glossary of

direct marketing terms

A

Above the Fold

The part of an email message or website that is visible without scrolling.

Automated Area Distribution Center (AADC)

A presort level in which all pieces in the bundle or tray are addressed for delivery in the service area of

the same automated area distribution center (AADC).

Automation Discount

Bounces

Emails that do not reach their nal destination. See hard bounce and soft bounce.

Buck Slip

An insert or separate advertisement put into an envelope, parcel, magazine, newspaper, or

other publication.

Bulk Mail

An outdated term; now referred to as Standard Mail.

Business Reply Card (BRC)

A return card, often with respondent’s name and address information printed or axed on it, which is

included in a mailing to make responding to an oer easier. Postage is paid by the advertiser.

Legislation established in 2003 and is the rst US standard for senders of commercial email. The

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for enforcing this legislation.

The actual route walked by a mailperson.

A service that provides the sender with a mailing receipt. A record of delivery is kept at the post oce

of address. Midwest Direct oers an electronic Certied Mail service.

Processing in which people have moved and have notied the USPS of their old and new addresses is

glossary of

direct marketing terms

advertisement is clicked, a link is clicked, etc.) divided by the number of times that online action is

displayed. CTRs are typically very low.

Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS)

Created by the US Postal Service to ensure the accuracy of software programs used to check

addresses and code mailings for delivery.

Cost per Thousand (CPM)

The cost for 1,000 marketing impressions. If the CPM is $20, that means an advertiser must pay $20

for every 1,000 impressions of its message. The “M” in CPM represents the Roman numeral for 1,000.

D

De-duping, or de-duplication

mail, email, telemarketing and other media channels.

The DMA is the leading global trade association of business and nonprot organizations using and

supporting direct marketing tools and techniques.

Direct Response

Direct response is a type of marketing that allows potential customers to respond directly to the

marketer to place an order, send a donation, ll out an application, request or supply information.

Double opt-in

A user has subscribed for a newsletter or other email marketing messages by explicitly requesting

it and conrming the email address to be their own. This is usually done by responding to a

This indicates a permanent reason an email cannot be delivered, such as when the recipient email

address does not exist, the domain name does not exist or recipient email server has blocked

delivery. Hard bounced email addresses are removed automatically from the subscriber list.

glossary of

direct marketing terms

Hybrid Mail

A process whereby mail is transmitted electronically to a print site, where it is physically mailed.

Hybrid Printing

A combination of oset and digital printing.

I

Promotional piece placed in an outgoing package or invoice.

The act of placing one or more component pieces, such as letters, brochures, or reply envelopes, into

a carrier envelope, either by machine or by hand.

L

Landing Page

A webpage where a visitor arrives after clicking on a paid ad, paid search URL, or organic search URL.

Laser printers use a laser beam, toner, and fuser to “etch” the image onto a photoelectric drum.

Lettershop

The ongoing process of keeping a mailing list up-to-date by adding, editing, and deleting data.

List Rental

The arrangement between the list owner and mailer in which the owner gives the mailer a set of

names for one-time usage, for which the list owner is paid by the mailer.

M

Machinable

glossary of

direct marketing terms

Mailhouse

Together with lettershop services, mailhouses undertake the sorting and consolidation of mail.

Machine that attaches labels, addresses envelopes, and inserts printed pieces into any style of

envelope and axes postage to the mail pieces.

A business that oers customers more than one way, media, or response channel, to buy or learn

about their products and / or services.

Reaching customers or a target audience through more than one channel. For example, using print,

email, and text messaging as part of the same marketing campaign.

To merge one or more le with another to produce a le with no duplicated names, etc.

N

National Change of Address (NCOA)

A service oered by Midwest Direct and the US Postal Service whereby a direct mail advertiser can

Very-short-range wireless connectivity that enables secure two-way interactions among electronic

devices. Mobile marketing with NFC involves tapping, touching, or waving an NFC-compatible device in

front of an NFC hot spot, such as a printed mail piece or poster with an NFC tag.

Nine-Digit ZIP Code

The rst ve digits are identical to the present ve-digit ZIP Code. Of the four additional digits, the rst

two denote a sector and the last two denote a segment within a sector.

Nixie

Letter or package returned to the sender because it cannot or will not be delivered, usually due to an

incorrect, illegible, or incomplete delivery address.

glossary of

direct marketing terms

O

glossary of

direct marketing terms

Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing is the practice of building relationships with existing customers to promote

Response Rate

The response rate is calculated as the number of responses received from a communication piece

glossary of

direct marketing terms