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Dirty data? Take action today

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Trying to contact your constituent and they are not home? At least not in the home you thought they resided?

In the direct marketing business, we have three challenges:

  1. Getting the direct marketing piece delivered
  2. Getting the direct marketing piece opened
  3. Getting the recipient to respond to the direct marketing piece

You cannot get to steps 2 and 3 without first achieving step 1. Each week, I speak with charities who have never cleansed their data base, never run a national change of address process, and, likewise, never appended data to their constituent records in order to grow the relationships and increase their fundraising. In my mind, this is a “crime”.

Millions of people move each and every year. I, myself, moved in the autumn and not a single charity I give to appear to have cleansed their data to acquire my new address. I have made it a pledge to not contact any of the hundreds of charities in my personal mystery shopping study in order to see which of them ever learn of my relocation and learn about it on their own.

The fact is, charities are the last to be called by any one who moves home. People contact their banks, credit cards, and other suppliers to inform them of their new contact details. But, the charities they support, their alma mater, and other organisations are the last to know. This means you have to find out about moves and changes in contact details on your own!

How do you do this? Work with firms like FundraisingForce who can manage the process with preferred suppliers in the market. Ensure those suppliers can meet your business objectives by cleansing the data and adding value to the data. And, ensure each time the data is cleansed it gets loaded back onto your CRM so that your organisation is taking advantage of the newly acquired data elements.

For more information about FundraisingForce, please visit our website or contact Stephen Mally on +61 4 3050 0524.

Cleanse your data now and do not waste another dollar reaching out to constituents who are no longer home! (At least not in the home where you thought they were residing).