Hello Everyone,
Background: I’ve spent about $4.5k (over time) on skip tracing data and have never sent out a postcard without running it through a skip tracing provider first. I wanted to ask if anyone knew what kind of percentage difference PropertyRadars given mailing address (to prospects) has against to skip trace providers?.
I’ve exported all my skip trace data and put it in Excel and the way the skip trace provider lets it be exported, it does not answer my question. Obviously from past experiences I know there are difference in mailing addresses but I’m more or less looking for a % number and assessing if its worth taking a risk to look past skip tracing as that $4.5k could have got me 7k+ more postcards.
Thanks
Hi Karan, thanks for reaching out.
The data provider that PropertyRadar has, including addresses, phones, and emails, comes from the same sources that “skip trace” providers use. Generally our property address data is going to be MUCH BETTER than any “skip trace” vendor, as we’ve been experts in that field for 16+ years, and skip trace companies are in the business of locating people, not real estate, or direct mail marketing.
On phones, we’ve tested our data against competing skip trace vendors, and we have an equal or better first party contact rate to any we’ve tested against. And since our phones are all pre-matched to owners, you can add criteria to only get a list with phone numbers, saving you a lot of money vs getting a list from PropertyRadar and having it skip traced by another vendor.
We believe our email addresses are equal as well, but are just starting to do comprehensive testing against our competitors and skip tracers to verify that.
Bottom line - you DO NOT need to skip trace data purchased from PropertyRadar, unless you need something we don’t offer like genealogy (parents/kids of subject person), or criminal records. We offer equal or better data so there is no reason to spend the additional money.
Hello Sean,
Thanks for the in-depth reply but from my understanding, PropertyRadar gets its data directly from the county recording office and my concern is how up-to-date the mailing addresses are in Propertyradar compared to skiptrace providers.
I know if I run someone through IDIcore I will get the most up-to-date mailing address than what is listed in the county.
I have a sample size of 23,973 prospects that I got directly from Propertyradar, I’m talking about only property address and property mailing address, and I skip-traced it (through Leadsherpa) and got back 3,225 / 23,973 different mailing addresses than what is listed in Propertyradars said to be property mailing address (Golden Address).
I am trying to find out what kind of percentage your platform differs from the actual up-to-date mailing addresses.
Hi Karan,
I would suggest that skip tracing is the wrong tool for your goal. Any direct mail vendor should run every address through address standardization, delivery point validation, and change of address records before mailing. PropertyRadar’s new direct mail service does all 3, for example. Using county records, plus USPS validation and change of address forwarding is the industry standard and FAR better than using what is likely, if anything, worse data from a “skip tracer”. The only additional piece of information a “skip tracer” may more heavily rely on is “credit header” data, but we believe that is a mistake. The address a person last used for an auto loan or credit card application is no more valid than where they have asked for their property tax information to be sent.
I would strongly recommend mailing to a property owners property tax mailing address, and using USPS services to validate the address and forward when a change of address has occurred. That is the industry standard, and should always provide the best response rate.
Best,
Sean
1 Like