How Much Do Mailing Lists Cost?

Marketing team conferring at conference table

NFocus Marketing Team

Mailing list costs remain very reasonable with pricing for ‘saturation’ lists ranging from $4 – $12 per 1,000 addresses. The cost per 1,000 addresses can increase depending on targeting that increases the quality of the address for your purpose. Targeted Consumer list pricing is approximately $25 per 1,000 addresses and can go higher if additional attributes are selected.

Our minimum order varies based on the list type, ranging from $90 up to $1000 for a one-time use list rental. If you are regularly renting our lists and have an annual agreement with us, you’ll likely receive a volume discount.

A list of addresses, defined by a geographic area but with no qualifying characteristics such as age, gender or income, would be considered a ‘saturation’ list. All addresses within that area would receive your mailing.

The price per address increases as you add qualifying characteristics. The final list can be filtered to include, for example, only higher-income addresses with children under 10 in the home and an older vehicle in the driveway. A list such as this might be perfect for a car dealership looking to sell a new luxury SUV or mini-van to area families.

When adding qualifying characteristics, cost increases but you’re building a list that more closely targets your best customers – the likelihood that you will reach better customers increases and is likely to provide better sales.

Your success with a saturation list campaign will depend on how universal your offer is. If your target is ‘anyone who likes pizza,’ that’s a wide audience and a saturation list may work very well. If your target is a ‘fine dining consumer’ because you just opened a new high-end steakhouse, the more targeted list with income and lifestyle qualifiers may be the better option.

There are many qualifiers that can be used to fine-tune your list beyond the basic demographics such as age, income, gender. Hobbies, home ownership, employment, children present by age, auto history are all examples of the types of qualifiers a reputable list builder can apply to create the most tailored, cost-effective, and successful list for your campaigns.

It’s helpful to talk with a professional list builder (broker) who has experience with building lists similar to the one you need. List builders are happy to work with you to generate the optimal list and quote pricing. They also have access to additional qualifying data that may be available to increase the value of your list.

PRO TIPS:

Mailing lists are not purchased – they are rented.  You can request to rent lists for multiple uses.

Business lists are generally more expensive than those targeting consumers.

You can request a list by qualifier – such as ‘New Homeowner,’ ‘New Mover,’ ‘Automotive.’ Additional qualifiers may help refine these broad qualifier lists. You can focus on higher- or lower-income recipients and age if those qualifiers better target your list.

Your campaign cost can be optimized through both careful list building AND having your list builder pre-sort your campaign to optimize for best postal rates. Learn more about Postal Rate Optimization and how you can bundle it with your list build.


Have questions? We’re happy to help!

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