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Brilliant, thanks Steve

Team Leader, Insurance Company

DATA SERVICES

Data Protection

Sharp Cat has current data protection registration and follows the data protection code both in the law and spirit of the act. All of the data that we handle is stored as it should be on secure servers in an air conditioned, key-pad registration environment with daily back up.

Sending Data Via Email - Security

Unless you encrypt and password protect your data it can be read by tools available for free over the Internet. This is a fact. We have run tests and found that this type of software can read bytes of information. At a higher level, with recording packet tools it is possible to record Internet traffic onto hard disk and play this back thus extracting key information such as your valuable data.

The nature of how emails are sent across the Internet (packets) makes them vulnerable to unwanted eyes seeing not just the email, but also what has been attached. All of this data can be converted from packets of information to the original files.

We strongly recommend protecting your data when sending it to us and we are more than happy to discuss this with you in detail. At the very least if you use Excel you should password protect your data with a password of not less than 15 characters long made up of alphanumeric characters. Keep in mind that if your data is extremely valuable then there are tools available which are designed to discover passwords from any file and so you should consider the other more secure options available to you

File Formats

We can upload almost any type of data file format that you want to give to us. CSV or Excel are commonly used and recommended, but if you have something different or need help extracting data from your in-house system then one of our IT team will be pleased to help.

Data Consolidation

Some organisations have many data files such as Excel spreadsheets scattered throughout their corporate network. These may be held locally on a users PC or across several servers. Having such a wide spread of files can make it almost impossible to manage effective marketing strategies.

We are able to consolidate all of this data into a single master file, regardless of the number and type of files and differing data structures. From here the data can be evaluated and transformed into a clean workable database.

Whether you are upgrading to a new CRM system and need help collating all of your data or you simply want to better manage your organisations data Sharp Cat has the tools to make this transition effective.

Datacapture

A secure service for the accurate input of prospect and customer information onto your database. This service can be supplied in it’s entirety or if you have the resources to datacapture in-house then we can supply you with a webform base designed to increase user input accuracy.

Gender Evaluation

If your data contains a first name then our system processes will attempt to check all first name records against a master database which contains thousands of first names and allocates either female, male or joint use. For example Peter would be flagged as male, Caroline as female and Chris as joint use. This is a useful tool if gender is of relevance to your market place.

Obscenity Suppression

Our database continues to grow and will check your data for obvious obscenities. This particularly comes into use if you have a website where data is being fed directly into your master database. Records which are found to fail are reported and identified and a report supplied.

Geographical Filtering and Drive Time

You may want to target a particular geographical area within your data. In particular conference or event customers find this of benefit so that they can narrow their mailing target to within a certain mileage radius from the venue.

PAF (Postcode Address File)

The Postcode Address File is a database maintained by Royal Mail as part of its statutory obligations under the Postal Services Act and provides a mailing standard for the correct presentation of all 27 million delivery points in the UK.

Running your data against PAF will decrease the number of potential mailing returns and increase the number of packs arriving without delay and at their correct destination.

The PAF process identifies

  • The number of records on your data file which are fully and accurately addressed
  • The number of records which are not correct, but which can be updated to PAF standard
  • The number of records which cannot be PAF verified as there is insufficient matching detail

    • Running your data through PAF will not only improve the accuracy of addresses showing on mail packs but will also improve postage discounts if your mailing qualifies for any of the workshare discounts schemes, as more of your data records will be fully and accurately postcoded.

    PAF will also help to increase your duplicate detection (see duplicates for more) and for this reason PAF is provided free of charge by Sharp Cat to anyone utilising any of the suppression or duplicate service ranges.

    Duplicates

    We can check to see if there are any duplicates within your data using advanced algorithms. Sending the same mailing packs twice or more within your mailing will not only increase your print and postage costs but may reduce the impact of your mailing.

    There are two main options for removal – to individual level or to household / company level. Further levels can be catered for and almost any combination is possible, so if you have special requirements then just let your Account Manager know.

