The Nature of Data Data Capture, Cleaning, Maintenance & Segmenting Karen Clarke Charity Advisor BRG Direct Ltd

Let me introduce myself……….  My name is Karen Clarke, I am fast approaching 60 (Yikes!) and I have worked for BRG Direct for nearly 25 years, most of that time has been spent making lots of friends in the Charity Sector.  Having spent the best part of a quarter of a century poking my nose into other people’s data, I think I am safe in saying that I have seen it all: The Good, the Bad and The Very Very Ugly! Some things have made me laugh out loud whilst others have left me with steam coming out of my ears!

Lets get to it!  Data Capture  Data Cleaning  Data Profiling  Data Appending  Wealth Screening  Data Segmenting  Cold Data  Data Protection

Data Capture Lets go back to basics!  Set sensible protocols that everyone can follow.  Write it all down & make sure everyone has a copy.  Be consistent; all records should be captured in the same format.  Title, Forename, Initial, Surname – in separate fields.  Your CRM system will produce the Salutation, Postname, Greeting etc.  What goes in here eventually comes out the other end as a letter, and we all know how easy it is to upset a supporter if we get their name wrong. TitleForenameInitialSurname MrJosephJBloggs

Title, Forename, Initial, Surname  Do NOT use full stops, commas and question marks.  Limit the number of titles that you use.  If you have to use a joint title, keep them the same throughout your database.  ALWAYS capture a forename.  If not possible, put the initial in the forename field AS WELL AS the initial field.

Addresses  Be consistent!  Do NOT put a company or organisation name in Address Line 1.  Try not to use C/O.  Keep 1 line in each field.  Commas and speech marks throw out fields and lead to problems!  If you don’t have the address, leave the fields BLANK!  Not known, Unknown, Didn’t want to give it etc should not be in the address fields!

Other fields  Again, be consistent!  Keep addresses in the field, not in the telephone number field (a common error we find!) or vice versa.  Dates of Birth – can be used for special birthday challenges, legacies etc.  Telephone Numbers – must be TPS checked

Data Cleaning  Think of your database as a beautiful garden: If you maintain it, feed it, nurture it and cut out the dead wood, it will grow and reward you time & again.  Neglect it and the weeds will start to sprout and it will wither and die.  Have your data checked regularly.  We suggest once a year BUT before any mailing is best practise.

Do I need to have my data cleaned? YES!  The 4 th principle of the Data Protection Act (1998) states that: ‘Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.’  The Institute of Fundraising Code of Fundraising Practice says: ‘Organisations MUST maintain good data hygiene practices (removing incorrect/incomplete information from your data) to ensure donor information is accurate, reflects donors’ communication preferences and is retained only for as long as necessary.’

Deceased Records The Mortality Suppressions  Experian deceased data  Public record information  2.5million individuals on the file Mortascreen Plus  Sourced from UK probate registries  Supplemented with insurance data, funeral directors information & returned mail marked as deceased The National Deceased Register  Data derived from financial services products such as life insurance, pensions & annuities  No volunteered data so is highly accurate  Over 4.3million records The Bereavement Register  Fully permissioned, verified registration data directly from the bereaved

Gone Away Records Absolute Movers  Leading source to identify individuals who have moved  Private and public data sources used to identify and validate people who have left an address Purity  Compiled by Acxiom from consumer data  20million gone away records disConnect  37million records from Equifax  Cross referenced from various sources to identify those who have moved National Change of Address  Consumers who have opted out when registering for re-direction  Also contains postal returns marked as deceased or goneaway

Movers Absolute Contacts  UK’s premier source for identifying home movers  Edited electoral roll and other compliant sources verify the resident at the new address National Change of Address (NCOA)  Consumers who have registered for Royal Mail’s redirection service  NOT opted out, allowing information to be passed to 3 rd parties reConnect  More than 20million records  Claims to identify a move earlier in the process, getting the information to you faster

Why use these services?  Screening reduces wasted mail costs  Reduces the risk of mailing a deceased individual and causing distress to their family  Improve response rates  Re-engage lost or lapsed supporters

Forename & Initial matches Here we have the Smiths: Donald Derek And David. They all live together at 14 Made Up Street, Made Upville, MU1 1MU.

Sadly, Grandad Donald dies And shortly after, David moves away to University But Derek is still living at 14 Made Up Street. So if you only have Mr D Smith on your database, how do we know if its Donald, Derek or David who has matched???

Profiling The more you know about your supporters, the more targeted you can make the message. The more targeted the message, the more response rate you will get.

 Geodemographic  Behind every customer is an individual. Mosaics let you treat them that way  Reach the right people, with the right message  Group B is one of the highest profiled group within most charities profiles Mosaic Groups

Data Appending We can append: Dates of Birth Wealth File Indicators Mosaic Groups Council Tax Bands Estimated Income addresses Telephone numbers TPS & MPSindicators Plus many more!

Wealth Screening  Our in-house database.  Top 15 blue chip company investors.  Marked 1 – 5, 1 being less than £5,000 invested, 5 being more than £100,000 invested.  Excellent legacy targets.  Council tax bands, mosaic groups & estimated income bands. Combining these will identify the most wealthy prospects with your database.

Segmentation Your database already has lots of useful information that will help you to segment it, but there is a lot more available. Did you know that you can have dates of birth appended to your data? If a specific date is not available, you can have an estimated age group. Couple this with things like Council Tax Bands, Wealth File Indicators, Estimated Incomes or even the latest Mosaic codes and you will have a much more flexible database that will allow you to make multiple selections.

Profiling The more you know about your supporters, the more targeted you can make the message. The more targeted the message, the more response rate you will get.

Cold data  Target, Target, Target!  Profile existing supporters to make the right selections.  Some of our charity clients have reported between 4% and 6% response rate.  Target the right people.  A series of small, highly targeted mailings will at least replace the deceased and gone aways that you take out of your database every week.  If you don’t attract new blood, your database will die!

Data Protection  Data protection agreement must be in place.  Ensure data is securely transferred.  Upload facilities  Encrypted .  Time limited ftp.  Password protected Zip file by .  Use a strong password! Strong password examples:Weak password examples: BRG366D1r3c7password or passw0rd

QUESTIONS?

Recap  Data Capture – Keep it consistent  Data Cleaning – Clean at least once a year  Data Profiling – Know your supporters  Data Appending – Fill in the blanks  Wealth Screening – Find major donors and legacy prospects  Data Segmenting – Target your message  Cold Data – Add fresh prospects  Data Protection – PASSWORD!!!

THANK YOU!!