How to Search on Who’s Mailing What!

Searching the Web can be very frustrating. There’s an enormous amount of information out there. But it can’t be useful to you unless you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
From when it first went online, we wanted Who’s Mailing What! to be an authoritative source of mailing and data intelligence, as well as inspiration, for our members. At the same time, we wanted it to be flexible to meet the wide variety of our customers’ needs.
Since the relaunch of Who’s Mailing What!, we’ve upgraded the search experience so that you now get more of what you want and need. Our Google-like search now returns more results across more fields of data, listed by relevancy.

Quick Search from The Dashboard

After you log in to Who’s Mailing What!, you’ll see that you have two search options. With a Quick Search – the default setting – you can easily search on a specific word or arrangement of words, as well as set a date range.

Setting a Text Search

Searching by a keyword or phrase can be as general and “fuzzy” or as precise as you need. For example, using double quotes around a word or phrase returns only mailing with that exact wording. With our new algorithm, you can cast your net wide with a search that prioritizes your results based on their relevancy. Or you can get more specific by using one or more of the many filters we now provide.
Here are three newly-added, Google-like search operators:
You can maximize your search results by using a wildcard word or phrase after an asterisk *. Partial matches or variations will show up. Another Google-type search operator returns mailings that are related to a word or phrase separated by “or” in the search box. Finally, typing a minus sign (-) then a word or phrase will bring up results as you specify except for the word or phrase that follows the minus sign.
As for where you’ll be searching from, you’ll see that your text choices are the following:

• All text – searches all text indexed in the database, including the next 4 options below
• Company
• Offer
• Envelope Headline
• Body Text – NEWLY ADDED FEATURE!

If you leave the default setting – “All text” checked, it will look for the word or phrase you type in across the entire database – company names, scanned body text – everything. Unless you’re looking for something very unique and specific, though, this is probably not the best approach.
Here is what each option does:

• Company only searches for specific mailing company names, or parent company names in the index. For example, “American Express”.
• Offer only searches for specific offer information pulled from each mailing. For example, “Buy 1 Get 1 Free”.
• Envelope Headline captures the most prominent teaser copy, which is designed to get the recipients attention. For example, “The elephants will vanish without your help today!”
• Body Text includes all of the copy scanned from each mailing. This is a brand new feature that lets you zero in on a word or phrase that can appear anywhere on a mailing, even among more obscure details of a package. For example, “Check is void beyond expiration date”.

Setting a Date Range

The default date range for a search is one calendar year up to the current day.
However, you can narrow or expand that range as you see fit.
Your choices are simple:

• Last 60 Days from the current date
• Last 90 days from the current date
• Last Full Year from the current date
• Custom date range lets you pick specific beginning and end dates from a calendar for your range.
• All includes everything – the entire Who’s Mailing What! database from 1984 to the most recent month added.

Searching from the Search Page with Filters

After a Quick Search, you can narrow down your search results by simply applying the filters on the left side of the page.
However, from the beginning, let’s say you want more options for your search instead of those available in the Quick Search. If so, on the Dashboard, look for the magnifying glass icon with the word “Search” next to it. Clicking here opens a page with the search features as noted above plus additional filters that you can set.

Categories

Categories segment mail pieces by 22 main industry categories. Each vertical includes subcategories to help you refine your search even further. You may choose as many or as few as you like.

Direct Mail Filters

Direct mail filters help you drill down into the data by:

• Format Type – choice of 1 or all of 12 options, for example, single postcard; catalog; envelope
• Controls – choice of Controls or Grand Controls
• Business Model – choice of B2B or B2C

Clicking on the orange “Apply Selected Filters” button sets your choices.
From the Search Results area of the page, clicking on the “Remove filters” button wipes out your previous selections. Or, you can choose to remove individual filters by clicking on the “x” to the right of each one.

After Your First Search

Once you’ve run a search from your original terms, you can review your results.
If you’re satisfied with them and wish to re-run the same search later, or modify one or more of the criteria, you can save it to your dashboard.
But if you get too many or too few results, you can add or subtract your choices on any of the filters, as noted above, then re-run your search, as noted above.

Final thoughts

You may get many results if you are not specific in your search of the Who’s Mailing What! Site. We designed it to be a funnel for a reason. By using the options and filters now available, you can find what you need more easily.
And conversely, using combinations of options and filters helps you see what may be working out there in the mail marketplace. Whatever you decide is all up to you.