    In-line Duplicates

    Within even the best data sets you can get duplicates within a row of data. Whilst not affecting delivery of your mail in-line duplicates can look unprofessional.

    A typical example of this would be:

    Sharon Smith

    Head of IT

    Corporate Company

    Highbury Road

    London

    London

    EC1 5ER

    In-line removal is costed based upon the number of records corrected and provided as a complimentary service where low levels are detected.

    Suppression Services

    a) File Suppression

    When marketing to a set of data you may want to remove certain data records, such as your existing customer database. File suppression will use your not-to-mail records as a look up and remove them from the mailing database.

    b) Category Suppression

    Alternatively you may want to target a specific type of contact within your database and exclude another type. An example of this would be that you want to mail all the data records that have a job title relating to purchasing or to exclude C-level contacts (high level directors such as CEO CIO), from your campaign.

    In this instance we would supply you with counts of your database by number of records by job title and work with you to compile a target list of records to be kept / removed.

    c) Excluded Suppression

    Clients find this particularly useful when sending regular mail. We hold a list of contacts that are to be specifically excluded from your mailings. This may include your current customers, competitors, suppliers or known individuals that you do not want to mail. By holding these records on an excluded suppression file which can be securely updated over the web, you can be sure that your next mailing will not be sent to your chosen exclusions.

    Conversely seeds and sleepers can be held as a regular inclusion file to make sure that you and your clients and / or colleagues always get included within set mailings.

    d)National File Suppression

    National file suppression will minimise wasted mailing packs and maximise the reception of your mailings packs by not mailing redundant contacts. There are many reasons why certain individuals will definitely not want to or be able to respond to your mailing and these include relocation, death and MPS opt out.

    Every year over 6 million UK people change address

    Every year there are over 600,000 UK deaths

    Suppression against deceased and MPS files (if applicable) is essential to prevent distress and complaints and protect your company’s reputation and brand.

    Suppression against house movers prevents wasted mail to untargeted contacts and the NCOA (national change of address file) can provide you with new addresses for some of your house moving contacts.

    Business data can also benefit from deceased suppression, MPS where applicable and suppression against companies that have ceased to trade.

    Every year many companies in the UK cease to trade, reportedly at least 3 in 10 businesses close within the first three years of trading.

    There is little benefit in expenditure on mailing to these.

    Casing

    Poor casing will not prevent an item from being delivered but it will give a poor impression, so improving casing is strongly recommended.

    Multi-level tools check all of the fields in the data supplied and case them to the correct format.

    There is no casing tool that will 100% accurately convert your data and so we have additions that are added to the casing database and we also run through your data visually after processing to detect casing corrections which are particular to your own data set. An example of this would be Ifa (independent Financial advisor) which most industry case conversion software will retain as, or change to Ifa and which if properly cased is IFA.

    Salutation

    Every campaign requires and deserves the right type of salutation. Some campaigns could be to your members, so using the first name may give them a sense of membership, where using a formal salutation may be appropriate at other times.

    Even if your data does not contain prefix data such as Mr or Ms we can generate this using our gender evaluation process which allows us to create the prefix based upon whether data records are male or female and to default any unidentifiable gender to a generic default.

    Valediction

    The correct complimentary close to your letter. Typically Yours Sincerely is often overlooked. We can provide you with the correct close to match your salutation. For example Dear Colleague should not be Yours sincerely, a correct alternative is Yours faithfully.

    International Data

    UK data can be complicated in its own right but international data adds another factor. Overseas recipients will receive your mail more positively if it is addressed to the correct standard for the country destination. In turn this may provide you with increased responses, reduced returned mail and will certainly maximise postage discounts.

    Data Purchase

    If your database needs supplementing or you need some completely new data we can help with the sourcing of mailing lists from reputable brokers.

    You may alternatively need to develop the data that you have in which case profiling and MOSAIC will be potentially useful tools.

    DMA Members Hampshire