During the campaign, which was in full flow as Marketing Direct went to press, both Labour and the Conservatives turned to database-marketing techniques to identify key voters.
Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrats General Election communications director, told Marketing Direct that there had been significant mis-targeting of voters.
"There's evidence that people are receiving mail which is wildly off the mark. Packages designed for commercial use don't necessarily work," he said, citing mailings targeted at older people being received by young families.
Labour and Conservatives identified key Mosaic segments, with the Conservatives feeding this data into its Voter Vault matrix which categorises potential voters into nine boxes.
But the Liberal Democrats did not concentrate on direct techniques.
Walkington said: "We've always had strength in direct marketing but because our membership is growing, we now have the financial resource to do more general mass advertising."
But supporters could still sign up to receive twice-weekly Lib Deb news via text and email.
See news analysis, page 11.
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