5 Steps to Merge Purge and Clean Your Company Data For Effective Marketing

In order to keep clean company records and maximize the benefits of corporate data and mailing lists the following steps should be taken for more prosperous marketing futures.

Step 1

Make sure to use duplicate elimination software such as Maxdup or other software for correcting the names and addresses that your marketing lists comprise. This type of program provides merge/purge accuracy because it uses revolutionary pattern recognition techniques which identifies and eliminates duplicate records. You can specify up to 256 different input files, duplicate tags, and identify frequent buyers to help customers focus on their specific marketing goals and prospects. A company software program can save you postage and time and enhance their corporate image by eliminating unnecessary mailings and costly returns.

Step 2

You will want to match your mailing lists to the USPS national change of address, more commonly referred to as NCOA, in order to make sure those potential customers you have that may have moved within the last few years receive the marketing literature you intend for them. Approximately 25% of the country households move every 3 years so if you are mailing millions of pieces of mail the amount of wasted money is staggering.

Step 3

Next, make sure you get the best possible postage rates for your mailings. After you merge purge your lists and check for accuracy of the addresses using intelligent mail barcodes can greatly reduce the cost. They speed up the processing at the postal facilities and USPS software reads the barcodes giving companies less expensive rates in the process.

Step 4

Make sure you use codes or some form of recognition on mailing materials themselves so when the customers respond you tell which marketing approach worked best. Without using some form of tracking method the mail is just going out and doing much les to help future endeavors. This will have to be set up ahead of time and planned out with the marketing group at the company or outsourced to the appropriate group.

Step 5

Review. After the designated amount of time has passed you are ready to evaluate the performance of your marketing work. Was the approach correct? Was the list merge purge successful? Id you eliminate duplications and returns? Was the price you paid for the mailing the best you could have gotten and was the return on investment in line with expectations?

It is not enough to simply take a list and mass email or mass mail to them without regard to the accuracy and success rate of the effort. There needs to be a focus and way of grading the results for effectiveness. By planning it out carefully and using the outlined methods above to hone the lists and get the best return on investment you are bound to have better results and a more successful business. With technology and software more available than ever it is mandatory that you take advantage of benefits. Search online for tools that will make be able to organize and clean your corporate data when it becomes to big to effectively do manually.