Technology + Marketing
At DataCentrix™, we apply an innovative methodology to improve your
contact strategies. Our data processing and direct marketing experience
unite to create tactical solutions that tie your customer acquisition,
retention, and upsell initiatives. We cleanse, update, fulfill, and
measure the performance
of your data. And we align processing with your overall goals to improve
the mailability and marketability of your lists.
We believe the best software yields the best results. DataCentrix™ brings the best in industry standard and direct marketing software technology to our clients at an affordable price. We've incorporated the First Logic suite of software products for data preparation, standardization, postal address hygiene, duplicate identification and elimination, segmentation, postal presorting, and imaging.
The best software cannot yield the best results on its own. It takes experienced personnel to tailor it to each specific requirement and obtain optimum results. We are a senior level team with years of experience operating in an environment that fosters innovation. We're always looking ahead to find new ways of delivering results.
Innovative DataCentrix™ Services Include:
Hosted Database
Your DataCentrix™ hosted database is continually coded with all contact and response data. This, in turn, provides an ongoing accurate and detailed history for each one of your customers. At any time, you can select a record and review all activity down to the smallest detail. Your joint ALC/DataCentrix™ account team will help you interpret this data to develop effective customer and data marketing strategies.
Instant Append
Using Experian and Dun & Bradstreet's national consumer and business databases, DataCentrix™ can append data on the fly. If there are sudden spikes in response from specific data sets, that information can be appended immediately to any campaign - turning real time marketing insights into real live customers. Instant Append can also profile all newly acquired customers to continually prioritize the importance of specific data sets for ongoing prospecting.
ALC PerfectMatch™ Modeling
At ALC and DataCentrix™, our skilled technicians crunch the data while our marketing experts help you act on it. Together we isolate the customers from sizeable response lists who look just like your best customers. And, unlike other firms, we won't hand you modeling reports for you to interpret on your own. At DataCentrix™ we work closely with you to gather the right input, conduct the model build, analyze the results, and create an ongoing, dynamic marketing program that works. You get the modeling data, plus the know-how to put it to use.
Your Full Service Data Center
Performing your merge-purge at ALC DataCentrix™ affords you the opportunity to utilize the array of services that will streamline and enhance the processing of your merge-purge, as well as ensure the highest level of data integrity. These services include:
CASS Certification (Address Correction & Standardization)
Change of Address Processing (NCOA)
DMA Mail and Telephone Pander Suppressions
Prison/National Do Not Call/Deceased Suppressions
Data Appends
Campaign Management
Consumer and Business Merge/Purge
Response Reporting
ALC uses state-of-the-art server based processing to perform all of its data standardization and manipulation. The following is a brief description of the processes used to perform your merge-purge:
Conversion - This process ensures all names and addresses are standardized (all name and address components are in the proper location). It utilizes table and range lookups to verify and standardize data as well as a statistical knowledge base to identify name and address information. Conversion is critical to all the processes that follow to guarantee the best matching possible and the output of a correctly formatted name and address.
CASS Certification (Address Standardization) - Standardizes street addresses and city names, corrects zip codes and assigns postal zip+4, and carrier routes. The effectiveness of this program translates into better deliverability and increased postage discounts.
NCOA - Offers a cost-effective way to track customers as they relocate. It identifies movers and appends forwarding addresses, reduces undeliverable mail, avoids delays due to forwarding, and minimizes address correction fees for standard mail. Changes to customer records can be sent back to the customer for quick file maintenance and updates of customer records on their system.
Duplicate Identification/Elimination - Our process uses sophisticated matching routines, which include weighted analysis of each element of the name and address, nickname tables, phonetic or look-alike comparisons, and character string analysis to find the best possible and most accurate duplicates. Matching rules can be tightened or loosened based on specific customer needs. Other data elements such as telephone or account numbers can be utilized in the process as well.
Back End Splitting - Our program creates an unlimited number of segments from any combination of data or statistically valid random nth selects across any number of lists.
Campaign Management and Consulting
We also provide campaign management and consultation on merge-purge processing. When we take on a new client, we begin by evaluating the work done by the previous service bureau. Then we make recommendations on what should remain the same and what would work better. Here are some of the recommendations we've made and procedures we've followed that improved the results of our clients' mailings and reduced mailing costs:
- Change matching logic for specific suppressions. Bad debt and house file suppressions should be matched at the household level, while prison file suppress should be done at the zip level.
- Suppress NCOA Old addresses. Use individual matching logic when suppressing old addresses from Individual moves, and household logic when suppressing old addresses from Family moves.
- Change list priority. House names being mailed should always have priority over rental files. Why give credit or pay for a name that you already own? Rental files should be random amongst one another. From an ability to read the true contribution of the lists and to predict future response, it's better to have all lists given an equal chance to have the first occurrence of the multibuyer assigned to it. Multibuyers should only be calculated between rental files and not include house file mail segments.
- Identify family groupings. Multiple segments from the same list should be treated as "intrafile" dupes and not multibuyers. This will help improve the performance of the real multibuyers.
- Use older house segments that match a prospect list. This identifies good prospects within otherwise unusable segments. An older house name that matches a current prospect verifies the person is still at that location, and recently exhibited a behavior defined as likely to be a good prospect (particularly when matching rental names that perform well).
- Verify dupe logic is correct for the campaign goals. Other than some suppressions, matching on an address level may be losing names that could otherwise be mailed. Conversely, if there is no evident overkill, there may be duplicates being missed. Our evaluations have discovered both scenarios.
- The "Best Address" being used in the selection of the duplicate record should be retained. A record with an apartment number should be kept over one without an apartment number. When phone numbers are included, records with the phone number should be kept when there is a match between one with and one without.
- Effectively use enhanced data to mail the best names possible. We quickly count and isolate various overlay data to select the most appropriate names for a mailing. Data suppliers provide the data, but we make sure it is used correctly.
List Fulfillment
We understand that list fulfillment can be an invaluable asset in a list revenue program. Therefore, we pay particular attention to every transaction from the time the list rental request arrives at ALC, until the time it is shipped to the renter. We focus on the specifications of the order, checking with your list management team to ensure that the select is accurate, the quantity is verified, the output media is right for the renter, and that the request can be completed as requested. Our detailed approach ensures on-time delivery of the order to the renter without exception.
