. How can I qualify for postal discounts?

Postage is the single biggest expense in direct marketing, no doubt about it. But why pay more to the USPS than you have to? What you save in postage can be reinvested in sending out more mail. More mail equals more response. The Post Office gives you a volume discount if you mail more than 200 pieces Standard (bulk) or 500 pieces First Class. Aviva can help you qualify for these discounts without buying a Bulk Mail Permit or expensive pre-sorting software. We can also have your mail piece design approved by the post office before you print it so you don’t overlook regulations that may invalidate your discounts or cost you additional fees.
I want to put sales leads into my ACT! Database. What format do your lists come in?

Your list can be formatted for ACT! or any other contact management system, like Goldmine, Outlook or Maximizer. You can also receive your list in a Microsoft Excel or Access format. If the list is large, we will post it to our FTP site and give you directions to download it.

How can I track my results to know if my direct marketing paid off?

You will need to do some pre-campaign planning to make this happen. First, add the same “source code” to your mailer and to your list. This can be any combination of numbers or letters that identify a new prospect as having come from this particular campaign. Load up your mailing or email blast with all of the ways potential customers can contact you: phone, fax, website, email address, toll-free number. Many companies create unique web pages and email addresses to track electronic responses.

Train your entire sales and customer service team to ask “How did you hear about us” every time they have contact with prospect. Import your prospect list (with the source code) into a marketing database like ACT! As responses flow in, you’ll be able to pull up each prospect by name, verify his contact information, add missing information (like an email address) and keep track of queries, quotes and comments, regardless of how many people in your organization talk to them. Within 2 – 3 weeks of your campaign’s launch, you’ll be able to run a very accurate report of who responded, what they bought and how much new revenue you brought in.
I love using ACT! Contact Management Software but there are 2 things I need it to do that it won’t. What do you recommend?

Most ACT! users find that ACT! has about 80% of the features they need right out of the box. But that last 20% requires customization. Fortunately, you picked a contact manager that is easily customizable without costing an arm and a leg. Aviva has three ACT! Certified Consultants on staff who are expert in listening to your workflow issues and customizing ACT! to support your business. We also offer a “Customizing ACT!” class where we instruct you on how to execute do-it-yourself customizations. Either way, we’re here to help you squeeze the most profitability from your marketing system.
We’ve used ACT! For years, but sometimes we have this problem that no one can fix. We don’t want to spend a lot of money. How can I get some help when I need it?

Aviva has several options for you to get the help you need so you can get back to doing business. First are two freebies: Our ACT! Forum is monitored by ACT! Certified Consultants and other ACT! Power users. Post a question and get a reply. Second, you can do unlimited free searches in the ACT! Knowledgebase online.

For $10, you can come to the St. Louis Mani-ACT!s User Group, held on the second Wednesday of each month. About 10-20 people show up to exchange ACT! tips and tricks and answer troubleshooting dilemmas.

Lastly, you can purchase an ACT! Technical Support Agreement which gives you unlimited telephone access to a certified consultant whenever you need one. With technical support, you also are eligible for a discount on professional services should you need hire one of our consultants to fix your problem on-site.