How a global e-commerce brand used intelligent data to make global direct mail efficient, targeted, and scalable.

When expanding into new international markets, the brand made a strategic decision to complement digital acquisition with highly targeted, data-led direct mail.

To make this work efficiently across multiple countries, they partnered with IMG, who coordinated directly with their agency partner (DataHQ) and leveraged Infobel as a high-quality data source to ensure every message reached a genuine, trading business at the correct physical address.

The result: fewer returns, reduced waste, and a scalable model for smart, measurable direct mail

Highlights
  • 70% reduction in wasted postage
  • 1-week data turnaround
  • Campaign model reused across markets

The Challenge

The brand wanted to connect with small, independent retailers to promote its e-commerce payment solution.
Reaching genuine shopfronts at scale presented multiple challenges:

  • Small businesses often weren’t listed on standard databases.
  • Many addresses pointed to accountants or virtual offices, not physical stores.
  • Early campaign tests saw high return rates, driving up print and postage costs.

The Solution

Together with IMG and their data partner, the team re-engineered its targeting strategy.

1. Smart Data Verification

Used geospatial and business intelligence data to confirm each record represented a genuine trading location.

2. AI-Enhanced Refinement

Applied algorithms to detect false or outdated listings, removing undeliverable addresses before mailing.

3. Cross-Market Learning

Analysed delivery feedback after every campaign wave to fine-tune future selections and exclude unreliable regions.

4. Global Consistency, Local Accuracy

By using a single global data source, IMG ensured that audience targeting was consistent across all countries, creating like-for-like insights and improving comparability across markets. Within that consistency, local nuances were layered in, ensuring accuracy at a country level.

This approach also delivered a clear commercial benefit:

Centralised sourcing significantly reduced data costs compared with using separate local providers, improving ROI and enabling scalable, repeatable direct mail activity worldwide.

Metric Before After
Return rate 17–20 per cent 5–7 per cent
Mailing accuracy Unverified AI-validated physical addresses
Market consistency Fragmented, country-by-country data sources Unified global targeting with local nuance
Data cost efficiency High (localised data suppliers) Lower cost per record through centralised sourcing
Campaign continuity At risk Expanded confidently into new markets

Outcome:

  • 70% fewer undelivered mailers
  • Lower data acquisition costs and higher ROI
  • Consistent, comparable targeting across all markets
  • A scalable, data-driven model for multi-market direct mail

The Strategic Impact for CMOs

  1. Smart diversification of channels
    This brand proved that direct mail, powered by intelligent data, can play a powerful role in a modern omnichannel strategy, adding reach and cut-through digital channels can’t match.
  2. Efficiency through precision
    By improving data quality, they achieved a double win: higher ROI and lower waste, aligning with sustainability goals.

“They approached direct mail with a digital mindset,  using data, testing, and iteration to deliver measurable performance improvements.”  – Olivia Harris, IMG

Make your next campaign as smart as this one.

Add precision, reduce waste, and deliver real ROI with intelligent data.