The Nature of Data
Data Capture,
Cleaning, Maintenance &
Segmenting
Karen Clarke
Charity Advisor
BRG Direct Ltd
Let me introduce myself……….
 My name is Karen Clarke, I am
fast approaching 60 (Yikes!) and I
have worked for BRG Direct for
nearly 25 years, most of that time
has been spent making lots of
friends in the Charity Sector.
 Having spent the best part of a
quarter of a century poking my
nose into other people’s data, I
think I am safe in saying that I
have seen it all: The Good, the
Bad and The Very Very Ugly!
Some things have made me laugh
out loud whilst others have left
me with steam coming out of my
ears!
Lets get to it!
Data Capture
Data Cleaning
Data Profiling
Data Appending
Wealth Screening
Data Segmenting
Cold Data
Data Protection
Data Capture
Lets go back to basics!
 Set sensible protocols that
everyone can follow.
 Write it all down & make sure
everyone has a copy.
 Be consistent; all records should
be captured in the same format.
 Title, Forename, Initial, Surname
– in separate fields.
 Your CRM system will produce the
Salutation, Postname, Greeting
etc.
 What goes in here eventually
comes out the other end as a
letter, and we all know how easy
it is to upset a supporter if we get
their name wrong.
Title Forename
Initial
Surname
Mr
J
Bloggs
Joseph
Title, Forename, Initial, Surname
 Do NOT use full stops,
commas and question
marks.
 Limit the number of titles
that you use.
 If you have to use a joint
title, keep them the same
throughout your database.
 ALWAYS capture a
forename.
 If not possible, put the
initial in the forename field
AS WELL AS the initial field.
Addresses
 Be consistent!
 If you don’t have the
address, leave the fields
 Do NOT put a company
BLANK!
or organisation name in
Address Line 1.
 Not known, Unknown,
Didn’t want to give it
 Try not to use C/O.
etc should not be in the
 Keep 1 line in each field.
address fields!
 Commas and speech
marks throw out fields
and lead to problems!
Other fields
 Again, be consistent!
 Keep email addresses in
the email field, not in
the telephone number
field (a common error
we find!) or vice versa.
 Dates of Birth – can be
used for special
birthday challenges,
legacies etc.
 Telephone Numbers –
must be TPS checked
Data Cleaning
 Think of your database
as a beautiful garden: If
you maintain it, feed it,
nurture it and cut out
the dead wood, it will
grow and reward you
time & again.
 Neglect it and the
weeds will start to
sprout and it will wither
and die.
 Have your data checked
regularly.
 We suggest once a year
BUT before any mailing
is best practise.
Do I need to have my data cleaned?
YES!
 The 4th principle of the Data Protection Act (1998) states
that:
‘Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.’
 The Institute of Fundraising Code of Fundraising Practice
says:
‘Organisations MUST maintain good data hygiene practices (removing
incorrect/incomplete information from your data) to ensure donor
information is accurate, reflects donors’ communication preferences
and is retained only for as long as necessary.’
Deceased Records
•
The Mortality Suppressions
 Experian deceased data
 Public record information
 2.5million individuals on the file
•
Mortascreen Plus
 Sourced from UK probate registries
 Supplemented with insurance data, funeral
directors information & returned mail
marked as deceased
•
The National Deceased Register
 Data derived from financial services products
such as life insurance, pensions & annuities
 No volunteered data so is highly accurate
 Over 4.3million records
•
The Bereavement Register
 Fully permissioned, verified registration data
directly from the bereaved
Gone Away Records
•
Absolute Movers
 Leading source to identify individuals
who have moved
 Private and public data sources used to
identify and validate people who have
left an address
•
Purity
 Compiled by Acxiom from consumer
data
 20million gone away records
•
disConnect
 37million records from Equifax
 Cross referenced from various sources
to identify those who have moved
•
National Change of Address
 Consumers who have opted out when
registering for re-direction
 Also contains postal returns marked as
deceased or goneaway
Movers
•
Absolute Contacts
 UK’s premier source for identifying
home movers
 Edited electoral roll and other
compliant sources verify the resident at
the new address
•
National Change of Address (NCOA)
 Consumers who have registered for
Royal Mail’s redirection service
 NOT opted out, allowing information to
be passed to 3rd parties
•
reConnect
 More than 20million records
 Claims to identify a move earlier in the
process, getting the information to you
faster
Why use these services?
Screening reduces wasted mail costs
Reduces the risk of mailing a deceased
individual and causing distress to their family
Improve response rates
Re-engage lost or lapsed supporters
Forename & Initial matches
Here we have the Smiths:
Donald
Derek
And David.
They all live together at 14 Made Up Street, Made Upville, MU1 1MU.
Sadly, Grandad Donald dies
And shortly after, David moves
away to University
But Derek is still living
at 14 Made Up Street.
So if you only have Mr D Smith on
your database, how do we know if
its Donald, Derek or David who has
matched???
Profiling
The more you know about your
supporters, the more targeted you can
make the message.
The more targeted the message, the
more response rate you will get.
Mosaic Groups
Geodemographic
Behind every customer is an individual.
Mosaics let you treat them that way
Reach the right people, with the right message
Group B is one of the highest profiled group
within most charities profiles
Data Appending
We can append:
 Dates of Birth
 Wealth File Indicators
 Mosaic Groups
 Council Tax Bands
 Estimated Income
 Email addresses
 Telephone numbers
 TPS & MPSindicators
Plus many more!
Wealth Screening
 Our in-house database.
 Top 15 blue chip company investors.
 Marked 1 – 5, 1 being less than £5,000 invested, 5
being more than £100,000 invested.
 Excellent legacy targets.
 Council tax bands, mosaic groups & estimated
income bands.
Combining these will identify the most wealthy
prospects with your database.
Segmentation
Your database already has lots of useful information that
will help you to segment it, but there is a lot more
available.
• Did you know that you can have dates of birth
appended to your data?
• If a specific date is not available, you can have an
estimated age group.
• Couple this with things like Council Tax Bands, Wealth
File Indicators, Estimated Incomes or even the latest
Mosaic codes and you will have a much more flexible
database that will allow you to make multiple
selections.
Profiling
The more you know about your
supporters, the more targeted you can
make the message.
The more targeted the message, the
more response rate you will get.
Cold data
 Target, Target, Target!
 Profile existing supporters to make the right
selections.
 Some of our charity clients have reported
between 4% and 6% response rate.
 Target the right people.
 A series of small, highly targeted mailings will at
least replace the deceased and gone aways that
you take out of your database every week.
 If you don’t attract new blood, your database will
die!
Data Protection
Data protection agreement must be in place.
Ensure data is securely transferred.
Upload facilities
Encrypted email.
Time limited ftp.
Password protected Zip file by email.
Use a strong password!
Strong password examples:
Weak password examples:
BRG366D1r3c7
password or passw0rd
k@7enC1#rK3//!
brgdirect
g3M@1Sf$99#/zX
data
*+#p@ss261oPW>
karen
QUESTIONS?
Recap
 Data Capture – Keep it consistent
 Data Cleaning – Clean at least once a year
 Data Profiling – Know your supporters
 Data Appending – Fill in the blanks
 Wealth Screening – Find major donors and legacy
prospects
 Data Segmenting – Target your message
 Cold Data – Add fresh prospects
 Data Protection – PASSWORD!!!
THANK YOU!!