Data Cleansing Cycle
Follow these simple guidelines, to ensure a fully compliant and effective data cleansing cycle is put in place for your business and consumer marketing lists, based on best practice guidelines issued by the Direct Marketing Association…
- Your list of business or consumer postal addresses should be checked against the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) no more than 90 days before the list is used. If you use your list on an ongoing basis, then you need to check against the MPS every quarter to ensure you meet these obligations
- Your lists of business or consumer telephone numbers must be checked against the relevant Telephone Preference Service (TPS) for consumers or Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) for businesses, before you or your telemarketing agency lift the receiver to make a call. Both the TPS and CTPS registers are being constantly updated every day, so your list should be screened no more than 28 days before it is called. If you have a telesales team calling all the time, then you need to check your list against the TPS or CTPS at least 4 weekly
- Although it is a specialist sector, if you are planning a consumer mailing to promote any product or service related to babies, then it has to have been cleaned against the Baby Mailing Preference Service (BMPS) file before use. The BMPS file gives bereaved parents the option to have baby/infant related mailings suppressed for 12 months
- Whilst we are discussing timings, you should also respond promptly to a request from a customer to access their details – subject access request. Under data protection legislation, all information held has to be provided within a maximum of 40 days from being asked in writing. If it is appropriate, you can charge a maximum fee of £10 to provide data, but many organisations waive the fee as part of their commitment to customer service
If you’re registered under the Data Protection Act (and if you hold any personal data, you should be), then making sure your data is accurate is actually a legal obligation, as well as an ethical commitment to best practice in direct marketing. Keeping your data up to date makes good business sense as well – an accurate mailing list helps your direct marketing become more cost effective, avoids waste and saves money.
If you need any help putting your cycle together or screening data against the MPS, TPS, CTPS, or BMPS, just call the Selectabase team on 01304 383838 for advice and low cost screening options.
