Data hygiene

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Duplicate Records – Exploring the Root Causes

man head duplicated in darkness

In the realm of charity organisations, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems play a vital role in efficiently managing donor and supporter information. These systems help charities maintain strong relationships with their donors, track fundraising efforts, and streamline operations. However, a common challenge faced by many charities is the existence of duplicate records within their CRM databases. Duplicate records can lead to data inconsistencies, organisation inefficiencies, and, hinder effective donor management. In this blog post, we will delve into the causes and discuss strategies to mitigate this issue.

Causes of duplicate records

  1. Manual Data Entry Errors
    • One of the primary causes of duplicate records is human error during manual data entry.
    • Some staff may not take the time to search to see if the record exists at the outset.
    • When staff manually enter data into the CRM system, they may inadvertently create duplicate records due to typos, misspellings, or inconsistent data formatting
      • For example, entering a donor’s name as “John Doe” in one instance and “John Doo” in another can result in duplicate records.
  2. Lack of Standardisation
    • Inconsistent data standards and practices can also contribute to the proliferation of duplicate records.
    • Without standardised naming conventions, address formats, or contact details, it becomes challenging to distinguish between similar records.
      • For instance, variations such as “Street” vs. “St.,” “Apt” vs. “Apartment,” or “0430500525” vs. “04 3050 0524” can result in duplicate entries. Implementing data standardisation protocols and automated data cleaning processes can help address this issue and ensure uniformity across the CRM system.
  3. Integration Challenges
    • Charities often utilize multiple software applications, such as fundraising platforms, email marketing tools, or event management systems, which need to integrate seamlessly with their CRM.
    • However, integration challenges can arise, leading to the creation of duplicate records.
      • For instance, if data synchronisation between the CRM and a fundraising platform fails to match records accurately, duplicates may occur.
    • It is crucial for charities to carefully select CRM software that offers robust integration capabilities and regularly monitor and reconcile data between different systems to prevent duplication.
  4. Merging Records
    • In some cases, multiple records may be inadvertently created when merging data from different sources or during data migration processes.
    • It is essential to thoroughly review and match records to avoid duplication.
      • Especially when consolidating donor information from various sources or importing data from external sources
    • Meticulous data cleansing and deduplication procedures should be followed to identify and merge records appropriately.
  5. Lack of Data Governance
    • An absence of clear data governance policies and procedures can contribute to the accumulation of duplicate records over time.
    • Without defined rules for record creation, updates, and de-duplication, the CRM database can become cluttered.
    • Implementing data governance frameworks that establish ownership, define data management processes, and regularly audit and clean the CRM database can help mitigate the problem of duplicate records.

Duplicate records in a CRM system can cause significant operational challenges, hinder effective donor management, and lead to data inconsistencies. By understanding and addressing the root causes, charities can work towards establishing robust data management practices.

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Data cleansing is task #1 when preparing for your Christmas Appeal

coding computer data depth of field
Photo by Kevin Ku on Pexels.com

There has been a lot of talk about upcoming Christmas Appeal. How will your supporters respond given the current pandemic and the economic environment? It may be August, but smart non-profit organisations are already preparing their data files and copy for what becomes the second most important campaign of the year for most charities. As part of those tasks, it’s not too late for non-profits to conduct data cleansing. Data hygiene is task #1 when preparing your Christmas Appeal.

Some non-profit organisations take the important step to cleanse their data, while many others do not. Those non-profit organisations who perform data cleansing, perform this task at least one time per year.

Data cleansing activities include, but are not limited to:

  • National Change of Address (NCOA).
  • De-duplication of constituent records.
  • Data enrichment, including:
    • Deceasing flags for records
    • Do not mail flag.
    • Do not call flag.
  • Other important mass data management practices.

Dirty data gets you nowhere…except broke. Proper data cleaning prior to dropping the all-important tax and Christmas appeals is a non-negotiable. Do you put this in the “too hard” basket? Hire an expert like FundraisingForce who will guide you through the process, management of suppliers, and develop a process for you to follow for years to come.

