Low response rate from direct mail campaign (Atlanta metro area)

[Eddie Atkinson]

Hello! Last month I sent out about 500 postcards to absentee homeowners in various zip codes around Cobb and Cherokee counties in Georgia (Kennesaw, Marietta, Woodstock, Canton, Acworth, etc.). I received 4 responses (3 calls and 1 website comment) and no deals, which was fine. I sent out postcards to the same list this month and have received only 1 response which was a request to be removed from the list. My criteria are the following:

- 50 to 100% equity

- out of state owners

- last sale date of 3+ years ago

I purchased the list from Listsource and used Click2Mail to send out the postcards (4.25 x 6) with a nice photo and a brief message.

Is this a low response rate? I was ok with the 4 out of 500 from the first mailing, though I obviously wanted higher. However, 1 out of 500 seems very low. Is it a bad time of year for this? I just wanted to see what people usually experienced around here (just north of Atlanta) with their direct mail campaigns.

Thank you!