Last week, I had the fun experience of moving. Of course, by fun, I mean “exhausting, messy, and entirely disorienting”. In cleaning out my fridge for the move, I discovered a loaf of bread which by the expiry date I had been holding on to not only for too many days but in fact for a couple too many months. Oops.
Now, when I move, I happen to be very organized about it – I update all my major contacts with my new address information and I request not only address forwarding service but also address notification service, so that the post office will automatically send a post card to anyone who tries to reach me at the old address to let them know that my address has changed. There should be no reason that anyone has trouble reaching me in the future, if they update their lists appropriately.
And yet, despite these measures, I know that a number of companies will lose touch with me, because they systematically ignore address notification cards. How do I know this? I’ve visited clients before who have had stacks and stacks of them sitting on an interns desk (or worse being tossed directly in the garbage!) without being updated promptly. They’re deliberately choosing to waste their future direct mail dollars by sending mail to addresses they know are invalid, and choosing to break their communication connection with previously valued subscribers.
Whether the stale bread in your fridge or the stale marketing list in your database, make sure you’re not wasting money by keeping things fresh.