Don’t assume someone else will do this task – whether you are assuming the mail house does it or someone else on your internal team. Develop a process to get this task done and to ensure the cleansed data makes it was back to your organisations CRM. To merely cleanse the file for the appeal and to not load the clean data back to the CRM (a common mistake made by charitable organisations) is like cleaning your child and putting them back on the playground.

Get ready. Christmas will be here before you know it!

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Data cleansing – it’s now or never for your Tax Appeal

Data cleansingYou have just finished the Christmas Appeal and you are already thinking tax-time, right? There is no rest time for today’s active fundraising program. Preparations for the Tax Appeal mean more than just writing copy, designing creative, and thinking about data segmentation. You also need to be thinking about data cleansing – it’s now or never.

Data cleansing activities

An overwhelming majority of charities in Australia do not regularly perform national change of address on their data file prior to a major mail out such as the Christmas or Tax Appeal. In fact, some data administrators would rather have a root canal than think about data cleansing. Let’s take the pain out of data cleansing and list the tasks which out to be done:

National Change of Address (NCOA)

Taking your file and matching it against the Australia Post PAF file is easy. Extracting the data from your CRM and matching to the PAF file is, in fact, the easy part. It does require a relationship with a supplier who may access the PAF file. Gaining new contact details for donors and prospects who have moved is a key benefit of NCOA. Further, gaining a flag for anyone who has moved and who has not made their new contact details available in the commercial space is a further benefit. New addresses mean you are able to get the Tax Appeal delivered to those you’ve lost contact with and not mailing those who you’ve lost contact with and cannot gain their new details means you will not waste postage and materials.

Data Enhancement

While you are working with a supplier to perform NCOA, take the time to enhance your data. Think about additional data elements available in the market and action the following:

  • New telephone phone numbers.
  • Validation of email addresses.
  • Acquisition of deceased, do not mail, and do not call flags.
  • Addition of presence of children and grandchildren flags.
  • Enhancement of constituent records with wealth indicators, such as property values and other holdings available.

Acquiring these enhancements will help not just with Tax Appeal, but with other campaigns in the future.

Do not delay. Action data cleansing and data enhancement now before you commence preparation of the data file for the Tax Appeal. Data cleansing and data enhancement takes time and these activities deserve the same attention as preparation of the mail pack. The results of your Tax Appeal depend on good data.

 

 

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Standing out in the letter or email box – step 2 of three to a successful campaign

I’ve often written and spoken about the importance of standing out in the letter or email box. It is the second most important of the three critical steps to a successful campaign. Those three steps are:

  1. Getting your letter or email delivered to its intended recipients.
    • The importance of data hygiene.
  2. Standing out in the letter or email box.
    • Gaining the attention of the recipient so they open the letter or email.
  3. Motivating the recipient to respond to your call to action.
    • Writing a compelling story, which entices the reader to act.

If you do not get the piece delivered, you cannot advance to steps 2 and 3. Even if the piece is delivered, is it motivating to open?

Last week, I received this postcard in my letterbox. It stood out. Why? The language on the postcard asked me ignore the postcard and suggested it was indeed “junk mail”. This reminded me of a time when I created a similar piece for a hospital in Boston.

2004 – Near Firing

In 2004, my fundraising career was nearly cut short because I orchestrated the creation of this follow up piece to mail in the month of January – a dead month for US fundraising because many Americans cry poor after the Christmas season and the 31 December fiscal year end. We created this piece to follow up to the Christmas Appeal and to test whether the carrier was strong enough to motivate recipients to respond with an average gift of $40.

The outside envelope read “Original Letter Mailed 1 December 2004”.

About 6 nurses and physicians at the hospital were “offended” by the messaging on the outside carrier, suggesting the envelope implied there was a reminder enclosed for a hospital bill past due. I had not meant to mislead anyone nor was the teaser copy on the envelope anything but truthful. The nurses and physicians  voiced their opinions by saying the creative piece had cause people to open the envelope due to its mysterious nature.

