Direct mail is at its most powerful when you put the right offer in the hands of the right people. For acquisition campaigns, that comes down to targeting strategy — how you decide who to mail. Below are five effective targeting approaches brands use to drive acquisition.
1. Retargeting Web Visitors via Direct Mail
People who visit your site are already in research mode. Tracking pixels or geospotting code can capture IP addresses. Postal addresses can be appended to about 25% of those through data partners. You can follow up with a physical piece of mail in the days after they browse. It’s a perfect way to re-engage warm interest before it goes cold — and direct mail delivers a persistence and perceived trust digital alone often doesn’t.
2. Lookalike Models Built From Best Customers
AI and machine learning models can identify common traits among your highest-value customers — spend, tenure, frequency, geography, lifestyle indicators, and more — and then score consumers in your market areas to help you reach new prospects who “look” like your best customers. This approach reduces waste and improves the likelihood you’re investing in people statistically predisposed to convert.
3. New Mover Acquisition
Life events drive spend — and moving is one of the biggest purchase triggers there is. New Mover lists can be sourced weekly with postal-verified households that have just changed addresses. For categories tied to home services, home equity, or local retail, this is one of the highest-yield “right moment” audiences available. The number of new movers in any given market isn’t normally real high so this is probably a supplemental tactic rather than “the tactic.”
4. First-Party Data Capture via Sweepstakes, Contests & Offers
Lead-gen style campaigns (local sweepstakes, giveaways, gated content, QR-to-enter on-site promotions, etc.) are a proven way to ethically collect names, addresses and other qualifiers directly from consumers. The result is a growing pool of opted-in, first-party prospects you own — not rented data from a broker. People who volunteer their info are somewhat warmer than third-party names.
5. Standard Demographic / Household Select Lists
Sometimes expediency or budget demands a direct approach. Simply put, there may not be the time or money to build out a really good model. If that’s the case, lists can be purchased based on age, income, home value, geography, household composition or other core demographic selects. For top-of-funnel acquisition, these lists can efficiently introduce your brand to a broad, relevant universe.
Which Method Is “Best”? — Don’t Choose. Test.
The truth is most high-performing acquisition programs do not rely on a single targeting approach. They test, layer, and combine methods — for example:
- Lookalike + New Movers to get both “likely” and “timely”
- Retargeting to convert warm traffic
- First-party contest entries feeding a long-term nurture series
By testing these methods side-by-side — and tracking response back to list source — you’ll quickly see which two or more belong in your ongoing mix.
Need Help Building or Testing Acquisition Targeting?
PrintComm helps companies operationalize targeting strategies — from list modeling and sourcing to campaign execution and measurement.
Reach out to PrintComm to talk through which acquisition methods make sense for your goals and budget.
