To append or not to append...that is the question.
I've been helping customers maximize their marketing database solutions for over 10 years and often see marketers struggle with the decision whether to or not to enhance their customer data. Ideally, additional information that could be used to build customer insights would be collected directly from the source (the customer!), but doing so may not be realistic. Just the other day, I got a Facebook request from a friend to register to a website. I started to fill out the form and backed out about half way through because they were "asking me too many questions". I really didn't "know this website" and wasn't comfortable providing more than some basic information. Something tells me that a lot of people might feel that way...
Industry averages indicates that the shelf-life of customer data is 12-18 months and usually contains 25% invalid or incomplete data. The percentage jumps to 80% for prospect data. Inaccurate customer and prospect data leads to waste in postage, production and messaging and can prompt you to send a targeted piece to the wrong contact.
There are many strategies to capture additional information on your customer - loyalty programs, sweepstakes, post registration surveys -but this route can be very time consuming and it may be difficult to get incremental information on the historical population. For those marketers who need the information fast (all of you do!) and applied to a large universe, I've found that utilizing a data append provider to enhance a customer (or prospect) record is the answer.
Quaero partners with various data append providers and will help you select the right provider based upon your needs. Just recently I have had customers asking about appending:
- An opt-in email address to individuals or households who do not have an email address or the email address is no longer valid (bounced)
- An opt-in cell phone number to communicate to customers via text message
- Demographic information such as age, income, number of children, interests (likes gardening, likes fishing, likes tennis, etc.)
To answer the question to append or not to append... the answer is to absolutely append and let us help you determine exactly what would work best for you!
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