The above feedback was a real win for me! Causing people to open the envelope  is exactly what I wanted the carrier to do – to stand out in the letterbox and to motivate people to open it to advance to step 3, above!

I was told if I produced a piece like this in the future I may be fired.

When the results showed the follow up wave raised more money than any appeal in the hospital’s history, the CEO and others changed their tune. In fact, I was allowed to repeat the appeal in 2005 and…the follow up appeal is still in place today some 13 years later!

Standing out in the letter box, once the piece is received, is critical. How else will you shine amongst the “noise”? mail

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Data cleansing is task #1 when preparing for your Christmas Appeal

Dirty DataThere has been a lot of talk about upcoming Christmas Appeal. It may be August, but non-profit organisations are already preparing their data files and copy for what becomes the second most important campaign of the year for most charities. As part of those tasks, it’s not too late for non-profits to conduct data cleansing. Data hygiene is task #1 when preparing your Christmas Appeal.

Some non-profit organisations take the important step to cleanse their data, while many others do not. Those non-profit organisations who perform data cleansing, perform this task at least one time per year.

Data cleansing includes, but is not limited to, high level activities such as:

  • National Change of Address (NCOA).
  • De-duplication of constituent records.
  • Data enrichment, including:
    • Deceasing flags for records
    • Do not mail flag.
    • Do not call flag.
  • Other important mass data management practices.

As suggested in prior FundraisingForce blog posts, dirty data gets you nowhere…except broke. Proper data cleaning prior to dropping the all-important tax and Christmas appeals is a non-negotiable. Do you put this in the “too hard” basket? Hire an expert like FundraisingForce who will guide you through the process, management of suppliers, and develop a process for you to follow for years to come.

Don’t assume someone else will do this task – whether you are assuming the mail house does it or someone else on your internal team. Develop a process to get this task done and to ensure the cleansed data makes it was back to your organisations CRM. To merely cleanse the file for the appeal and to not load the clean data back to the CRM (a common mistake made by charitable organisations) is like cleaning your child and putting them back on the playground.

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The right fundraising software? Should the focus be on data hygiene?

I receive a call each week from a non-profit organisation asking for help in finding the “right fundraising software” for the organisation. The charity wants to find software that will deliver across the organisation. For some organisations, FundraisingForce conducts constituent relationship management (CRM) searches to find the right fit. Perhaps the conversation should first start with discussions about data hygiene.

Conversations can be had about the requirements of the organisation in order to find the right fit. But, put aside the software for a second and think about the practices that exist (or are likely absent) across the organisation.

Too few in the charity space focus on the detail in a single supporter record (or across records) in the database/CRM. We are too busy worrying whether the software we own does this task or that task. We are too busy completing transactions and tasks (i.e. booking a donation, getting the tax appeal out) that we do not take the time, while in possession of a supporter record, to do what I have called CEE a record.

Change of Focus – Day to Day/Hour by Hour Data CleansingAlarm, beruf, berufsfeuerwehr, brand, brennen, brennt, einsatz, feuer, feueralarm, feuerlöscher, feuerwehr, feuerwehrmann, feuerwehrschlauch, feuerwehrübung, flamme, feuerwehr, gefahr, helfen, helm, hilfe, retten; männchen, katastrophe, löschen, not, notfall, notruf, rettung, schlauch, schutz, schutzhelm, sicherheit, Daten, Strichmännchen, verbrennen Wohnungsbrand, wasser, wasser marsch, sos, unfall, Wasserschlauch, Löschzug, Löschteich

  • C – When in possession of a supporter’s record, no matter who you are in the organisation, Confirm the contact details with the supporter or Confirm the record is complete when you simply open a record to view information.
  • E – Edit anything in the record the supporter tells you or you view as incorrect.
  • E – Enhance anything in the record you see missing. Mobile phone numbers and email addresses are missing from about 70% of most charities supporter records.

