what do you do with your returned mail??

Question

I was just curious what people are doing with the mail they get back from direct mail campaigns. I find its a pain to skip trace all of these letters. When I try tracking them down it turns out to be a  waste of time sometimes.

Justin Silverio · Answer

@Mark Gustafson TLO.com

Rick H. · Answer

Returned mail pieces are called 'nixies' in the DM pro world.

Nixies can be gold.

If your lists are clean and current, this means that these leads are harder for others to reach. This means they are less connected to your competitors.

Your job is to have a system for nixies that gives those with all the other criteria that you desire a priority and connect with them ASAP.

For example, a letter that you mailed to your absentee list is returned MLNA (moved, left no forwarding address). If your target list was scrubbed for equity before mailing and your mailing house ran data through the CASS certified or other address confirmation system, this means your target only recently became unreachable.

After re-confirming property ownership you then skip trace this target and decide if you will mail, call or knock, or all three. These people might be worth paying more to reach them sooner and treat special.

The marketers who do will win the game. When I was actively chasing deceased owner, in foreclosure, pre-probate deals with minimum $100K net profit, I loved nixies. These are all needles in haystacks but I've done a great many of these deals, one deal at a time on a serial basis.

Justin Silverio · Answer

Either skip trace them yourself or hire a VA to do it. Otherwise, you're wasting your money by not following up. Think about it. If everyone else is getting a return to sender and is lazy on the follow up then the competition when someone actually reaches that seller is going to be low. Low competition with a motivated seller means $$.

I use TLO for skip tracing.

I use TLO for skip tracing.

Jeff B. · Answer

Yep, direct mail campaigns are a very low return on effort, frequently just  1%

Mike Watkins · Answer

Send it to 70 spring view ct. I'll give you the rest of you message me first.

Josh Justiniano · Answer

Skip trace and send them new letters. We will send emails sometimes as well.

We've been skip tracing for about 6 months, but haven't had a ton of luck with it yet. Anyone getting good results?

Franklin Romine · Answer

Look up the owner for the return mail and try to track down a relative.  Intelius is a good tool for that information.

Frank

Mark Gustafson · Answer

Hey Guys thanks for all the Great information !

@Justin Silverio You posted TLO for skiptracing  What does TLO stand for ?

Thanks Again !

Adrien C. · Answer

good fire starter....  Pay someone to skip trace.  I keep a list of returned mail and like this Sunday, I used Intelius to look up. I did it as I watched football. I'd recommend doing a Google search first "first name last name town" I'd say a large percentage of my returned mail is a deceased person. The obituary list family do I look up them and mail the letter to them. It does take time but these are likely people not being reached by others so who like you won't take the time. I think there's a lot of value tracking these folks down.

what do you do with your returned mail??

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