Everyone manages their data, or ought to, so managed data isn’t anything special is it? Well actually it is. Managed data – sometimes called ‘response-generated data’ – is information, usually in the form of lists of contact addresses, which is owned by one party but exploited commercially under license by someone else. The list manager is responsible for marketing the list to third-party users. List managers differ from list brokers in that the responsibility of the former is to the list owner, while the responsibility of the latter is to the marketer doing the mailing.
List managers can be inhouse but many are independent specialists. Smaller data owners, such as publishers whose core business is not in data marketing, but who wish to maximise their assets, often outsource their list management. As Richard Collett, list rental manager at Wyvern DM, says: “A list owner can’t focus on database sales to the exclusion of everything else. A list manager can ñ and should. As specialists, list managers have a fundamental advantage over list owners in that they work very closely with direct mailers, brokers and agencies on a day-to-day basis.”
Managed vs compiled data
Different databases are distinguished by their provenance and the reasons for their creation. Compiled business information – such as that owned by Experian and D&B – is often based on Companies House information and includes standard categories, such as standard industrial classification (SIC) codes, company size and turnover, etc. Many such databases have been created specifically to sell on. Managed data is created as part of a business’ own dealings with its customers and so provides a shortcut to specialist interest. “The main difficulty with managed data,” says Liz Foot, senior list broker at Occam, “is that it decays quickly as there is rarely any process of revalidation.”
Managed data tends to fall into the two categories loosely categorised by the depth of contact’s interest. Data collected is based on a contact’s own response to a piece of marketing, so anyone using the list already knows a certain amount about the contact’s business interests and involvement. The less committed tend to be those who purchase business products occasionally, attend exhibitions, read controlled-circulation magazines and enter competitions.
Long-term commitment to a brand or service tends to be demonstrated by magazine subscribers, loyalty club members and frequent purchasers. Collett, of Wyvern DM, comments: “Only through managed data files can clients really source that kind of information.”
Different types of lists generate different levels of expected response to DM – this is reflected in the cost. Alastair Frater, account director at Uni-Marketing, explains: “Single-use rental for compiled data tends to be £120-£150 per 1000 names. Single-use rental for buyer/responder data, where contacts within lists can be selected on product interest or purchasing responsibility, tends to be £160-£200 per 1000. Single-use rental for subscriber lists tends to be £180-£250 per 1000 as contacts are usually very responsive if the offer is well-targeted.”
Working with a list manager
So how does data management work? For any company that has invested in maintaining its data, generating revenue from that data makes good business sense.
Debbie Snewing, director of list management at Prospect Swetenhams, says: “The role of the list manager includes, among other things, putting together list proposals to brokers and end-users, negotiating the best sales rates and overseeing approval of the mailing pieces with the list owner.”
The Financial Times has recently outsourced its list management to RSA Direct as Kate Amos, product manager at FT Database, explains: “We used to manage the list inhouse but decided to outsource it to gain the services of an expert. A good list manager knows how to sell the list, who to, the principles of the company and how to maximise use of the list without damaging our brand.” Together, data owners and their list managers devise a strategy for renting out the list. Conditions for list rental can include the right of approval and veto on every mailing piece sent out using the list, a prohibition on clients using the name of the list owner and a stop-list of rival businesses to which the list may not be rented.
Amos, of the FT, comments: “We need to maintain a good relationship with our competitors so sometimes we do allow them to use our list ñ if we can use theirs! It can be tough locating English speakers within the European market, for example, so co-operating with our competitors to do so can help us both.”
Reputable list managers should be members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and should ensure that the lists they handle are properly registered under the Data Protection Act and the List Warranty Register system. Graeme Jenner, managing director of Integral Marketing, comments: “The quality procedures of major lists owners are also assessed under the DMA’s B2B List Audit Award, but the award at the moment does not cover the smaller B2B list owners.”
Trends in the market
List managers play an active role in encouraging more lists to become commercially available. They often approach different companies that own lists and that may be prepared to put them out to rental. Snewing at Prospect Swetenhams, says: “Increasingly, list owners themselves recognise the worth of their lists and actively collect information ñ such as email data ñ to make their lists more valuable to the rental market.”
Marketers may be looking for quality new data sources as their current bank files become exhausted, but the rate at which additional lists become available is inevitably slowing down. This is partly due to a finite limit to the number of lists that exist – for example most magazine and catalogue lists are now available ñ but also because the nature of DM has changed as email has come on line.
Richard Gibson, commercial director at RSA Direct, comments: “Online data capture isn’t happening in the B2B arena as it does in B2C, largely because business contacts don’t see why they should give information away. Consequently, the Internet hasn’t yielded significant new sources of data.”
Paul McCarthy, managing director of McCarthy O’Connor, adds: “Companies have acquired data while growing their own markets and so now have large databases without significant new entrants. Revenues on marketed data do exist and are profitable, but quality is important and the more selectable the data, the more users will engage in using it.” Because of privacy issues, those new lists that do come onto the market tend to be smaller than, for example, those 10 years ago.
Making the most of it
As the strength of managed data is its ability to reach a specialist audience, clients choosing to use it must be particularly clear about whom they’re trying to reach, as well as how and why. List managers usually handle a number of databases, assess the requirements of their clients and offer selections or whole databases from those they manage that fit the need. Many list managers handle both B2B and B2C lists and matching the two sectors makes it possible, for example, to identify directors of companies with a specific turnover and then choose whether to mail them at work or at home.
Some marketers might argue that, rather than using a magazine subscription list to send out their own DM, they could just as easily place an insert in the magazine itself. Certainly, inserts tend to be cheaper than renting a mailing list, but they are also much less effective. Inserts lose impact by not being personalised and many go straight into the recycling bin. Targeting by other than geographic coverage is also difficult with inserts; the segmentation of a target audience is far easier within a mailing list. Alternatively, another level of sophistication can be added to marketing by combining inserts with DM and sending out personalised letters the week after the insert.
“Managed data is something of a niche market and most people don’t recognise its strength and value,” says Gibson, of RSA Direct. No matter how accurate compiled data is, it provides few indications of the data subjects’ interest in certain products and services. Managed data does. It lists individuals who have demonstrated their interest by subscribing to a magazine or attending a conference. Managed data is effectively a doorway direct to the customers of a compatible business. Marketers who use it will find half their work is done for them.