Do the above day to day, hour by hour.

Monthly Data Cleansing

Once you have the day-to-day practices in place, you must focus on the masses. First, at the close of each month, someone on your team must troll the data base to look for known issues – incomplete records – addresses missing a post code, addresses missing a suburb, state, titles missing, etc. Make this one person’s job.

Cleaning up the house once a month makes it a lot easier for major clean-ups.

Annual Data Cleansing

Your organisation needs to perform Data Hygiene at least once per year before a big mailing or event.

Data Hygiene is the practice of cleansing the data, using a service provider who will access the Australia Post National Change of Address, NCOA, file on your organisation’s behalf. The service will also use other data sources and may enhance the data to offer you dates of birth, phone numbers or other enhanced information valuable for major gift and bequest efforts.

Why do annual Data Hygiene? I have over 300 charities in my direct marketing mystery shopping study. I have lived in three apartments during the time the study has been underway. Some charities are mailing me at my address 3 apartments ago. I only receive the mail because I continue to renew my mail redirection service with Australia Post. Most Australians only renew their mail redirection once at best, if at all.

Of the 300 charities in the study, only 3 have found me at my correct address.

What do the other 297 charities do when a person does not file a mail redirection service? What do the other 297 charities do when a person does not continue to renew the mail redirection?

Why don’t charities conduct an annual Data Hygiene process? They put it in the “too hard” bucket. They put it in the “too expensive” bucket.

Too Hard

It is “too hard” if you do not understand the process. If you tried it once and it was “too hard”, find a supplier in the market to conduct the process and document it for you once. We can then transfer the knowledge to you to make it easy and allow you to be self-sufficient each time thereafter.

Expensive

I don’t buy this argument. It is very expensive to acquire a new donor. Sure Data Hygiene costs NFPs. But, it is less expensive to run a data hygiene process than it is to acquire a new donor. It is less expensive to do the Data Hygiene process annually than it is to continue to mail pieces, which do not reach their intended recipients.

Unless you practice good Data Hygiene, the work done in terms of event fundraising, donor acquisition fundraising, and other areas do not matter.

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It’s not too late for non-profits to conduct data hygiene

DataEarlier this week, I wrote a blog post about the first Christmas Appeal received this year. It’s the only one received so far, which suggests others may still be navigating the many tasks they need to complete in order to drop their Christmas Appeal. As part of those tasks, it’s not too late for non-profits to conduct data hygiene!

Assuming some charitable organisations are behind with their Christmas appeal, perhaps the reason is data hygiene. One of the single most important steps prior to the Christmas appeal drop is the need to complete hygiene.

Some non-profit organisations take the important step to cleanse their data, while others do not. Those non-profit organisations who perform data hygiene, perform this task at least one time per year.

Data cleansing includes, but is not limited to, high level activities such as:

  • National Change of Address (NCOA).
  • De-duplication of constituent records.
  • Data enrichment, including:
    • Deceasing of records
    • Do not mail flag.
    • Do not call flag.
  • Other important mass data management practices.

As suggested in prior FundraisingForce blog posts, dirty data gets you nowhere…except broke. Proper data cleaning prior to dropping the all-important tax and Christmas appeals is not optional. Do you put this in the “too hard” basket? Hire an expert like FundraisingForce who will guide you through the process, management of suppliers, and develop a process for you to follow for years to come.

Don’t assume someone else will do this task – whether you are assuming the mail house does it or someone else on your internal team. Develop a process to get this task done and to ensure the cleansed data makes it was back to your organisations CRM. To merely cleanse the file for the appeal and to not load the clean data back to the CRM (a common mistake made by charitable organisations) is like cleaning your child and putting them back on the playground.

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Best practice call from University of Queensland

Smiling businesspeople in a call center office

I received my annual call from University of Queensland (UQ) this past weekend. It’s no secret I am a big fan of UQ and the manner in which the Advancement Office handles donors. As is typical with the UQ call each year, the call Saturday was a mix of stewardship, data enhancement, solicitation, and data hygiene.

