Target Marketing Magazine
By Stefanie Pont
But what quickly became apparent was that not all of this data actually was viable. Records were often incomplete and, because they weren't being used as a regular communication channel, out of date. The best-case scenarios were records where the postal data was primary, and email addresses were collected after. Conversely, the vast majority of online data is collected email address first and postal after.
Offline Testing with Online Data So how can you use data collected online in an offline campaign? Via research and standards.
When it comes to vetting online sources, consider these questions:
- How was the data collected?
- What data was captured?
- How is it being maintained?
Data collection method is a critical element in determining the quality or validity of online data. Obviously, transactional data (someone who bought, subscribed, donated, etc.) should be better quality. If a purchase is being made online, there's most likely a credit card involved. And that means a valid mailing address.
But the vast majority of online data is not transactional; it's survey responses, registrations, requests for information and a variety of other options. When vetting a list, I try to review some of the sites where the data is collected. If the site sells electronic gadgets and I'm looking for lists for a technology marketer, then that data is probably worth considering. A registration form requiring name, address and possibly some lifestyle qualification provides even more information from the consumer. A good and consistent privacy policy is also essential, because it discloses under what circumstances the data can and will be used. Collecting names and addresses is great, but if consumers are unaware that they have signed up to receive postal as well as email, marketing communications, response invariably will suffer.
The data elements captured can be critical to the success of the list. Katharine DeFalco , vice president of sales at SMA Communications, notes that data collected from health and fitness sites—as well as coupon requestors—are strong responders for her in the postal and online markets. In addition, she will sometimes work with selected data enhancement companies to add more complete data to postal records, such as age, household income or additional lifestyle variables, in addition to the originally self-reported information.
Data maintenance is possibly the most important part of the process. "Due diligence is critical when reviewing any online data source," says Kym Vance , vice president of email solutions for V12 Group. V12 Group triple-verifies postal data that comes in from an online source—the data must be able to be confirmed against two other independent sources or it doesn't make the cut.
This step is essential for two reasons. First, as previously noted, if the postal data is not being mailed regularly, it will become stale. Vance stresses that the USPS's National Change of Address processing and Coding Accuracy Support System certification are required for all data her firm brings in, and are applied on a regular basis.
The second reason data verification is so important for online-sourced postal data is false or fraudulent data. Although all postal mailers have found instances where a responder used a false name, this seems to be much more prevalent with Internet-generated postal data. Made-up names (Beetle Bailey, Santa Claus), obscene information or incorrect/invalid addresses are found regularly. Perhaps it's the freedom of the anonymity of the Internet or fear of their real data being misused that drives consumers to submit false personal data. But without rigorous data review and cleansing, a good portion of the data you rent might not survive your merge/purge process. For this reason, I often order about 10 percent extra records from online-sourced files to ensure my clients end up with enough names to hit their target mail quantities.
All Data Sourcing is a Process
In the end, testing and using postal data from online sources isn't very different from using any other list source: Do your research, use partners who you trust... and test, test, test! Here's to increasing mail volumes!
Stefanie Pont is managing partner and founder of Pont Media Direct, a direct marketing consultancy and list brokerage firm in Norwalk, Conn. She has more than 25 years of direct marketing, list brokerage and management experience, and was named Direct Marketing Association's List Leader of the Year in 2006.
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