Companies looking to grow their business may want to find new customers using
direct mail and email marketing, but may be unsure about
obtaining the lists they need to reach them. In
Part
1, we looked at some of the primary questions you needed to ask yourself
about the objectives of your campaign.
In this installment, we will look at what data is required and some
of the alternative sources for your database list.
To properly utilize the database for your needs, and
to provide complete information for an effective campaign, the contact
database must have a complete set of information for the company and the
contact. Simultaneously, the requirement for complete information provides
a strong indication of the quality of the underlying data.
Another good measure of quality for contact databases with email addresses
is the number of bounces. Opt-in lists should have bounce rates approaching
zero, as these people have already opted in to receiving emails. Since the
list provider sends emails to this list frequently, the list should be scrubbed
at least monthly. If the bounce rate for this list exceeds 5%, this list may
have a real quality problem. If the list provider does not provide a bounce
list to you, then you have a transparency problem as well as a quality problem.
Other types of lists may have higher bounce rates. The frequency of job changes
is increasing significantly. Currently, the average lifetime for senior executives
(Director level and higher) is falling to three years, which means that
3% of executives change jobs every month! Given this frequency, no list
provider can guarantee a low bounce rate, but respectable list providers
should offer you a 100% credit for any bounces, provided you send the provider
a list of the bounced emails so they can update the list. Any provider
not offering you a credit for bounces is suspect.
Company Information
The database must have complete data to select and contact target companies.
Company data fields include:
Company Name
Complete Mailing Address
Main Telephone
Industry / Sub-industry
Revenue Range
Employee Range
Company URL
All fields should be searchable and selectable.
Contact Information
The database must include complete data to select and connect with each contact vie email, telephone, and direct mail. Contact data fields include:
Company Name
Contact Name (First and last names are separate fields)
Title
Functional Level (CXO, VP, Director, Manager, etc.)
Department (Sales, Operations, Finance, etc.)
Direct Telephone
Email
Local Mailing Address
Direct telephone and local mailing address are particularly important, as
many employees do not work at corporate headquarters. Telephone calls
and mailings to the company headquarters almost never make it to the employee
at a remote location. Of course all contact fields must be searchable and
selectable.
Database Sources
Many companies and organizations provide contact databases, each using a different
sourcing or collection method. For convenience we will group database sources into three
general groups:
Opt-in - Users / members provide contact information
(opt-in) in return for membership benefits. At a minimum these databases
contain an email address. Some may contain job title, mailing address and company
demographics. A few also contain a telephone number.
Public Source - Database provider collects contact
information from public sources (SEC documents, membership lists, employee
directories.)
Internet Spiders - software robots harvest emails from web pages.
Each one has its own strengths, weaknesses, biases, and price points. You
should understand each one to determine which ones fit your needs. Opt-in
lists have some strong attributes. They are verified by the individual
periodically. However, databases built from other public sources have some
powerful benefits also. Databases can be built from public data such as
reports to the SEC (required for public companies) or other government
agency. They can be collected from employee directories, personnel rosters,
or membership rolls for professional organizations. Each source has specific
strengths, weaknesses, and biases, so you must understand how the database
is built in order to determine how its particular biases will affect your
use of it. At a very minimum, the database you select must provide the information
listed above. Lack of any of these criteria indicates a serious weakness in
the construction process for that database.
Opt-In Databases
Organizations create opt-in databases from membership lists, subscription lists,
or customer service lists. Professional organizations, such as the American Association of
Retired People (AARP), Society of Actuaries and Accountants (SAA), and the American Library Association
(ALA) have membership lists that fit specific criteria. They sometimes make these lists
available for rental. If your target market fits one of these organizations, then consider approaching that
organization to rent or buy their list.
Trade publishers also create opt-in lists of subscribers for their magazines. With thousands of
trade publications in print, one or two probably fit your target market. General
interest publishers (Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, etc.) also rent their subscription lists.
A growing segment of publishers fall into the category of online email publishers.
You probably already receive emails from one or more of these providers,
ranging from banks to insurance to real estate service providers. While
many of these online publishers are reputable, a few cross the line into spam.
So investigate your supplier closely.
Service providers represent another category for opt-in databases. Most of these are legitimate,
such as banks, software service providers, ISP's, delivery services, etc. However, some service
providers offer free service in exchange for the right to contact their customers.
Here again, qualify your list provider closely.
Most opt-in databases are self-reported and not verified by the database
manager. Therefore, the subscriber / member may intentionally provide inaccurate
information in some areas. For instance, a contact may create a "non-business" email
to receive newsletter-style communications. These emails may be at yahoo.com,
gmail.com, msn.com or other free email providers. Even when the contact
provides a business email, the contact may intentionally create a separate
email prefix with the purpose of isolating these emails.
The same applies to telephone numbers and mailing addresses. Contacts often intentionally
provide incorrect data to prevent contact through these channels. Titles can also be misreported.
Contacts may choose to inflate their titles to achieve membership in a list, or reduce their titles to avoid
being targeted for certain communications. As with emails, contacts may create a title specifically to
identify and isolate mail communications sent to that title.
In summary, while opt-in lists are good, they clearly have their own weaknesses
and biases in the data. These weaknesses may significantly affect the performance of your outbound
communications, especially since you have no way to measure or adjust for the inherently biased
data.
Public Source Databases
Databases can be collected from public sources, such as SEC reports, other government reports,
employee directories, personnel rosters, or professional membership rolls. Companies such as Hoovers,
Dun & Bradstreet, and InfoUSA are large competitors in this segment of data providers. While these
databases are not "opt-in," they have some powerful advantages for the user. First, they do not suffer
from the weakness of "self-reported bias" as discussed above for opt-in databases. Second, they can be
more current. Public companies report to the SEC at least quarterly. Most organizations
update their employee directories monthly or even weekly, much more frequently than opt-in
databases. Third, they typically have direct contact information for telephone and mailing address,
rather than the corporate headquarters.
Since the contact information in these databases is not "opt-in," you can expect some resistance
in your initial connection with contacts found in these databases. The initial contact is a cold call.
Outbound email campaigns to these contacts may see a bounce rate of 20% or even 30% for the first
send. When using contact data from these sources, be prepared for initial rejection.
Contact Lists Harvested by Internet Spiders
Caveat emptor applies here. These databases typically have only an email address, harvested
automatically by an internet spider. In plain language, don't use these
databases, even if they appear to be free. They simply don't work and the penalty may be getting your organization
on a spam watch list. Just say no!
The best protection against this type of email list is to request all the additional
data fields listed above. Spiders simply cannot collect information such as annual revenue or complete direct
communication information for every contact. Often, spiders cannot even collect first and last name. If
the database offered to you is incomplete or the provider won't provide samples of complete data
records, run away!
Now that you have a better understanding of where your list may come from,
in our final installment, we will discuss renting vs. buying your database
list and how to control and measure your success. In the meantime, if you
would like to discuss how you can leverage your accounting and CRM applications
in your own marketing activities, feel free to contact
Laura Kasman at lkasman@kastechco.com or 215-702-8155. We'd be happy to assist
you.
