DS0509_Opinions_p8-p9_Royal Mail:Layout 1 30/4/09 11:42 Page 8
DIRECT MAIL
Direct mail
Getting more bang for your buck with
effective data management, Louise Williams
from Royal Mail discusses
ith marketing budgets with 50,000 records will typically contain website (www.royalmail.com/clearprospects)
W
tightening for many around 5,000-7,000 expired records. If does just this.
organisations, getting included when mailing these entries could The audit process allows you to check your
the best response rate have a serious impact on a campaign’s data's accuracy and immediately realise the
from your data has never response rate and return on investment (ROI), ROI implications. Using products like Royal
been more important. not to mention wasted marketing spend at a Mail’s National Change of Address (NCOA) and
The good news is that there are many products out time when every penny counts. Suppressing Universal Suppression Service (USS) will
there to help you do just this. these records before the campaign goes out quickly identify how many of your customers
The future of the Direct Marketing industry can cost as little as 25p per record, which is have moved and potentially how many
depends heavily on the ability of marketing nothing when compared to the print and existing customers you can reconnect with.
professionals to demonstrate return and fulfilment costs of sending them out.” The USS file contains records of all consumer
maintain good response rates. Royal Mail Data But it’s not just the wasted budget and missed mail redirections that have been completed
Services have been developing products and revenue opportunities that should be for the past 10 years and allows you to remove
solutions to address this issue head on and we considered; consumer research has shown that “gone-away” records from your database. The
will continue to support our customers in any poorly or incorrectly addressed mail can have NCOA file contains the details of consumers
way we can to communicate with consumers serious negative impact on brand reputation that have opted in to letting you know that
more effectively. also. Inadequate suppression against deceased they have moved home – certainly an
At the heart of any successful direct data is one such area which opens companies up audience likely to be receptive to mailed
marketing campaign is accurate, well targeted to brand damage, as poorly suppressed mailings communication which can be maximise by
data but increasingly UK organisations are addressed to recently deceased individuals can well-targeted communications.
finding that the consumer data they so lovingly cause untold distress for family members. The Royal Mail NCOA and USS files are
collect and protect has begun to erode. There are some simple steps any organisation created directly from consumer mail
Research shows that consumer data typically can take to improve the quality of their data. First redirections data meaning that they contain
decays at an average rate of 11.9% per year, and foremost we would suggest getting a Data up-to-date, I.D. verified data. At Royal Mail we
predominantly due to re-location and mortality. Audit to understand the quality and accuracy of suggest firstly running your data against our
As Tristan Prince, Product Executive at Royal your data. There are many companies in the NCOA file to identify where any forwarding
Mail’s Data Services puts it: market that are happy to offer a secure service addresses are available for your customers and
“In our experience a 5-year old database free of charge and our on-line Clear Prospects then using the USS file to identify and remove
8 OPINIONS ON DATA | MAY 2009
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17