First point that I would like to make is that data quality within an organisation is a process not a project. Yes there are online solutions that can be used to make key interventions once data "decomposition" has been identified here at Infogroup|UK we have recently launched such a tool, it can found at www.infouk.com/data-cleansing/
The business process within which such tools are best deployed are driven by the ‘data owner’ within the business, ever seen a garden that has not been the result of a hard work and skill from a keen gardener? Not a pretty sight. Many people use or touch the data within a business but few actually care about its quality. Equally prevalent in many businesses is the issue surrounding the purpose for which data many have been gathered, oftentimes key data has been ‘re-purposed’ from the original, a prime example is accounts data now being used for marketing communications a sure recipe for dis-quality. A final point is that data within you business is never as good as you think it is, so get a data audit, a no cost solution, that will give a clear objective view of areas for improvement.

By far the easiest way to get rid of dodgy, decaying data is to implement business intelligence and data quality tools to thoroughly ‘cleanse’ company information. This can lead to more effective market campaigns, but also, more importantly, tangible cost savings. After all, no organisation wants to waste postage by sending letters to faulty, incomplete or non-existent addresses.

There are plenty of considerations to take into account when working with company data, including, accuracy, consistency and how long the information has been stored within a company’s records.

Historically, if a marketing manager didn’t want to assume that the quality of data was good enough to ensure an effective marketing campaign, he/she would have to ‘check’ the quality of the data, which would entail, in many cases, human intervention. However, companies can now take advantage of data quality processes to clean and standardise customer data. Overnight procedures run in data warehouses are effective, but even more compelling is the notion of embedding real-time data quality checks or workflows to work in conjunction with CRM systems.

The results: the dodgy data is not even entered in the first place. Recall one of the industry’s key axioms “garbage in, garbage out”. Reducing the “garbage in” creates better, more standardised data, more effective campaigns, noticeable cost savings and increased ROI.

There are three key factors to identify goneaways and maintain database quality: variety, frequency and recency. Having a high quality and high performing database, which in turn will cut down on marketing wastage, is basically a numbers game.

No single source of B2B goneaways in the marketplace will have 100% coverage, so the more variety you have, i.e. the more sources of information feeding the database, the more confidence you can have that the information is correct. With updates to your database, there are always going to be user error discrepancies; a name misheard or typed incorrectly on the phone, even entered incorrectly by the customer themselves. Multiple sources of verification help to identify and fix these problems.

It goes without saying that if multiple sources improve the quality of your database then the frequency of those updates should also be a factor. The more often information is verified the more confidence you can have in it being correct. In the case of the misspelt contact name, a subsequent call would more than likely identify and rectify the mistake.

Finally, and most importantly, is recency. It is sometimes overlooked that the best quality data is the most up to date. If all your data had been validated within the last 2 months, there would be little need to search for goneaways within it. This is obviously easier said than done, not only from a cost perspective but usually from a practicality one; contacting all your customer or prospect records is expensive and time consuming.

Online options, including our DV Cleanse system, have improved hugely in recent months, allowing you to identify goneaways and work through the above key factors quickly and economically. That said, nothing can beat contacting the businesses yourself via any of the many channels now available, and ensuring that any calls and responses such mailing returns or email bouncers are handled appropriately.

If you have any concerns about how to do this, try using one of the B2B direct marketing companies who specialise in doing it, such as LBM!

There seems to be a prevailing fear of spending money on screening B2B data against hygiene products and services in spite of the issues with data decay and the huge costs involved in mailing goneaways. This is coupled with a general confusion regarding what’s available in the marketplace and misconception about the costs involved.

Since the recession, saving money in the short term is just as important for companies as increasing their ROI in the longer term and this is particularly true for small to medium enterprises that just don’t have the available budget to clean their data through traditional means. This was illustrated in a recent study conducted by our online B2B bureau http://www.myb2bonline.com/FileLib/B2BDataTrends.pdf, which was set up in 2009 as cost effective solution to the problems that exist in the marketplace.
The most sensible route for SMEs is to approach a specialist B2B online bureau that offers a ‘pay as you go’ service, such as http://www.myb2bonline.com. Unlike a traditional data bureau there is no data set-up or processing fee, the customer is in control of selecting the required services and payment is on a per match or quantitative basis. This option drastically reduces the costs but doesn’t affect the results that are achieved.

Empty Desks is a new file of 30,000 directors and senior managers who have left their jobs since the start of the economic downturn in January 2008.

You can run your data against this file for £39 plus 1p for every match. We'll remove the names of those who have left their jobs and send you back the cleansed file and, if you want it, the file of incorrect data too.

The file is not currently available with any bureau services so you have to go direct to Electric Marketing.

Empty Desks focuses on company directors and senior managers in medium and large UK companies. It has been compiled by telephone research and everyone on the file has been verified twice by phone to ensure that you aren't removing people from your database who are still in post.

Empty Desks identifies companies that have closed down, foreign companies that have shut UK offices and of course many redundancies with whole departments cut (marketing and training departments have been hit particularly hard). And of course the file idenitifies all the usual coming and going of corporate life as those who can, hand in their notice, organise leaving drinks and head off to a new job.

But while this and all the other suppression file solutions are good and cost effective for large databases, what about the small business's database or mailing list? Why there's no substitute for getting on the phone and checking the data. Too time-consuming and expensive? No one said keeping a database up-to-date was easy, or cheap!

As Marcus mentions, saving money from wasted mailings, and driving higher ROI, are two goals high on any B2B marketer's agenda. Experian QAS research found that B2B data decays at 38% every year & Dynamic Markets research found that 96% of organisations think poor data costs them money. On the ROI side of things, database management is said to have as much as an 80% impact on the success of a marketing campaign.
There are also two more benefits to clean data:
1) increased intelligence as your decision making is based on accurate data
2) maintaining your brand image
To see how clean your data is, Experian QAS offer a free data healthcheck.
If you know you have goneaways that you're looking to suppress, we also have a product to help you do that - QAS Batch with Suppression.
If you're still defining your data suppression strategy, our experts are happy to answer your questions. Email us at info@qas.co.uk