Direct Marketing Privacy

How did I get on the list?

Your name gets on a mailing list because each time you fill out a sweepstakes entry, a warranty registration card, or shop by catalog, you provide the kind of information that direct marketers need for their lists.

Lists of good prospects, from whatever source, are bought and sold like any commodity. Let's say you returned a warranty card for your new toaster. The card made its way to National Demographics and Lifestyles (NDL), a Denver firm that manages a database of more than 30 million names. NDL contracts with more than 100 client companies to collect customer data. The company creates customer profiles by matching the information on the warranty cards with that collected from other sources including mail order and sweepstakes records. These names and profiles are added to the appropriate prospective buyers' list or lists, and they're sold to direct marketers. If you receive a credit card offer from a bank that had targeted specific groups of consumers for its mailing, that means your credit history, buying habits, age, and location all matched the bank's criteria resulting in your receiving the offer.