Blog: data hygiene

Showing blogs: 1–7 of 7

Building Your Data Foundation, Part II

Mar 7 2011

In Part I of Building Your Data Foundation, I alluded to the four critical steps marketers need to take in order build a data foundation.  As I said then, you need to define your data strategy and then use these four steps to develop the best, most comprehensive view of your customers.  From there, you can analyze, segment, and model your customers and then apply those insights to your programs and campaigns.  Trust me, your marketing efforts (and the results they produce) will thank you.

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Building Your Data Foundation, Part I

Feb 17 2011

In B2B marketing today, there are so many interaction points between companies and their customers leading to countless opportunities to establish a meaningful dialogue.  The challenge is that many marketers focus mainly on the programs - which campaigns to run and when - that they forget the most important part of the equation - their data.

Yes, it's true; data gets a bad rap.  It's not nearly as fun to talk about cleansing and standardization, yet as a marketer, I would argue those functions are critical.  I gave a Webinar recently that talked about the importance of building a solid data foundation and here's what I shared.

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The Necessity of Data Profiling

Sep 21 2009

Data profiling is the process of analyzing data sets to gather information on data types, statistics, patterns, relationships and other attributes.  This process is a critical task often scheduled just prior to the start of a design phase for a new database initiative.  Typically, data profiling is seen primarily as an input for data modeling and ETL design to identify data types and entity relationships.  The value of thorough data profiling actually extends far beyond these tasks and may help steer the direction of the project and ensure its success.

Below are some of the ways data profiling can add value during a new database initiative: 

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Good Data Hygiene Never Goes Out of Style

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).

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Data Quality - Three Essential Links

Jun 24 2009

  1. Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools (Gartner) -- A good starting point if you want to become familiar with the main vendors in the data quality space.
  2. Surprising Value of Data Profiling (Kimball - PDF) -- Ralph Kimball provides a concise explanation about the value of data profiling, one of the essential components of a data quality initiative.
  3. 7 Sources of Poor Data Quality (Melissa DATA) -- William Mcnight identifies seven sources of data quality issues:
    • Entry quality
    • Process quality
    • Identification quality
    • Integration quality
    • Usage quality
    • Aging quality
    • Organizational quality

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Managing Customers’ Data Quality Expectations

May 13 2009

A recent client concern was raised when an unusually high number of mail pieces were returned as undeliverable by the US Post Office (USPO).  The negative impact to the customer is obvious: Not only did they spend good money on postage to mail the piece in the first place, but now they have to expend internal resources to determine the correct addresses, resubmit the documents to the USPS and field customer concerns of late and/or missing mail pieces.

Having just run the NCOA (National Change of Address) updates for the client, it was natural that the client wanted an explanation why the NCOA processing did not catch more of the undeliverable addresses.

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How to Track Down a Moving Target

Apr 21 2009

It's a fact that bringing on new customers is a very expensive and time consuming proposition. It makes sense, then, to invest in the ability to track down and retain your best customers, no matter where they may go. 

Consumers on the move (over 40 million Americans per year), complete a Change of Address card at their local US Post Office.  Those cards are compiled and published to licensed full-service providers (such as CSG's Quaero) in a database with 160 million other American consumers who have moved in the past 48 months and changed their addresses.  Our clients have access to all that rich address information when CSG Quaero runs their customer or prospect database through NCOA (National Change of Address) and can find out which of their customers are on the move.

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