Kudos to UQ. Why? Read on.

Engagement

The call opened with the student, a female, asking me how my Saturday morning was progressing. During the conversation, she wove in a question about the weather in Sydney and compared it to the weather in Brisbane. This ice breaker and idle chit chat was a nice approach and allowed the student caller to determine I had a few minutes to spend with her and to further figure out I was willing to converse. She moved into her own plans after her graduation in November. She shared the fact she and her partner are considering a move to Sydney. We talked about the expense of living in Sydney compared to what she is used to in Brisbane. The caller asked if I had any advice to her about her career and her life after graduation. Once I shared my advice and said “you have lots of time to figure it out, you are only 22 years old”, she shared advice she had received from others and she asked me my opinion on the advice she had received. This was solid engagement.

The student then turned to business.

Stewardship

The caller thanked me repeatedly for my past support and talked about the difference it makes to the lives of UQ students. She spoke first-hand about the education she has received and how this has positioned her well for life after graduation.

Data enhancement

She then asked what caused me to support UQ, recognising I am not a UQ graduate.

Solicitation

The caller then asked if I could please consider renewing my past support. When I asked the dollar amount, she shared the gifts I have given each year over the past several years. I renewed the support.

Data confirmation/editing

The caller confirmed my address, email address and other contact details. Had something been erroneous, she could have updated their CRM on the fly.

Stewardship

At the end of the call, the student thanked me profusely for renewing my support. She informed me I would receive a thank you receipt and a thank you video via email soon. Within 24 hours I received the thank you Email, containing a video that will warm the heart of anyone.

Most universities use student callers to contact alumni and friends to seek their support. It’s not rocket science. My university calls one time per year. The nostalgia the call from my alma mater stirs is what works so well.

I think all types of non-profit organisations can learn from and employ this technique. Each non-profit organisation should think about the who, the how, and the when aspects of this type of call:

  • Who is the best audience to call your potential supporters? Clients, patients, or volunteers?
  • How will the calls occur? Are you supplying the callers with the kind of data, the script, training, and other tools they need to have these types of natural conversations?
  • When will the calls occur? When is the best time to call your audience? Is there a time of year when these calls work for your organisation?

Getting the who, how and when correct makes the why – why should donors support your organisation – an easy sell.

By the time the UQ student caller got to the solicitation in this call, there was no question I understood the why. For UQ it is all about the supporters connecting with their student body. I could not have exited the call without renewing my support. A beautiful experience.

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Mailing to deceased – there’s no excuse

FundraisingForce recently conducted an acquisition mailing for an Australian charity. The charity rented lists via a list broker. The day after the appeal dropped, dozens of next of kin placed telephone calls informing the charity their loved one had died. In some cases, their loved one had died years prior. The impact of the deceased mail continued for the next two weeks as more calls were received by the nonproit organisation.

It is typical for some deceased and bad addresses to be included in a charity’s acquisition appeal. It happens whenever charities rent mailing lists and depends greatly on the quality of the data received.

In regards to deceased, these calls are, at best, uncomfortable for the next of kin to make and for the charity to receive. In some cases, these calls are embarrassing to the charity despite the fact the charity has simply rented the names via a reputable list broker. Finally, in most cases, these calls are not necessary and would not occur if charities banded together to manage their data lists. Here’s how:Snip20160606_2

  • Ensure your charitable organisation has systems in place to properly mark deceased constituent records.
  • Make certain all staff in the organisation understand the internal process to implement the established procedures.
  • Ensure deceased are not passed to list brokers when your charitable organisation rents or exchanges data with other charitable organisations – whether via a list broker or on your own.
  • Use one of the services available in Australia to pass data to remove any known deceased from the list to be mailed.
  • Add the deceased names to your database, along with their last known address, and code them “deceased”.
    • The above will allow for a procedure to remove any known deceased from rental lists in the future.
    • Track the source of the deceased knowledge.
  • Track and report all deceased back to your list broker.
    • This will ensure removal for future mailings and also gain credit for deceased names rented to your charity in the first place.
    • Too many charities do not report deceased rented to them back to the list broker.
    • Non-reporting simply continues the cycle for the next of kin and for other charities.

