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Data handling is increasingly important now transpromo is taking off, but mistakes in the area can result in bad publicity making a campaign fail before it begins, discovers Philip Chadwick.

You’ve probably heard the horror stories: Rex the golden retriever is offered vast amounts of credit by a credit card company, or how about those marketing messages offering life insurance that land on the doorstep of a widow whose husband passed away years ago. Mistakes such as these don’t endear direct mail to the general public. Even basic sins such as misspelled names or incorrect addresses are not just a waste of paper; they’re a sign that a company knows little and cares less about its customers. 

In this day and age, with a vast array of software and hardware products available, there really is no excuse for poor data. And with personalised mailings all the rage at the moment, data handling is something that printers would do well to brush up on. It’s also an area that has seen rapid changes even over the past 12 months with new software and hardware solutions being brought to market in order to capitalise on the trend.

Some of these products were on show at Drupa and inevitably attracted a lot of attention with printers looking to break into new areas to generate additional revenue streams because of the trying market conditions.

However, the benefits you can derive from data-handling software systems are dependent on the quality of data that you (or your client) feed into them in the first place. So corporates wishing to run a personalised direct mail campaign need to make sure from the outset that their lists are up-to-date. Clean data is vital: not only does it ensure that addresses that addresses are correct but it can also help an organisation take advantage of postal discount schemes such as Mailsort.

Chris Stobbs, technical manager at Exstream, which was bought by HP at the start of the year and offers a range of products include Dialogue, Dialogue Live and AFP Studio, advises that at the bare minimum all data be checked against a deceased list. Get this wrong and your campaign will fall down before it starts and it is also likely to attract bad publicity in the tabloid press. There are plenty of companies out there that can provide lists and data checking services.

Protecting data
Another consideration is security. Printers tackling targeted marketing work are frequently exposed to highly sensitive data and, with so many horror stories of government data going missing, it’s wise to take precautions. Ensuring that all data is encrypted is a good starting point.

With regards to data protection, it’s more than just about having the very latest software; it’s also about common sense. Having password-protected access to any sensitive data is logical but there are other areas to consider. For example, it’s unwise to travel around with sensitive data on your laptop. As we’ve all read in the papers, if you take your eyes off it for one minute you may find it gone. The best solution is not to take sensitive information off of the premises in the first place, but if you have to, then use encrypted disks.

Of course, the security issue hasn’t escaped the notice of software developers, many of whom have integrated special features into their packages. For example, GMC’s PrintNet product, which is designed to create personalised marketing messages, now contains encryption features as standard, something that it initially didn’t have. There are plenty of other tools out there like PrintNet that simplify data handling, but GMC managing director Bill Parker says that the complexity of those tools depend on the size of the organisation so it’s a case of matching horses for courses.

"You could just simply store your data on Microsoft Excel files," explains Parker.
"Data can be managed fine using that method, but if you have a record of 250,000 names and addresses that need to be handled then using a consumer program such as Excel will cause problems."

And with time an increasingly important factor, making sure that mailings and marketing campaigns get to market quickly is extremely important. Modern data handling tools are being designed with this in mind.

"In the past you had separate companies working on a campaign: one specialising in data and the other specialising in print and colour management," observes Parker. "Now these areas are becoming closer and there is a convergence. With printers switching to digital print they have become more involved in the electronic data world. They need to find ways of capitalising on the digital print equipment that they have invested in."

More sophisticated
This was one of the reasons behind digital press manufacturer HP’s purchase of Extream earlier this year. Stobbs agrees with Parker’s assessment that there has been a convergence between print and data, which has been driving the efforts of software providers to create smarter, yet simpler, products. For example, increasingly, data is being streamlined into complex and automated workflows.

"You can have over 100 fields of data to drive this," explains Stobbs. "You can take a standard name and address file and link it to the campaign you’re working on at that time."

This is particularly beneficial to the transpromo market, which looks set to become even more important in the future. Incorporating marketing messages with bills and statements and filling previously redundant space, could prove to be a cash cow for printers that can get their heads around its potential.

"It’s a little bit more sophisticated than direct mail," says GMC’s Parker. "The segmentation will be different. For example, in a database of 250,000 you may have around 20 cells where the information will be different. With transpromo you want to make sure the marketing is relevant to just one person."

Just the beginning
This means that data will need more refining and until the composition process has been completed you can’t do the data processing. The Exstream solution allows users to create multiple templates for a transpromo document.

For example, two templates could be created for a campaign: the first containing the bill or statement itself – the transactional data; and the second is where the marketing messages are dropped into.

"One is the information that the customer needs," says Stobbs. "By separating the two it means that marketers are free from the shackles of the transactional document. But the IT department still has control."

Parker adds that the real skill here is understanding the impact of what you are doing with your data and with transpromo, the possibilities are endless.

"Transpromo is only just beginning," says Stobbs. "The days of opening a statement and binning all the inserts may be behind us soon."

If that shift is to happen then it will be largely down to those who are looking after the data – ‘data designers’ as Parker calls them. "Those who understand the data will have an impact on how the document will be put together," he explains. "What they are looking at is finding value for their client."

So while you really do need to make sure that names and addresses are correct, getting a handle on your data is much more than that and could lead to a more creative mailing piece and a greater return on investment for your client.

Putting ink on paper is the easy part, getting the most out of the data is where the art (and money) really is.

TOP TIPS: DATA HANDLING

• Before you even consider your campaign, make sure that the data is accurate. Misspelled names and addresses will harm any direct mail or personalised marketing drive. There are data cleansing companies available that can do this while suppression also needs to be considered.
  
• Remember that by having an accurate and up-to-data mailing list will save you money. It means that you can take full advantage of bulk mailing schemes such as Mailsort.

• Security is paramount. Everything should be encrypted as should sensitive data fall in the wrong hands, no-one will be able to access it. Also ensure that all personal information stays on your premises.

• Establish your business proposition from the start. Be clear on what kind of responses you’re after as this will help in deciding what data will be used.

• Consider bringing in data experts early in the production process. They could come up with practical ways of using the data or help it to be used more creatively.