A correctly formatted database is an essential element of each and every CRM project. Correctly formatted data is vital if you are to be able to 'slice and dice' your database and identify target segments to market to. Marketing can be online or postal, but a good database is critical to ensuring a good response rate. 

In general 'Good' data is;  
  • Free of Duplicates - Duplicates cause problems
  • Complete - all the information that you expect to be there, is there
  • Standardised/Normalised - It looks the way it is supposed to look
  • Verified - The information has been checked
  • Up-to-Date - The information is current 

SmartCloud can help you ensure that your data is clean. From de-duplicating records to ensuring that your fields are correctly formatted, we can advise you what needs to be done and then make the necessary corrections as required.

DATA CLEANSING 

In our experience, virtually ALL databases require some element of cleaning. All too often, the good-will that should come from writing to your customers is lost through errors in their mailing making the sender look unprofessional.

Examples of areas where data cleansing may be required include:
  • Incomplete data (such as missing post-codes)
  • Repeated data (such as, for example Grafton Street, Dublin, Dublin 2)
  • Incorrect field formatting (where all of the address lines appear within once cell)
  • Inappropriate comments appearing within data fields (such as ‘deceased’ or ‘not at this address’)
We can correct these types of errors and ensure that your data is corrected before it ever reaches the mailbox. 

DATA PROCESSING

We are experts in data manipulation. An example of our database processing work would be the generation of relevant salutations. There are many different ways of greeting your customers; some of which will be more appropriate than others. We can sort your data in order to ensure that the correct salutation is used when required and, if it does not already exist, we can create if for you.
  • Dear Mr. John F. Kennedy
  • Dear Mr. John Kennedy
  • Dear Mr. J Kennedy
  • Dear Mr. Kennedy
  • Dear John
  • Dear Customer (when no valid data exists)

Our data mining skills allow us to take one (or more) of your databases and extract the information relevant to your mailing. 

DE-DUPLICATION

People move home. Businesses move address. Quite often, your data can contain multiple instances of the same person or company. Other times, slight variations on spelling or data capture can also result in multiple records appearing where only one should be present. 

Example:
  • Mr Paul Smith, 15 Rosemount Crescent, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
  • Mr. Paul Smith, 15 Rose Mount Crescent, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
  • Mr. P Smith, 15 Rosemount Crescent, Ranelagh, Dublin 6

Data de-duplication removes the unnecessary expense of having to print and post more items than you need to produce or distribute. De-duplication will follow a pre-defined business rule agreed in advance. 


This will determine whether the mailing is to be received by:
  • All members of a household
  • Only one person in the household
  • Only a specific person in the company
  • A specific person in the company in multiple branches
The results of deduplication are; 
  • More accurate reporting
  • Better user adoptions rates, because users trust the information
  • Less wasted effort 
Should you have any further questions on our data de-duplication abilities, please feel free to contact us for further information. 

FREE DATA AUDIT

SmartCloud manages both UK and Irish data. Despite the smaller number of households in Ireland, the data management is considerably more complex. Many Blue Chip companies work with SmartCloud because they recognise that this investment in data cleaning and validation is unique. They understand the considerable competitive advantage that comes with accurate data.

Send us a sample of your database and we’ll show you what we can do with a Free Data Audit.
To book an initial phone call with one of our consultants, Click Here