Tips for Getting Your Data Ready for the 2006-2007 School Year
By Mike Subrizi, MDR Vice President, Data Operations

Summer is the perfect time to fine-tune your customer file and get ready for the all-important back-to-school marketing window, which is quickly approaching.

With a full 20% of the teaching profession moving, transferring, or retiring each and every year, data cleansing is critical and should be a constant part of your customer information management process. You should update your records at least annually (between school years is the best time).  If you have any large marketing efforts during the school year, you should take the time to update your list prior to the launch to ensure maximum campaign effectiveness.

Start With the Basics: Data Maintenance
Start with data cleansing and record accuracy to get your customer file ready for the back-to-school season.  Taking the time to do this will help you save big money on postal costs this fall and will maximize your marketing ROI for the upcoming school season.

As a first step, we recommend standardizing all of your addresses down to the ZIP+four level to improve mail quality and delivery. Also make sure to identify and purge your customer database of any duplication.  Next, identify your education customers who are no longer affiliated with a particular institution. Identifying these obsolete contacts will help you improve your overall customer response rates.

Phase Two: Data Enhancement
Data enhancement is the next step in adding value to your customer information. The best way to augment your records is to overlay your data with a resource that contains rich demographics, information on school spending levels, enrollment levels, job functions, and school size and type. If your target audience for a particular campaign is new teachers, for example, you would want to add demographics to your file so that you can identify teachers who are new to the profession, new to their school, or have changed job function or grade level.

Adding new e-mails and getting the freshest updates to existing
e-mail addresses is another critical enhancement you’ll want to do. Educators use e-mail to get their news and information on a regular basis. Maximize your e-mail and multi-channel promotions to your customers by purchasing an append product to add e-mails and to update addresses of your existing customers to your list.

Phase Three: Identifying Your Best Prospects
Modeling your best customers to find similar prospects is a time-proven way to efficiently pinpoint potential high-value new customers. By doing this at least once a year, you’ll maximize your ROI by targeting prospects most likely to buy your products.

Do It Now!
Take the time now, during the summer, to focus on your customer
file—cleaning, enhancing, and finding new prospects.  These efforts will give you the best results from your back-to-school marketing efforts. With so many educators retiring or changing positions each year, maintaining your customer file on a regular basis is absolutely critical to maximizing your marketing ROI and growing your business!

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