When It Pays to Stop Mailing Someone

October 10, 2016
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It’s always difficult to know when to remove a previous donor from your mailing list.  They obviously cared enough about your mission to donate at least once in the past; surely if you reach them with a beautifully-crafted appeal, they’ll give again, right?  Unfortunately, the answer is “not necessarily”. There’s a science to determining when[...]
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Bob Jones is Retiring!

September 14, 2016
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He’s planned for it and dreamed about it; the time has come for our friend and valued co-worker Bob Jones to retire. Bob has been an account manager at MMI Direct for nearly 11 years. We love him, his clients love him and his bosses love him. He has been an important part of our[...]
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Welcome back Tricia!

September 9, 2016
tricia mclain joins mmi direct
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Once upon a time, Tricia was an account manager working in merge purge processing but left us in 2008 to start a family. Recently, she returned as a list conversion analyst and she tells us she’s loving her new role and all the people, “It was great to come back to MMI; it’s like returning[...]
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Understanding Your Merge Purge Reports

August 22, 2016
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You probably receive several reports from your merge purge service provider during the course of preparing a file for a new direct mail campaign.  Although they look confusing at first glance, these reports actually contain a lot of interesting information.  Read on for a short course in how to read them. Merge Purge Summary Report: [...]
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Understanding Data Hygiene

August 8, 2016
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Data hygiene makes sure records in your mailing list are deliverable to responsive addresses by accomplishing two primary goals: Making Sure Addresses are Deliverable:  Nothing is more wasteful than paying to mail something that is undeliverable.  Avoid doing this by completing at least the first two of the following steps before each new mailing: Coding[...]
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Should You Mail to Snowbirds?

July 22, 2016
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In today’s mobile world, many people spend part of their year living in a different location than their primary home.  The most common example of this is retirees who move south for the winter, but it also includes people splitting their time between multiple work locations and grandparents living for extended periods with different sets[...]
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Using Data Enhancement to Increase Response Rates

July 11, 2016
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As your database has grown over the years, names have undoubtedly been added in a variety of ways.  Perhaps one of your sales people picked up a business card at a convention or a memorial donation was made in honor of a friend.  Unfortunately, a lot of the people in your database will never make[...]
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Deduping a List to Maximize Your ROI

June 27, 2016
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If you’re new to the merge purge world, the process of “deduping” may seem a bit mysterious.  But once you understand a few basic principles, you can dedupe your lists with confidence. The first thing to know is that when you’re trying to determine whether two records are duplicates, you can choose between three sets[...]
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Are You Sure What the Flags in Your Database Mean?

June 13, 2016
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If you’re like us, you’ve probably had the experience of wondering exactly what a flag in your database signifies.  Was “Xmas15” meant to indicate that this person should be sent the December 2015 mailing, that they made a donation in response to that mailing, or that they’ve promised to make another major donation at this[...]
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How to Reactivate Lapsed Donors

May 26, 2016
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According to the Association of Fundraising Professional’s 2016 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey of 9,922 nonprofits, only 46% of donors who contributed to a nonprofit in 2014 made a repeat gift in 2015.  In other words, more than half of each organization’s donors from the previous year disappeared! Since a marketing rule of thumb is that it[...]
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