Suppression occurs when an organisation screens its mailing data against an accurate, current, external file, then identifies those records that are unwanted – inaccurate or out of date – and removes or isolates them. The process ensures that companies do not send DM communications to individuals who have died, moved jobs, changed location, specifically asked not to be contacted in this way, or are just the wrong target. Suppression is often a temporary process for an agreed mailing over a period of time.
Data cleansing, on the other hand, describes the broader activities of enhancing or improving data using such processes as the identification and removal of duplicate records, correcting incorrect or incomplete records and/or adding information from third-party files. Bureaux charge different prices for suppression and cleansing, although various suppression files are available and not all bureaux offer the complete range. Daryl Swinden, MD of Global DM, comments, “Many suppression files overlap, with differing price structures, so it’s likely that a ‘deceased’ suppression, for example, will appear on more than one file and be at different costs.”
How it works
In the B2C arena, suppression is typically conducted using commercially-available software packages that check against regularly updated suppression databases either inhouse, through a bureau or online. Such suppression databases include Mortascreen and the Bereavement Register (which identify those who have died), National Change of Address and the Gone Away Suppression File (which flag those who have moved house) and the Mailing Preference Service (which screens those who have opted-out of receiving marketing communications by post).
Most consumer suppression files provide just one type of data, for example, deceased. Bureaux then match these files to existing customer or prospect records, using only the name and address fields.
In B2B the theory is similar, but the process is much more complex. Databases created with the B2B market in mind include the Business Suppression File, Global Business Suppression File, the Royal Mail Business Changes File and Corporate TPS. Data fields to be manipulated include areas such as: contact name, job title, company name, department, site, building name, address and registration with the company preference services (including CTPS, see B2BM July/August 06, p38).
Business changes can include: start-ups, change of premises, expansion into new sites, bankruptcy, liquidation, change of company name and multiple trading names, abbreviations, as well as staff moving jobs, etc. Information that changes so quickly means that creating a link to check between the masterfile and the database is a skilled process.
The top players
Two of the biggest operators in the B2B arena are TRG Strata’s Business Suppression File (BSF) and the Royal Mail Business Changes File (BCF). The former is an amalgamation of gone-away data from a number of industry sources; the latter contains business redirection data from Royal Mail. In the BSF more than 30 million records are processed each month to produce a file of just over nine million records. Updates are released quarterly and each new version of the file is a complete rebuild.
Marcus Oxlade, business development manager at TRG Strata claims that, for the BSF, a highly-sophisticated system scores each record depending on areas such as its provenance, frequency and the update cycles of the supplier. He says that the algorithm sequence-matching is similar to that used to rebuild DNA strands. Flags appended to each record tell clients whether a company has gone out of business, changed its name, moved or is unmarketable, i.e. the address listed is its registered ñ rather than trading – address. The system also identifies individual level changes enabling it to keep the company record but change the salutation, thereby improving targeting.
By contrast, BCF claims to be the only updating service providing new addresses for businesses that have moved. By keeping records of former and current addresses, BCF is also able to track businesses that have moved several times. The file is updated weekly for Royal Mail Bureau clients and monthly for licensees.
New clients are offered a free health check and test where a sample file is matched against the BCF. Shaun Randles, senior data development manager at Royal Mail BCF, says, “If a client provides marketing costs, we calculate the savings they can expect from using the BCF, i.e. the ROI. All except the smallest of mailers can expect to cover costs and make savings very quickly.”
A new edition of the BCF is to be launched in September. It will include more goneaway records from Royal Mail clients as well as a scoring system to indicate the probability of a business genuinely not being located at the address given.
For and against
Often businesses do not use suppression because of lack of interest, ignorance or cost. However, there is also a very real fear that the process might go wrong. Vic Godding, MD at Developing Data, states, “Suppression is a product invoiced on the number of hits processed, so providers may be tempted to double-count when a single record is suppressed under different flags.” The array of different files available means it’s also very easy to over-suppress records and some bureaux simply stop as much data as possible because of the way payment is structured. Andrew Sawyer, sales director at Celerity, says, “Over-suppression is a real problem in both B2B and B2C and creates mistrust within the very audience bureaux are supposed to serve.”
Mark Roy, CEO at The Read Group, which owns TRG Strata, says, “UK B2B volumes run at around one quarter of B2C but the suppression benefit to the B2B industry could be double that of B2C.”
Cost-saving is particularly important. Nicky Keyworth, leader of sales & marketing solutions at D&B, explains, “If the cost of the mailed item is high [in terms of postage and production] then the client may well be keen to suppress any record that looks inaccurate. If the item is perhaps only a postcard, the suppression criteria may be far lower.”
International suppression is relatively new and relies on bureaux having access to clean international data. The big advantage of using international suppression is an immediate saving on postage because of costs involved. Overseas goneaways can take 12 months to return. Celerity and Global are two of the small number of companies to tackle the creation of an international database. There are obvious problems, not least because of the different ways addresses are structured and the need for new character sets. A less obvious – but more vital ñ problem is dependable data. As Terry Hiles, MD at Capscan, says, “Similar data to that held in the UK is collected and made commercially available in the US and change-of-address data is available in Canada and some EU countries. In many parts of the world such data is simply not collected or available.”
A growth market
Opinions differ about whether and how fast the use of suppression is growing. TRG Strata, for example, experienced a surge of interest about six months ago, while Randles at Royal Mail BCF says the use of it is growing, but more slowly than generally expected. He adds, “Growth might possibly be being held back by the perceived high cost of suppression processing and B2B data costs.”
On the other hand Godding at Developing Data, comments, “Direct marketing is going through a very tough time, which is reflected in client and supplier attitudes towards suppression. Use of suppression will only grow when the market is buoyant and confident about its future.”
The high-value end of the market is growing most quickly with the financial services sector being the biggest user; high-volume low-margin catalogue mailers are not typically suppression users. Growth in the use of suppression has been encouraged by the improvement in the quality of suppression data due to improvements in data collection methods and processing. As Hiles at Capscan says, ìThe press and blogging community seem anxious to expose those brands that mail deceased people or commit similar gaffes. This in turn has focused the attention on the damage that can be done to a brand by carelessness.î There is also more legislative intervention in the form of fines or controls on how and who is mailed. In addition, a wider choice of services and delivery mechanisms has become available while competition has reduced the cost.
Any organisation that has a regular dialogue with its customers should plan on using suppression equally and as regularly. Marketers who argue that they can’t afford to do it, should really think whether they can afford not to.
