What direct mail lists are working in your market?

Question

Ray Lai · Answer

List - unless you're in a market with low competition, if you buy from a list it's called 'low-hanging fruit' where other investors have likely mailed them so your response rates are suffering and you're paying more. I'd recommend driving for dollars to start. Here's a great post on that - it's a must read

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/05/0...

Printing and Postage differs on whether you're doing postcards or yellow-letters. First batch should be first class postcards and then you get bounced addresses. These are valuable you can skiptrace and stop mailing to those to save money. Then you can either stick with postcards (cheaper / lower response rates in general) or switch to yellow-letters using standard mail.

If you do it on your own, you learn a lot but it's not a great use of your time in general. There are ways to save costs with stamps/printing. You can also outsource your direct mail for a set price, many companies offer it but the price, quality, and service are different so make sure you shop around. You need to budget for one campaign, at least 200 addresses over 6 months, a lot of responses come after 4+ mailings. Newbs often quit early when they don't get a response on the first batch. Response rates that you should conservatively expect would be in the 1-3% range for your campaign (4+ mailings) but again, it depends on all the factors I told you previously.

Matt McConkey · Answer

@Makenzie Boyd We have focused exclusively on eviction leads as our source of leads for buying properties. We then eliminate giant, corporate run complexes and commercial properties.

We get these lists every week, so the eviction is fresh on the mind of the landlord. Our call rate averages 3%+.

I would research the laws in Kentucky and how you can get access to said information. Good luck!

James Wilcox · Answer

@Makenzie Boyd I don't have a lot of personal experience with direct mail nor do I know your criteria for mailers. However, getting more specific and really targeting what you are looking for will help once you find the right niche. Look at your past closed deals and find the criteria that those may fit in. What made those deals successful? Who were the buyers? Why did they purchase that property from you? For example, you may want to focus on not just absentee owners but also the criteria of, that have at least 50% equity in the property, built after 1975, owner age 55+, in these A, B, C, areas of the city of Lexington. That is just an example but getting any layer of specificity will help. The time of year you send mail to these individuals may be a factor as well. Only you can define your criteria but I personally would rather spend time on quality leads that would fit my wholesaler criteria than just a broad blast. The better quality list you have the better your results will be which will be less money and time investment on your end. Just keep hitting your list multiple times and eventually, the leads will come if your list quality is there.

This article may help you out.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2016/03/15/5-ways-increase-direct-mail-profitability/

You may also want to hit up Sharon since she from Louisville and is a wholesaler as well. She could probably help you with your wholesaling with her blog or some coffee time with her.

https://louisvillegalsrealestateblog.com/

I agree with @Matt McConkey that eviction court leads can have good results if done properly. Also, as @Ray Lai has stated tax delinquents are a good start as well. So can any of the other lists for motivated sellers once you find the niche that works for you. No leads, no business.

@Ian Hooper I assume Matt means response rate. As in the gets a call from the mailers not closed deals. this article may help in making your direct mail campaign when you do it better.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/12/15/yellow-letters-vs-post-cards-better-leads/

Ian Hooper · Answer

@Matt McConkey 3% call you? 3% convert to a property under contract?

thanks.

Matt McConkey · Answer

@Ian Hooper 3% on average over the course of a year.

@Ray Lai makes a solid point. We've done mailings in Phoenix and our response was less than 1%. Different data, different mailing. So many different factors.

Ian Hooper · Answer

@Ray Lai The questions that I asked Makenzie and Matt were simply to help me understand their posts better.

I have never done a direct mail campaign of any sort, but will need to learn how to figure a budget for longterm campaign before I begin. Lots of folks talk about their list and mail-piece, but no one talks about how much it costs to actually convert. You can inbox me if you'd like.

What costs are associated with it? List, paper, printing, postage. Repeat? How many times?

Thanks

Ray Lai · Answer

@Makenzie Boyd - a common mistake is giving up on a list too early in a campaign. A lot of responses come from 4+ mailings after building up your reputation with good DM. Although there could be a lot of mistakes that you can make that would lead to poor response rates. Expecting around 1.5%-2% means you need to mail at least 200+ to expect some results.

I've found tax delinquents to have much better response rates than absentee.

@Ian Hooper What specific questions do you have about the direct mail process?  The response rate differs based on many factors and your question is pretty vague. Postcards v. yellow-letters, type of list, list quality, quality of your letter, content of your letter all make a huge impact on your response rates. Not only that, the competition in your market matters too. So many factors that even if you got an answer from Matt for his market, there are many different variables for your market.

So what exactly are you struggling with in your campaign? Or are you doing basic research on expectations?

Ian Hooper · Answer

I'm trying to get my head around the direct mail process.

@Makenzie Boyd how many mailings do you send to each list before you switch?

@Matt McConkey Are you getting 3% from the initial mailing? From each mailing? From all mailings?

Thanks

What direct mail lists are working in your market?

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