Have you used the Larson/Quantum service?

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JbNormandog

JbNormandog

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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Apr 8, 2004
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NJ
Hi all,

Just wanted to know if any of you have used the Quantum mail / Larson Juhl direct mail service yet.

I went through a dry run and no price was given for a mailing.

If you don't know about it here is a link...

quantummail.com/larsonjuhl

I have used Quantum for my printing in the past and they are affordable and fast. The thing that stopped me was that the site wants 39.00 to sign up and I still don't know how much a mailing will eventually cost me.

Anybody try it yet?
 
Call your LJ rep for details. When ours told us about it, he did mention price which, of course, I don't remember. It seems to me that it was very reasonable. The $39 was just a one time deal.

Has anyone tried it? And has it been at all successful? What type of message/deal/coupon do you send?
 
I just clicked on the link and had no problems. They have a menu bar on the left with prices, samples, etc.

My reps coming in next week and I'm going to check into it. Sounds like an inexpensive way to let all my customers and others know that I've moved.

Dave Makielski
 
I did it only twice so far but was please, I used it on my existing list a couple of months after I opened and saw decent return with it. They print and mail very quickly, but keep in mind that it take up to two weeks for it to hit the boxes. Thats the post office way of handling bulk rate not Quantum. When I started the 39.00 was refunded back with first order. So I ended up mailing about 100 for 5.00.
Keep in mind too that you can send as few as 20 and key in by street or new house purchases by zip code. I would like to use it more this year for that flexibility. I want to target my high end neighborhoods more specifically, and their features make it easy. Try it.
 
Steph, you do mean $ 50.00 not $ 5.00 don't you? Honest mistake, but you got me really excited...thought I could skip lunch and reach 100 customers instead! ;)

Anyone afraid of giving big brother your mailing list? Are we assured it isn't melded into the mailing list they then use for competitor's mailings???

Dave Makielski
 
I did a dry run with the test spin and saw some pricing (.50 per card) plus additional per piece for a specific mailing area and design aspects.

To do a mailing of 2,000 cards I would really like to know what ballpark I'm playing in. Am I looking at 500.00 or 1,000.00.

I was just hoping for more responses from past users like Steph. (BTW thanks for reminding me that it will be sent out later than I thought it will, I will push back the expiration date)

I'm willing to try it, just looking for any comments good or bad before I commit.


Thanks all.
 
Originally posted by JbNormandog:

To do a mailing of 2,000 cards I would really like to know what ballpark I'm playing in. Am I looking at 500.00 or 1,000.00.


Thanks all.
Click to expand...
The $39.00 was refunded toward your first order. We use the service for short runs. 20 - 100 or so at a time. When we do runs of 5000, we use a local company and can design our cards exactly as we want and also get gloss full color. It is cheaper to do large runs locally, as I believe the price for Larson?Quantum remains the same if you do 20 or 5000. (could be wrong on that, but I still like to have more options on large runs)
 
Originally posted by Dave:
Steph, you do mean $ 50.00 not $ 5.00 don't you? Honest mistake, but you got me really excited...thought I could skip lunch and reach 100 customers instead! ;)

Anyone afraid of giving big brother your mailing list? Are we assured it isn't melded into the mailing list they then use for competitor's mailings???

Dave Makielski
Click to expand...
No
I meant 5.00 . My 39.00 start up was refunded back if I used it within I think, 30 days from sign-up. At the time it was .48 a unit included printing & mailing. I picked a Larson card, design the card to my specifications on the back . I had a promotion on framing and I used it to announce the artist I was showing for that month in the gallery. Also added info about my offerings without it being overcrowded.
I was pleased.
 
Your mailing lists are to remain private. It was teh first thing I asked my LJ rep. I'm a bonehead with computors, the rep I had at Quantum talked me through it and downloaded my mailing list for me from an e-mail I sent her. Now when I have a new customer I go tho the site and add them on every week.
 
Thanks, Steph. On rereading your post I realize you said the $ 39.00 was rebated to the first order. My mistook.

