The downturn is no excuse to be slipshod, says Luci Penn.

Welcome back to the direct marketing fray for 2010. I hope all DMI readers enjoyed a happy and relaxing holiday season.

So here we are – into a new year. Many of us (myself included), probably made several new year resolutions recently. Professionally speaking, I hope better data management figures as a priority ‘must do’ area for marketers across all territories in 2010 – particularly as, in the UK alone, of the 3.5 billion items of direct mail posted last year, an estimated 70 million were sent to the wrong address or, worse still, to the deceased. 

This ‘letterbox lament’ continues to not only annoy consumers and harm the environment but needlessly costs UK companies in excess of £35million. This is obviously bad news all around – for budgets, brand image and all things eco.

Suppression remains crucial to combating this wanton wastefulness. The technology has traditionally enjoyed a strong link not only with client retention and prospecting, but, I would argue, with all aspects of database management. 

Its importance (both as a cost-effective application as well as a mindset among marketers), extends across the entire 

multi-channel marcoms spectrum. Or at least should – particularly as breaches of data  and consumer protection legislation in most countries carry substantial fines for those who neglect their data hygiene and security responsibilities.

Granted, by using commercially available suppression files (whether via direct licence or bureaux), businesses are incurring an up-front cost. But which scenario would you prefer: correctly applying suppression files to save money and increase ROI, or adopting a ‘damn the torpedoes’ approach whereby you needlessly waste money on DM pack production, fulfillment and postage by mailing clients who may have moved, registered with mail preference services or even died?

Accuracy, security and knowledge

The current market downturn remains no excuse for untargeted, slipshod marketing. ‘Back to basics’ was my mantra last year and remains so for 2010. Optimising data accuracy, security and knowledge is my big ‘top three’.

But if you’d like to continue seeing your marketing materials becoming landfill and incurring the brand damage associated with mailing gone-aways and the deceased, then by all means remain one of the unsuppressed. Not a good place to be, in other words!

So when asked: ‘What’s the business case for continuing to suppress?’, even in these, the toughest market conditions in living memory, my answer remains: ‘You’ll save money, enhance your brand image and not fall foul of regulators.’ 

The suppression benefits equation really is that simple, in   my view. Here’s to a data-safe and responsive 2010 for thee     and thine.

  Luci Penn is managing director, REaD UK (www.read-uk.com).