E-mail database best practice is vital, says Hitt

Ian Hitt, managing director at Epsilon International, has considered the importance and value of the customer data held within a company and explained why it must be treated with respect.

Many chief executive officers think client data arrives on its own, costs nothing to source and has little or no value.

Most marketers will know they are wrong.

Good data is an important corporate asset and can have a high monetary value.

In fact, a marketing database is one of the first things a liquidator could sell if the unthinkable happened.

Consider one of our clients - an airline - that recently conducted a thorough audit of its client database.

The airline e-mails one million customers a week, an activity that correlates to around 200,000 transactions per year - a 2.2 per cent conversion rate.

The company calculated that this alone contributed an extra USD6m (GBP4m) to its bottom line every year.

However, many companies still neglect their databases and lump its maintenance among other low-priority intern jobs.

Therefore, it is time to treat data with the respect that it deserves and this means ensuring it is well maintained.

There are a few key points to follow in order to optimise the value of your database.

Volume data is important but data quality is paramount.

Every record has a value and the whole list needs to be viewed as part of the corporate asset.

Customer relevance is key and marketers need to understand consumers in order to appropriately segment them and track their behaviour over time, so that they receive market information that is relevant to them.

E-mails and resulting data should be collected as a matter of course.

There are numerous opportunities to collect e-mails from customers and it is surprising how many companies do not prioritise this activity.

E-mails should always be as personal as possible.

It does not take much effort to have one-to-one communications with thousands, or even millions of customers.

It sounds obvious but ensuring your e-mail collection policy is compliant with data law is even more important when you remember that the ICO has the power to fine you up to GBP500,000.

Companies need to understand the specific channels and offers for each customer segments.

It will not only enhance conversion rates but will also keep costs to a minimum.

Data must be protected and treated with the same respect as an accounts book.

You cannot afford for it to be lost like various disks of private information have from top organisations in the past.

There is no smoke or mirrors involved.

E-mail database best practice involves cleansing data, using it intelligently, enriching it continuously and following a clear and measurable strategic plan.

Done regularly, it can be as easy as updating the telephone numbers in your mobile phone.

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