A well-maintained contact databank is essential for a campaign’s success. Which is why good address management has earned a top priority in marketing. It forms the foundation for directly speaking to target groups and persons. Read here how companies can manage addresses in an effective way.
Survey: many addresses are outdated
Effective marketing requires a direct path to the target group – and often to companies and decision-makers as well. This is the reason why good address management (also for individuals) plays an important role in boosting direct sales. However, there are many areas where companies need to catch up in this respect. This is shown by the Adress-Studie 2021 (German) from Deutsche Post Direkt. According to the survey ...
- 14.7 per cent of customer addresses are invalid,
- 6.5 per cent of customer addresses are wrong, and
- 2.8 per cent of addresses are doubled.
The main reason for these values is returned post to the tune of “Not known at this address”, at 8 per cent, or that the recipient has passed away.
The following list shows which industries are affected by undeliverable post:
- Tourism (21 per cent)
- Banking (13 per cent)
- Retail (12.3 per cent)
- Publishing (12 per cent)
- Insurance (11.4 per cent)
Regardless of the industry, the Adress-Studie 2021 proves that there are significant gaps in the contact databanks of many companies.
Why professional address management makes sense
Poor address management in the B2B segment is wasting lots of marketing potential. This can possibly be due to little things: the contact person at a company may simply be the wrong one, or numbers in the address have been typed in wrongly. But often, it is also due to a lack of the latest or basic background information about direct contacts, as the above-mentioned main reasons for undeliverable post show.
This is why the Marketing department should check its address management and professionalise it if necessary. It makes sense, for instance, when facing the following challenges:
- Addressing new target groups
- Capturing new sales markets
- Analysing existing customer data and structures
On top of this, good address management is the be-all and end-all of every strategic and tactical campaign plan. Without reliable customer information, the direct marketing ingredient in the mix is pointless. This leads to scatter loss and lowers the rate of success – also in terms of cost and benefits.
The path to optimal address quality
Professional address management always begins by taking stock. This means collecting and checking the existing contact data. The aspects behind this are first and foremost relevance, completeness, “dead” contacts or doubles. Afterwards, a uniform address structure should be created, including rubrics for the individual datasets, to ensure transparency and comparability. It’s important to frequently repeat these steps, with the aim to update the addresses.
When it comes to smaller datasets, a small team can maintain them. But it makes more sense to rely on (AI-supported) software for address management for a large number of addresses. This can also be used by the customer in a self-service approach. In this case, the company enables its customers to access their own contact data and edit it as needed. What’s more, the address program makes it easier to comply with and monitor data protection requirements and internal compliance rules.
An additional effect of good address management: it avoids returns and relieves the sales team in their everyday business from the burden of having to respond to customer complaints. This gives employees more time for their more important tasks.
