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Data Cleansing

Written by: Barbara Spagnola

Article Overview: Creating a successful direct marketing program involves clean data records with highly deliverable addresses. Cleaning, enhancing and filling the gaps in your in-house files will mean cost effective postage rates, minimal bounces in mail pieces, and an increase your company profits.

Data Cleansing

Creating a successful direct marketing program involves clean data records with highly deliverable addresses. Cleaning, enhancing and filling the gaps in your in-house files will mean cost effective postage rates, minimal bounces in mail pieces, and an increase your company profits.

1) Keeping Your List Clean
Are there key pieces of information missing from your database that could increase customer sales? Statistics show that most company's customer and prospect databases are missing key pieces of information:

• Phone numbers but no addresses
• Out-of-date information
• Details that could effect your marketing strategies such as homeowner, presence of children, income level, marital status demographics; business size, employee size, sales volume demographics and more.

Keeping your data files up-to-date and complete with data hygiene services is an important component of a direct marketing campaign. The end result is improved deliverability, savings on print material and postage. Cleaning and data enhancement is a proven method to ensure that you’re maximizing marketing dollars.

Statistics show that up to 20% of records within a typical house data file are undeliverable, seasonal or vacant. In addition, up to 5% of records are identified as small- to mid-sized businesses, which typically require a separate marketing strategy than a consumer campaign.

2) Connect with Customers via Data Enhancement
Take the time to learn about the people behind those records. When you know who you're dealing with, you know how best to approach them. Here's a tip: Enrich your data with appended information. Here's just a few examples of popular appends provided by the most reputable direct marketing data solutions firms:

• Add postal addresses to records that only contain email addresses. Or add phone numbers, names or business titles to your current file
• Add revealing consumer details, so that you can target your messaging for a higher response. You can find out whether your records include homeowners, parents, members of particular ethnic groups, or even customers who are connected to the Internet.
• Add revealing business details, including SIC codes, sales volume, business site type (for example, headquarters or branch office), number of employees, or contact names.
3) How Data Hygiene and Enhancement Boosts Your Bottom Line Sales Results
• Saves you money on printing and mail-house fulfillment
• Allows you to control mailing waste and save on postage
• Gives you the opportunity to target your selling messages to the right audience at the right time
• Opens up new channels to reach your consumer or business customers using the methods they prefer
• Drives higher response through more specific, personalized offers (as opposed to generic, one-size-fits-all promotions)
• Helps build loyalty programs that drive up lifetime value
• Leads to more profitable prospecting, through modeling and forecasting

Data enhancement and hygiene can open doors to new sales opportunities, make your marketing efforts more efficient and cost-effective, and help you get the most return on investment for any campaign. Most of all, it keeps your customers happy and loyal, by making their mailings more relevant and accurate.

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Article Tags: business size, business titles, company profits, consumer campaign, customer sales, data solutions, direct marketing, filling the gaps, hygiene services, information details, information phone numbers, mail pieces, marketing campaign, marketing program, marketing strategies, marketing strategy, postage rates, postal addresses, prospect databases, sales statistics



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