Data Tips: 6 Questions to Ask When Buying a Data List

The data list you purchase can account for a great deal of the success or failure of your marketing campaign. If you buy data from a reputable broker then your message is likely to be heard by your intended recipients. If not, then it is likely to fall on deaf ears.rnThese are six simple questions that you should ask your data broker in order to ensure you are getting an accurate data list you can rely on.rn1. How often is your list suppressed and updated? Business lists can decay by up to 40% per year so it is essential that gone-aways are suppressed and new records are added regularly. Your supplier should ideally be updating their list monthly. 2. Are you registered with the DMA? DMA members have to comply with all current data protection regulations. These include suppressing any MPS registered postal addresses, TPS registered telephone numbers and opt out e-mail addresses. It is essential that these records are suppressed from your list because these individuals have opted out of receiving marketing communications. If your list provider does not suppress these records then you could be liable for fine up to the value of £4000. 3. How do you gather the data for your lists? Your supplier should be able to tell you how their data was compiled. They should be able to state whether it is response based or compiled list, as well as stating how it is cleansed and updated. 4. Do you have deliverability guarantees? A good test of a mailing list is whether the supplier is happy to give a deliverability guarantee. If your provider will give you a deliverability guarantee of over 95% then it demonstrates that are willing to put faith in their own data. 5. How many ready to mail/ phone/ email contacts do you have within my specifications? It is all well and good to have thousands of records in your specific target market. If their contact details are all suppressed then you will need to look elsewhere. You need to ensure good volumes of ready to contact records in your list. 6. Is the senior decision maker supplied?rnYou will want your message to reach the attention of any decision makers in your specific field. Your data supplier should be able to flag up any senior decision makers in your list.