Neither rain nor snow nor a handful of other impediments are supposed to keep the U.S. Postal Service from completing its appointed rounds—but what if the addresses on the letters are wrong? If you're a B-to-B marketer launching a new campaign, and some of your addresses turn out to be old or completely incorrect, you can blame the company that sold you the list. But, the fault may be more your own for not verifying the addresses before your marketing campaign began.
Managing prospect and customer databases can be a big, complex, time-demanding job, particularly if you have to merge a variety of lists from different sources, whether they were purchased or compiled more organically through lead generation programs. Adding to the challenge is the fact that new businesses start up and close down every day. According to the U.S. Postal Service, about 1.7 million new business addresses were added to it database in 2009—and about 11% of its business addresses were removed the same year.
The Postal Service offers a Change of Address database and its own address and zip code look-up technology, and a number of vendors also offer software that helps streamline the job of verifying and correcting addresses, including Experian QAS, Strikeiron, Intelligent Search Technology, Cdyne, Satori Software, Anchor Software and others.
"With all of the possible changes, the real challenge is verifying that addresses are accurate before they hit your database, and a lot of small companies don't have that kind of filter," says Beatriz Santin, marketing director at Experian QAS.
Here are some tips for B-to-B marketers tackling the list management challenge:
- Do your due diligence: Particularly for when doing an acquisition campaign, make sure you buy a list from a reputable source. This is key to minimizing the amount of time you spend correcting the list later. Ask vendors how they maintain their lists and how often they verify and make corrections.
- Understand your data: The first thing a B-to-B firm should do with a new list is figure out how many addresses are good and how many are invalid. This saves you from headaches later on. And, it might tell you something about whether or not the list will translate to viable leads and sales. If using software, look for a product that is certified annually by the Postal Service's Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS).
- Organize/prioritize how you want to verify/clean your database: It may be wise to start with a small sampling if you have a large list. Set project deadlines and, if not using software, decide on methods for checking addresses—sometimes picking up the phone and calling is the easiest, fastest way to get it done. Plan how frequently you want to review and refresh your lists—every three months or maybe every six months. Just don't wait a year or more.
- Keep your list objective in mind: Is the list primarily for lead generation, as might be the case with B-to-B companies, or is it also for product shipping and billing? The more you use it, the more you will want to conduct a thorough verification process.
- Decide on a process for correcting errors: This is where software or the Postal Service's National Change of Address database can help. Software can do it automatically, but if you are making corrections in a more manual way, and have parceled out portions of the list to staff, decide how changes will be made to the list samples, how and when the samples will be fed back into the master list, and who will make final updates to the master list.
