MLM mailing lists may be the cause of more heartbreaks than any other single factor in mail order. A poorly chosen list, a weak mailing and the high cost of mailing to a list can shadow the optimism of a new marketer very quickly.

That is why it is best to arm yourself with MLM mailing list knowledge before embarking on that path.

Whether or not you should use an MLM mailing list to sell your product or service depend on several things:

Is what you are offering too complex an offering to be explained in a 30-word ad?

Can you afford to mail 200 to 1,000 pieces on the chance that you would not get a single order?

Can you make a profit selling your product to only two to twenty people in a 1,000 piece mailing?

Will a re-order of your product be required? Can you make your re-orders pay for the losses you will likely get from mailing to a list?

Do you know enough to choose the right MLM mailing list for your offering?

It takes either great faith in your offering or great stupidity to mail with a list. Most MLM mailing lists that companies are offering today specialize in opportunity seekers. These are the people who are generally quite new to mail order. They are either looking for a product to sell or an offer that will get them rich in a hurry.

Most of these opportunity seekers are engaged in chain letter type schemes at some point. They use MLM mailing lists to make gains in their plans.

Most of them lose money, but enough people will try it once to make money. These dreamers are the bread and butter for a lot of MLM mailing list companies.

Unless you have a truly superior offering for these opportunity seekers and you probably do not have one, they are not really worth your time and money. Most of them are unsophisticated dabblers.

MLM mailing lists, offered by many companies, are truly an interesting way to test response to an MLM offer. Many MLM people like to write back about their successes and failures. And they will always respond to a superior product.

Specialized product-buyers' lists can work beautifully if the offering is unique enough and worth a try for merchandise marketing.

Regardless of what kind of mailing list you use, be very careful in choosing a good list. Many are sold and resold to people making the very same offering. A waste of everyone's money. Free MLM mailing lists are usually as good as their price indicates. Check the guarantees.

Common sense will tell you which are good for you and which are good for the company selling the MLM mailing lists. Check to see how the lists are compiled. Are they people who have already bought something by mail, or are they merely people who indicated they might want to buy something by mail?

It is recommended that you never start any campaign with a mailing list even though advertising is so much cheaper. They are proven to work more effectively.

Keep this in mind. When you are ready to try MLM mailing list, be fully prepared to lose every penny you spend in buying and mailing that list, because it certainly could happen.