RESOURCES
In direct mail, creative isn’t decoration. It’s the difference between response and the bin.
But without strong data, even great creative never gets a fair chance. Audience selection and data quality shape performance long before the message is read.
In this session, we’ll explore the data foundations that underpin effective direct mail, and how they directly affect cost, response, and ROI:
- Targeting the right recipients for every campaign, so your best creative isn’t wasted on the wrong list—and relevance drives response rather than volume driving waste.
- Recognising what good data really looks like, from strategic audience selection through address quality, validation, CASS, NCOA, and USPS presort—explained by the teams who work with this data every day.
- Protecting your postage and production budgets by identifying thedata issues that quietly drive returns, reprints, inefficiency, and lost response.
- Maintaining data hygiene all the way to composition, so every piece is printed against today’s data, not last week’s export.
- Staying compliant with USPS requirements, avoiding preventable issues that impact delivery, timelines, discounts, and spend.
- Using post-drop feedback, response, enrichment, and Refer‑a‑Friend data to refine targeting and ensure each campaign makes the next one more effective.
- Understanding where XMPie fits, as the point where good data and good creative come together without compromise.
We’re joined by the team at BCC Software, whose tools sit at the heart of how North American mailers turn raw lists into USPS‑ready audiences. Together with Scott Houck and David Baldaro from XMPie, we’ll walk through the full data story behind a direct mail campaign, including what good data looks like, what it costs you when it isn’t, and how a modern workflow keeps it working all the way to the mailbox.
Whether you’re a marketer trying to lift response, a designer tired of guessing at the list, or an MSP whose postage bill lives and dies by the data, you’ll leave this session with a much clearer view of the half of direct mail most teams still underweight.
This session is ideal for:
- Marketers responsible for direct mail response and campaign ROI
- Agencies and creative teams whose work depends on the quality of the list
- Mail Service Providers whose postage and production costs live in the data
- Operations, data and list managers working with USPS compliance and targeting
