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Good Data Hygiene Never Goes Out of Style

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Jul 22 2009

"Data hygiene - the art of keeping a direct mail database clean and up-to-date - could prove to be the most irritating buzzword of 2001. But, it could be key to the success of direct mail printers."
-"Data hygiene to be your 2001 buzzword," Printing World, January 8, 2001

So, what is data hygiene?  The term "data hygiene" simply refers to a set of procedures for keeping a name-and-address database in good shape. This usually involves:

  • Ensuring the database doesn't contain duplicate records (thus, the terms "dedupe" and "merge-purge").
  • Maintaining the addresses in the U.S. Postal Service's standard format to ensure "deliverability" (by "scrubbing" and "parsing," which are other industry terms).

Depending upon the needs of the organization (and the shape of the database), data-hygiene procedures also include:

  • Querying the U.S. Postal Service's National Change of Address (NCOA -- How to Track Down a Moving Target) database to determine if any of the individuals or companies in the database have relocated, and updating the database with new addresses as needed.
  • Making sure that each address in the database is actually valid (i.e., the U.S. Postal Service can deliver it)

It's not as simple as it sounds.  Part art and science, data hygiene techniques can be quite complex, especially if data fields are inappropriately used (e.g., the first name field contains a title, company name or gibberish instead of a true first name) to solve their data challenges, marketers should always consider these four steps:

  • 1. Ensure data is entered into the file correctly from the start.
  • 2. Involve and encourage customers to participate by updating their own information at regular intervals.
  • 3. Leverage the experts. Find an organization that has experience doing data hygiene work in your industry and therefore understands the complexities and nuances involved.
  • 4. Make it part of a regular regimen. Data hygiene isn't a one-time cleansing project. Build in the proper processes (and fail-safes) to ensure your data stays clean and up-to-date.

To build a solid data hygiene practice and get the most out of your marketing campaigns, employ best-in-class data hygiene practices.  Doing so can mean the difference between marketing program success and failure.

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