Every day 1,600 people die1, 18,000 registrations are received for the Telephone Preference Service, 240 businesses move premises2 and 18,000 people move house1.
All of these changes cause consumer and business data to rapidly decay. The integrity of the consumer and business data used within customer communications and marketing campaigns has a direct impact on the response rates, campaign costs and a consumer’s perception of the organisation.
Data cleansing enables organisations to address these issues by:
- Reducing costs associated with contacting individuals who cannot or will not respond
- Improving the effectiveness of communications to consumers, improving response rates and return on marketing investment
- Reducing the risk of causing consumer annoyance and damaging brand reputation
- Ensuring that data and marketing communications are compliant with the numerous data regulatory requirements
For further information on the benefits of data cleansing, please click on the tabs above
Financial benefits
Over 80% of organisations1 believe that inaccurate data costs them money. In fact, £18m is wasted each year as a result of mailing deceased individuals1. Ensuring that consumer name and address information is accurate, identifying and removing individuals who cannot or will not respond to your marketing communications, and avoiding mailing the same person more than once, are all ways in which wasted mailing costs can be reduced.
Similarly, organisations can increase profitability and return on marketing investment by using up to date change of address information to regain contact with individuals whom they have a previous relationship with. Campaigns targeted to this group of customers are nearly 4 times more effective, in terms of response and purchase activity, than campaigns contacting individuals with no previous association with an organisation3.
Improve consumer perception
43% of all people that receive mail for a previous occupant feel the sending organisation is impersonal and out of touch5. Improving the integrity of consumer data by addressing individuals correctly, and identifying those that have moved house, died, or have indicated that they do not want to receive direct mail, can reduce the risk of causing consumer annoyance and creating a negative brand image for an organisation.
Ensure compliance
Mailing deceased individuals is the single largest cause of complaints to the Information Commissioner. Organisations have a responsibility to ensure that the consumer data they use is accurate and up to date (4th principle of the Data Protection Act) and that they follow the DMA’s best practice suppression guidelines. Organisations that fail to comply with these regulations not only face a monetary fine in some instances, (£5,000 per breach of the TPS regulations), but also risk creating negative publicity for themselves within the Industry and with consumers.
Reduce costs
It is estimated that 37%6 of an average sized business database will decay every year. This amounts to £180m being wasted by organisations through mailing out of date business information7. Improving the integrity of business data by identifying and removing those businesses that have moved address or closed, and ensuring that individuals/organisations are not mailed more than once with the same offer, will reduce wasted mailing costs associated with inaccurate information.
Maximise customer relationships
Targeting the right offer at the right individual in an organisation has never been so important in the B2B marketplace. Business managers now typically receive 13.3 items of Direct Mail each week, however 50% of them say that an irrelevant offer is the main reason that they throw away unopened Business Direct Mail6. By enhancing business data with additional information and insight, an organisation can improve its response rates and return on investment, ensure that direct mail communications are relevant and improve the chances that their mailings will be opened and read.
Furthermore, 82% of all business managers agree/strongly agree that inaccuracies in address information reflect badly on the sender6. Ensuring that business data is accurate, up to date and presented correctly also helps organisations to reduce the risk of causing annoyance with business managers and creating a negative brand image.
Compliance
B2B organisations have a legal responsibility to remove individuals who have registered with the Fax Preference Service and the Corporate Telephone Preference Service. Business data relating to an individual within an organisation is also considered 'personal' information, and as such is subject to the various regulations within the Data Protection Act. Ensuring compliance with these data regulations not only removes the risk of incurring financial penalties (breach of Corporate TPS or FPS), but also protects the organisation from complaints and negative publicity.