A successful mailing starts with a good list and ends with a profitable response. When a mailing campaign does not produce the desired results, many may wonder, is it the lists fault, the mail piece or the wrong title on the envelope? If it is not clear what part of the mail campaign is at fault, how does one know what to do differently?

Many businesses using direct mail as a part of their marketing campaigns are unaware that by “key coding” their mail pieces, they can track the responses of their mailings. By compiling the responses, the mailer is then able to analyze the response rate.  When ordering multiple lists, key coding each list with a different key code can give the mailer the data necessary to analyze the response rates.

For example, XYZ Company is sending out 25,000 postcards to announce a new product they are putting on the market.  They decide to order 5 different lists of 5,000 names each.  They then decide to key code the lists as follows:

Somewhere on the mail piece (usually by the recipient’s name and address), the key code is printed.  After the mailing is sent out, the consumer responds to the mail piece they receive and the operator or receptionist who takes their call asks for the key code on the mailer.  A list is then kept on the in-house database or separately, keeping track of who responded from which list utilizing the corresponding key code.

A key code can be numeric, alphabetic, or alphanumeric and can be as long or short as desired.  A list of all the key codes that have been used and are currently being used should be kept so that duplication does not occur.  Duplication could confuse later analysis of the responses.

This methodology is most useful when beginning each marketing campaign.  One can consult the responses from the last campaign and rank the effectiveness of the lists previously rented.  After analyzing the last mailing and its effectiveness, orders can be placed based on the responses from the lists that worked well, possibly increasing the quantity of the order, and order new lists to replace the lists that did not work well.

When mailing out a very large list of names, one might consider sending two different mailers with two different sets of key codes. This will help in analyzing the effectiveness of the mail piece.

Response analysis is a very important part of direct marketing campaigns. An increase in business after a mail piece has been sent out does not always indicate the effectiveness of the mail campaign. By printing a key code on the mail piece, the mailer is given the opportunity to take control of their marketing efforts, and in turn, increase their responses and future profits.