Let’s be honest. Nobody likes spending money on their mailing database. But these days, it’s essential to improve profitability any way you can. One of these ways is by eliminating any duplicates your mailing list may contain, especially since these duplicates may be costing you more than you might think.
Think you don’t have enough duplicates to worry about it? You might be surprised. Creating duplicates is easy. A customer must contact or order from you more than once. Now, enter the human element. A CSR (or even customers themselves if they are ordering online) might enter things a little differently from the first time during order entry. They might miss a period, use an alternate spelling, or abbreviate a street name rather than spelling it out. Now you have a new record. What are the consequences?
1. Higher print and mailing costs. Duplicates cost you real, hard cash. Each mailer comes with hard and soft costs, including design, production, postage, and handling inside your company. Culling duplicates eliminates these extra costs.
2. You alienate your customers. How do you think Margaret Smith-Kline feels about receiving three copies of the same piece? One to her, one to Maggie Smith-Kline, and one to Margaret Kline? Not only do these identical pieces fill up her mailbox, but they make it clear that you don’t know much about her. “Margaret” just exists as duplicate lines in a spreadsheet.
3. It hurts the environment. Direct mail is an environmentally friendly way of engaging with your customers, and the majority of the paper and board used to create direct mail pieces is recycled. However, there is an impact on the environment with any communication, print or digital, and things beyond consumables impact your environmental footprint. Among them are the energy used to produce these documents and the fuel used to deliver them. Why use resources to create mail that will never be delivered?
The solution to mailing list duplicates is inexpensive and straightforward, and the payoff can be significant. Do a quick clean-up of your database (cleansing, match, and consolidation), and you might be surprised by just how much money you can save. If de-duping isn’t in your wheelhouse, we’re happy to help.
