Your In-house data Cleansing Hygiene
List selection is a crucial decision element with any direct mail campaign, but without proper data cleansing hygiene, you may be throwing your marketing dollars out the window. When you rent a list, you are paying for its targeting accuracy. When you own a list – the onus is on you to ensure that it is ready for action. Read more and learn a few simple – yet highly effective ways to maintain your direct mail database and learn about some of the great benefits that you will obtain.
Start with cleansing your master customer list.
The best available list will always be your master customer list – or your in-house list. This is your compiled list of customers who have purchased from you, interacted with your business, or responded to you. When it comes to speaking to these people, it is not unheard of that your house list will pull double the response of an outside list. If you have a list, reconsider the actual marketing value of the information at your disposal.
One of the biggest mistakes that list owners often make is letting the integrity of their data list become dated or incomplete. The information within your database must be: Up to date, Clean and Relevant. Only then can you more confidently rely on it to have real marketing impact.
Here are a few best practices for maintaining your in-house list:
- Review your data on an on-going and monthly basis
- Review customer files for completeness
- Ensure that you do not have duplicate records
- Review and check for address accuracy and completeness
- Run National Change of Address (NCOA) correction – depending on the frequency of your mailings
- Implement depth–run ‘Recency, Frequency and Monetary’ (RFM) reports. Consider other impact reports such as ‘Top 20’ and ‘Best Customer’ to round out deeper psychographic information.
- Consider engaging your list with surveys or a telemarketing campaign for additional feedback and information
When your database is clean and accurate, your abilities as a marketer are significantly increased. For example, you will be able to create personalized direct mail and develop long-term relationships with your customers. You will be able to target different messages to different groups of your customers who are most likely to respond. You can reward customer loyalty and communicate with different customers at different times. You will save money on mail that is not being received. You will be giving your direct mail efforts the best shot at success!
At Russell House Marketing, we understand that your database is critical for direct marketing success. We can help you update and maintain your customer list(s) and make sure that you are ready to communicate in a meaningful way. Contact us today and learn how easy it is!
Contact us for your next in-house list cleansing.