Dave Makielski
 
I have done this once - I mailed to every homeowner in my zip code 2,856 homes. Had a call to action, had 2 postcards come back - not a good return on my dollar. It was .50 per card. The cards look great, but are at full postage and with the postal increase, I would expect the .50 would also go up. I was disappointed in the response rate, but not the cards. Because of the type of mailing, if the homeowners were out of town, or forwarded to another address, they may not have been sent but ditched into the dumpster (we have a lot of snowbirds). It also requires planning in advance by a couple of weeks - the bulk mail is handled differently and slower than if you mailed them yourself.

I have not done this again, but I think I might consider it for smaller targeted mailings for the higher end markets where I think the perception is highly regarded of the look, etc. I have been using the smaller .23 size cards to my mailings recently (selfprinted on glossy postcards), and I think it would be nice if the LJ quantum mailings offered the option for a smaller sized postcard.

my 2 cents

elaine
 
just a question.... does lj get ahold of your mailing list? sounds like a great way for them to target your customers for their other venturs...
 
Originally posted by BILLIE BOB:
just a question.... does lj get ahold of your mailing list? sounds like a great way for them to target your customers for their other venturs...
Click to expand...
This seems to be a bit paranoid. If our industry's biggest suppliers were looking for addresses, they could buy them much more cheaply than spending all that money trying to steal them piecemeal from their customers. What would be the point of their dishonesty?

What other ventures?

Has anyone, anywhere, ever found a reason to suspect a supplier of such wrongdoing? Where does the suspicion come from?
 
i dont mean to sound paranoid... but in my past i owned a deck franchise who sold kinkade.. found out he was using the registration cards to find were to put his galleries... nothing more... just had read that lj was teaming up with jo annes and guessed this would help to find which jo annes to put framing in.. i dont know what i was thinking posting anything... especially with no facts, just curosity
 
Billie Bob,
Quantum has been around for a long time and has owes much of its success to the fact that your list is never shared with anybody. They send millions of cards every month for the real estate industry. I have used them in the past when I sold real estate. Want to talk about a paranoid bunch, real estate agents have that covered. No problems with confidentiality when using Quantum.
 
Our customer mailing lists are VERY valuable. They are active custom framing customers...much better demographics than any other source could provide.

Depending on how well the list is maintained, number of names and what other information is gathered, it could very well be THE most valuable asset in your business.

Paranoia is not a bad thing when protecting your mailing list. I used to sell cold laminating machines and supplies from a domestically owned company. Much time was spent finding leads and doing demonstrations of the machines. The profits came from from the sales of the consumables. Something told me to protect myself so I took and filled out the warranty cards on each machine I sold with the customers name, but our address and sent them in to the manufacturer. I honored any warranty problems, but withheld the addresses from the manufacturer.

Within three years and after many many placements and a growing profitable conumables business the manufacturer started cutting all dealerships and selling products on a direct basis only...you guessed it. I received mailings from them letting me know that the products were only available on a direct sale basis.

I would estimate that a clean active custom framing customer list would be worth at least $ 1.00 to $ 3.00 per name to the right party...maybe more...possibly much more if additional demographic information was provided.

I would definately have a contractual agreement with any mailing house using my list and "seed" the list with a false name sent to an address I monitored to see if they breached the contract...and yes, I would then sue the living daylights out of them if they took my list and resold it in any form.

Dave Makielski
 
Dave,
Quantum recommends that the list be seeded. This also lets you know what kind of delivery time to expect. Your list goes directly to them as the third party provider. They manage tens of millions of names and adresses for every type of business. Any party using their service should read the terms of use to assure the comfort level needed.
 
It sounds like Quantum is an ethical quality operation and I appreciate the input...especially since I'm checking out LJ's program with them this week.

Thanks for the input.

Dave Makielski
 
I guess you already have my paranoia covered Dave, thanks, I love that kind of teamwork.

Lets see, qualified: "Has already bought custom framing for greater than $100, makes them the proven target 1% of the population."

Yup, VERY valuable. And as for major supplier in this industry going direct??? Maybe not this year...

Oh wait.... Hmmmmm, ads in Martha, AD, Home . . .

Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you.
 
"Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you."

Baer, I just love your sense of funny.

thumbsup.gif


Dave Makielski
 
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