Selecting the right carrier route maps to manage your mailings is a vital key to strong direct mail performance.
These maps give you a way to best spend your direct mail dollars. They help you select only those carrier routes that are within your service areas. Accurate carrier route boundaries match the ZIP code and actual route walked by each carrier. This helps you qualify for the lowest postage rates.
These maps also give you the best way to target your market, right down to very local neighborhoods. This is important because purchase behavior varies by neighborhood. You want to send your mail into those neighborhoods which give you the best response. Select the best carrier route neighborhoods using demographic data overlays. You can look at your data by carrier route as well.
The combination of selecting carrier routes within your market area and those carrier routes in neighborhoods that are likely to offer the best results is crucial to optimum direct mail performance.
Here are the top 5 items to check off when selecting the right carrier route map:
* Choose maps that are updated monthly. The best carrier route maps are based upon the monthly information provided directly from the U.S. Postal Service.
* Select maps that offer the most accurate data available. Carrier route maps should include the actual street segments walked by the mail carriers. Carrier routes should not cross ZIP Codes. And they should include both sides of every street walked by the same carrier.
* Look for CASS certifiable carrier routes. The best carrier route maps use certification software and data provided by the USPS to verify every carrier route. Known as CASS
