Hi Mark, thanks for the comment.

In looking at any potential list you need to know several things at the very least.

1. The source of the names
2. The recency of the names, the newest ones are usually the best, especially if the list names were the result of a call to action.
3. Demographics and any other information that identifies the list as a potential match up or close match up with your customer or target profile.
4. What companies or industries have used the list and which ones used it in continuation (repeated it after testing).
5. What types of offers were successful.
6. What type of offer generated the names in the list.

If you can get this information you at least stand a good shot.

Just like building you own list, targeting is half the key. The strength of your offer and copy is the other half.

In addition, many mailings do not make money initially but rely on future revenue to turn a profit. If you only have one product and make only one sale and never try to obtain another, then it is very very difficult to make direct mail or email work. There are some exceptions but the types of products we promote are probably not.

The idea of life time value is very important and that is why it is important to have back end products, up sells and cross sells and promote an excellent customer experience because, often times, new customer acquisition costs more than the margin or commission of the product for the first sale. However, over the life time of the customer the up front costs are more than paid back and the customer would have a good ROI.