Cleaning & Enhancement for UK Consumer data

Data quality and cleanliness is a must for any business that runs marketing campaigns. As a business, having the ability to process and cleanse your records against a wide range of consumer suppression files such as MPS, TPS, NCOA and against the PAF, allows you to get the maximum results from your direct marketing campaigns making them more cost effective.

Our cleansing and enhancement service will enable you to avoid mailing the deceased, home mover, individuals/households who have registered not to be contacted by mail or phone and even flag up records by credit risk.

Suppression file screening – against a variety of suppression files including National Change of Address, Gone Away suppression files, Bereavement and Mortality databases as well as MPS.

Lifestyle indicators – classification systems appended to your database will help you target your customers and prospects according to their profiled income, age, wealth, house ownership, family status, life stage status or even their interests and buying habits.

Full details of the Suppression Files:

Suppression Files

Royal Mail Post Office Address File (PAF)

Correct addresses are paramount to a successful direct mailing campaign, also it helps with corporate image, and more cost effective.

The postcode address file (PAF) is a centrally-stored database of every address in the UK to which mail is delivered, together with its appropriate Postcode. This database is maintained and produced by the Royal Mail, which is continuously updated.

National Change of Address File (NCOA)

This file contains over 10 million records of new and old addresses, grows at a rate on average 100,000 records per month. The Royal Mail uses the redirection forms for mail by households to compile this file.

The Bereavement Register (TBR)

The Bereavement Register (TBR) was launched in February 2000 by The REaD Group as a service to the consumer to ensure the prompt removal of the deceased person's details from the databases of direct mail companies. The aim of TBR is to put an end to the direct mail that the recently deceased would have otherwise received.

The risk of not screening your consumer files against TBR are, immeasurable damage to your brand, complaints from the data protection registrar, this is their biggest volume of complaints received.

Mortascreen

Independent estimates suggest that, on average, around 170,000 mailings are delivered every day – all addressed to people who are now deceased. The unique Mortascreen data file currently contains the name and address details of over 8 million deceased individuals. Over 50,000 records are collected each month, accounting for around 95% of all recorded deaths in the UK. This makes Mortascreen the largest file of its kind, with the most comprehensive collection of recent deaths.

Who needs Mortascreen?

Any organisation sending out consumer direct mail should use Mortascreen for cleaning cold lists and ongoing database management. This type of deceased suppression file is now recognised as industry best practice, and for good reason. Using Mortascreen is a valuable tool for any organisation mailing to consumers. It helps prevent unnecessary distress to the families of the deceased, just as it saves organisations considerable sums in postage and mailing costs. In addition, prevention of the costly embarrassment of negative PR exposure from insensitive mailings is priceless.

Mortascreen is the choice of data managers in both large and small organisations, with over 300 of them presently using this unique suppression device, you can be sure you're in good company!

Universal Suppression Service

The Royal Mail estimates up to 10% of all mailings fail to reach their target, in order to help reduce this the Royal Mail's Universal Suppression Service (USS) has enlisted the support of some of the UK’s largest mailers.

The principle behind the file is the more times ‘goneaway’ information is recorded, the greater likelihood the person has moved. Once ‘goneaways’ are added they are cross-referenced against the entire file to create a confidence ranking either by sector or time period. Enabling customers to select suppression either by sector or time period.

Gone Away Suppression

The Gone Away Suppression File was established in 1992 to address the problem of targeting people who have moved house. Put simply, it represents the most accurate, up to data and most widely used solution for identifying genuine Gone Aways and is now responsible for cleaning over half of all direct mail in the UK.

With an independently audited accuracy rating of 98.2%, it represents the pinnacle of suppression accuracy.

3,200,000 people move house every year – up to 7,000 every day.

National Suppression File

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) wanted to design a product that would improve the image of direct marketing in the eyes of the consumer. The creation of the National Suppression File (NSF) allowed advertisers to radically improve the accuracy of their databases thereby raising standards in the industry and adding value to direct marketing campaigns.

The DMA brought together a consortium of key players from within the Direct Marketing industry whose knowledge and expertise created the NSF; the most comprehensive suppression file to date.

The UK population changes by up to 6.5% every year.

Why the need for suppression?

Mailing inaccurate data costs millions of pounds
Poor quality data reduces return on investment
Incorrect mailing reduces the effectiveness of DM campaigns
Advertiser reputation can be destroyed if data is not kept up to date
What data is in the NSF?

Notifications
Confirmed Gone Aways compiled from:

Gone Away Suppression File (GAS) - The REaD Group UK Ltd
National Change of Address File (NCOA) move out data - Royal Mail UK
Postal Returns
Assumed Gone Aways compiled from:

Quantified postal returns within the NSF 

BT OSIS

Available under license, BT OSIS (Operator Services Information System) the most accurate and cost effective source for the appending of telephone numbers against names and addresses. The telephone is a cost effective and immediate method of communicating with your clients and prospects. Correct and up to date phone numbers are vital to almost every business.

TPS screening

Matching available for Spain, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Republic Of Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Norway and USA.
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS)

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) enables individuals to register their objection to receiving direct marketing calls.

On the 1st March 1999, The Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999 came into force. The new regulation makes it unlawful to place a direct marketing call to an individual who has objected, either directly to a company or with the TPS.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) administers the TPS. With this service, companies undertaking telemarketing are able to receive the list of numbers that have registered by subscribing to the TPS. Companies must comply with an individual’s request for suppression made to the central register no later than 28 days after the request was registered.

The regulations cover calls made to customer lists as well as non-customer lists. Therefore as well as screening lists against the TPS file they must also be screened against in-house ‘do not call’ lists.

Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS)

The Corporate Telephone Preference Service has been set up following the publication by DTI of the new Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive Amendment) Regulations 2004. The new regulations came into force on 25th June 2004 and amend the existing Privacy and Electronic Communications. The new regulations mean that it is unlawful for someone in business (including charities or other voluntary organisations) to make unsolicited sales and marketing calls to a telephone number allocated to a corporate subscriber if that corporate subscriber has either told that business or organisation that they do not want to receive such calls or has registered the number with the Corporate TPS and that they do not wish to receive such calls from any business or organisation.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) administers the CTPS. With this service, companies undertaking telemarketing are able to receive the list of numbers that have registered by subscribing to the CTPS. Companies must comply with an individual’s request for suppression made to the central register no later than 28 days after the request was registered.

The regulations cover calls made to customer lists as well as non-customer lists. Therefore as well as screening lists against the CTPS file they must also be screened against in-house ‘do not call’ lists.

The Mail Preference Service (MPS)

The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) was set up in 1983. It is a compiled list of individuals who would prefer not to receive unsolicited direct mail. It is compiled from written requests sent to the Mail Preference Service (MPS), which are then added to the file. Names are suppressed at household level.

Names remain on the file for five years. To remain on the list after this time consumers must re-register. Un-addressed material is not covered by the MPS.

In addition to individuals opting out of direct mail discussed above the file also contains people known to have died and people who wish to be included in certain types of mailing, the categories for inclusions are Home, Leisure, Clothing, Financial, Sport, Travel, Children and Community Services. The record of people who wish to be included in mailings will not be available for this release of SuppressIT© as it only deals with ‘opt outs’ not ‘opt ins’.

The MPS is a non-profit making organisation. It is funded by the direct marketing industry itself by paying a levy whenever they use Mailsort, the Royal Mail service for volume mailing

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