This is not merely a charity responsibility. Next of kin also have a responsibility to report deceased to the various Australian services to ensure their loved ones do not receive mail. Service include:

If each of us, charitable organisations and next of kin alike, do our fare share and create processes and procedures such as those mentioned above, we can greatly diminish the number of deceased who are mailed and the painful impact on the next of kin.

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Mailing to deceased? Your non profit organisation lacks best practices

Return to SenderThere is nothing worse than sending a deceased person mail. First, it stirs up emotions when a loved one receives a letter addressed to a person who has since passed. Second, it sends a message that your non-profit organisation lacks best practices. I recently posted, on LinkedIn, about the number of charities not taking the extra steps to remove deceased from their CRM/database – reactively or proactively. The post received a high number of comments. Perhaps it was a little too close to home for some.

This past month, I visited some people in the US in the state of Florida. The husband of the couple visited was the executor for an estate. Let’s call the deceased Mrs Bloggs. Mrs Bloggs has been deceased for more than five years. Yet, the household continues to receive charity mail in her name. Again, Mrs Bloggs has been deceased for more than five years.

IMG_0534What’s even worse is this household has notified the charities of her death. The couple have returned notices in the response envelopes with the response coupons. In some cases, charities have been notified 2-3 times. These same charities, and others, continue to mail to Mrs Bloggs.

The charities are risking offending the survivors, as well as their reputation through poor processes, wasted materials, and postage.

US charities have an even bigger advantage over Australian charities in that the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) exists, which is national register of deaths. When someone passes away in the US, it is a requirement the death is reported to the US government. The end result means all deaths are documented on the SSDI. US charities have access to this list to screen their database through a variety of suppliers.

In Australia, the Australian government does not yet have anything compared to the SSDI. Yet, Conexum has The Australian Bereavement Register (TABR), which is a strong product and increasing in capabilities each year. Additionally, suppliers will match your database against the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) list of deceased individuals. This list is developed via notifications sent to ADMA. Any person may document a death via the ADMA website or we may call or write ADMA direct.

Charities have a responsibility to do the following:

Reactive documentation:

  • Document notifications of death in their constituent relationship management (CRM)/database. When charities are notified of deaths from survivors:
    • Document date of notification, method of notification, and date of death.
  • Notify list brokers of deaths. Pass information to list brokers when charities are notified of deceased parties on various lists rented or received via exchange.
    • Notification to list brokers should include date charity notified by next of kin, method of notification, and date of death.

Proactive documentation:

  • Screen your non profit organisation’s CRM/database using SSDI, for US charities, or TABR, for Australian charities.
    • Screen at least one time per year. Better yet, screen prior to all major mailings.
      • Screen your CRM/database, plus any lists rented for acquisition purposes.

Acquisition Preparation

You would never rent thousands of names without deduping them against your database to ensure you were not marketing to existing donors. Take it a step further. Whenever your organisation rents or exchanges names via a list broker, ensure you de-duplicate all known deceased from your CRM/database. Save your organisation the embarrassment of mailing to known deceased people despite the fact the lists may be dirty from a broker or from a charity. Then, report deceased back to the broker to save your colleagues from embarrassment, as well.

Those of us who work for charities have been on the receiving end of the calls when people are upset because we have erroneously mailed to their deceased loved ones. If everyone takes an active role, in the New Year, in terms of deceased processing, we can vastly improve processes and ensure we decrease the number of times deceased persons are marketed.

Need help with your deceased processes? FundraisingForce assists charities globally to improve deceased processes and others. Contact us today.

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