Use a professional list broker whose competencies match the market in which you specialise. They will have the impartiality, knowledge and experience to help you avoid the pitfalls and maximise response rates. Their advice is completely free of charge as they are paid an industry standard commission by the list owners when you place an order.

Data accuracy

1. Ask your broker to find out the oldest record, average data age, method and frequency of data maintenance.
2. What is the refund / goneaway policy?
3. Is the list registered under the List Warranty Register? Evidence of registration will indicate that the list has been fairly obtained under the data protection regulations and will make clear the period of updating. Please however be aware that registration is not a guarantee of response.
4. Can you receive some sample records to test the quality and accuracy of the data? Be sure to make the accuracy of the sample records a condition of your order. For b2b databases, why not try and match on named accounts with which you are familiar?
5. Get your broker to ask for contact details of previous users and be sure to check them out
6. Always look to evaluate your selection on the basis of recency in order to elevate the accuracy of your selection e.g. compare the quantity for 0-12 months versus 12-24 months for instance. For b2c lists, is there a cheaper rate for the older records?
7. The Direct Marketing Association’s (UK) guidelines for unacceptable levels of goneaways is 3%+ for responder lists and 6%+ for compiled files. This applies to both b2b and b2c lists.

Never assume

1. Try to avoid making assumptions as to the availability of your target audience. For a b2b example, the number of corporate companies in the UK is far lower than you would think. According to Dun & Bradstreet, the actual number of companies who employ in excess of 200 employees is just over 16,000 businesses i.e. less than 1% of the universe. Additionally, the vast majority of UK companies employee less than 50 employees, some 70% of British companies to be exact. As with the b2b example highlighted above, clients are often surprised to find how few contacts are available in the top Socio Economic Groups. The most current analysis reveals the following:
   
   A = 3%
   B = 20.6%
   C1 = 27.5%
   C2 = 20.8%
   D = 17.7%
   E = 10.4%
   
   Equally, the numbers of b2c lists, which enable you to select on the basis of known (as opposed to inferred) income of say £100,000+ p.a., are remarkably few and far between. Our advice is simple, get Harper Evans involved at an early stage. It might end up saving either you or your client substantial amounts of money through not over-ordering your print.
2. Don’t assume that the standard datacard holds all the information on a given database. If you should have any queries, call us as there will inevitably be information which we can not, for a variety of reasons include on every datacard.
3. Don’t assume that every list owner can reproduce data in a mail merge format. For instance, some list owners hold their data in upper case only. Others are unable to separate the name field in order to permit for the personalisation of your campaign.
4. Don’t assume that all list owners will release their database directly to you. Some may insist that it be mailed/broadcast via their own bureau or by an independent mailing house. This is particularly the case for publication based lists and email databases.

Be sure to do the ground work

1. Be sure to check the various usage options to see what best suits your requirements i.e. ‘one off’ mail or email use, mail and email follow-up, lease the information for unlimited use over say 6 or 12 months or even to purchase your selection outright.
2. Ask for a copy of the relevant terms and conditions before committing to an order

Financial implications

1. Be aware of the basic costs of data; one off rental ranges from £75/000 for entry level b2c data to £120-£225/000 for b2b data, mail and telephone follow-up ranges between £175-£450/000, 12 month leasing £300-£1650/000 and minimum order rates from £100-£1800 subject to the list used.
2. Don’t forget that if you are ordering in excess of 20,000 records from any one list owner, be sure to ask your list broker to negotiate a ‘net name’ agreement where you can receive up to 15% discount off the rental value of your order.

The campaign itself

1. Test different list selections, databases, creative treatments and offers through A/B splits and keycodes. This is the only way in which you can learn what works and what doesn't. Remember the key words of successful direct marketing - TEST, MEASURE, LEARN AND REFINE .
2. Do ask your supplier to mark or 'flag' selected records so as exclude them should you decide to use the balance at a later date
3. Remember to build in extra time into your campaign deadline to get both the selections and list orders right. This will be helped through requesting an analysis of your selection based on your key criteria. For example if you are organising a seminar be sure to obtain a geographical analysis so that you can select those areas nearest the venue. Counts / analyses usually take between 1–3 days whilst orders are generally delivered via E-mail within 1–5 days (up to 2 weeks for data from outside the UK)
4. If using two or more databases, be sure to deduplicate. There is nothing worse than when you receive two or more identical offers from the same company. Additionally, if you have an in-house suppression list, some list owners will be prepared to deduplicate this against their own database in order to provide net new records (usually for a minimal processing charge)
5. Specify what format you require, for instance C.S.V. or D.B.F. and confirm how do you want the delivery of your order to be marked.
6. Where possible, do follow up your campaign within two days of it arriving as this will immeasurably improve response. If budget or resources are an issue why not consider following up a subset i.e. the largest x thousand for instance. In addition to the potential extra revenue that this activity can generate, don’t forget the invaluable insight that you might gain from the non-respondents and how this could benefit your next campaign.
7. Don't forget to include your sample mailing piece or telemarketing script as the list owner will need to have it approved before they will be in a position to release their data

Legalities

1. Be aware that unless you have purchased your database outright, the copyright of the data will remain with the list owner until such time that the prospects have positively responded to your campaign(s). At which point, ownership will have been deemed to have transferred from the list owner to your company (subject to the list owners terms and conditions).
2. Please be sure to adhere to the legislative requirements of the MPS (Mailing Preference Service), FPS (Fax Preference Service), TPS (Telephone Preference Service), E-MPS (the globally administered Email Preference Service) and the Baby MPS. (The Baby MPS is a service which allows parents who have suffered a miscarriage or bereavement of a baby in the first weeks of life to register their wish not to receive baby related mailings.)
3. Finally, don’t forget to conform to the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion (BCASP) and the Data Protection Act at all times.
   
   Complete the enclosed E-mail form confirming your campaign requirements and we will be only too happy to provide you with a FREE and tailored quotation.
   
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