Assorted Database Cleanup Services

UPPER CASE:

READING UPPER CASE IS MUCH HARDER ON THE EYES. ESPECIALLY WHEN MULTIPLE LINES ARE INVOLVED... SUCH AS IS THE CASE WITH ADDRESSES ON A LETTER.

lower case:

reading lower case is much easier on the eyes than all upper case. especially when multiple lines are involved... such as is the case with addresses on a letter.

Why is it important to mix case your data?

  • Upper case seems to YELL AT THE RECIPIENT! ... nobody likes being yelled at.
  • Mixed case data is more personable... upper case says you're one of many; not an individual; kind of like what you'd get from the government or a bank.
  • Mixed case makes the writer look more professional.
  • Mixed case is more precise and shows more diligence.
  • By the way, we can convert accented characters too. However, technically speaking, if you've got accented characters in your data, we'll need to know what codepage is being used as accented characters are not part of the standard ASCII character set (Mac is different than Windows). Let's discuss before we convert.

This service is designed for database name or address fields, not novels.

Bottom line is that mixed case data is easier to read and can lead to more sales.

Genderization (Mr. or Ms.)

This service adds personal titles “Mr.” or “Ms.” to your database depending on their first name.

We don't add genders to gender neutral names like Pat, Chris, Sandy etc.

When the gender of an individual has been identified, it allows you to:

  • target your marketing efforts based on gender.
  • no point selling bras to men.
  • don't offer men's shoes to women.
  • perhaps the letter copy should change when selling to men vs women.
  • create formal salutations for letters, emails: “Dear Mr. Jones,” instead of “Dear Ed Jones,”
  • do an analysis to find out who buys more from you — men or women.

It's all part of good data hygiene.

Remember:

We've seen businesses starting their database as an afterthought — just to print some labels. Don't take shortcuts. Make a real effort to do things right — right from the start. If you pay too much you lose a little money. But, if you pay too little, the thing you bought might not be up to the task and you lose your shirt.

A well planned database pays for itself many times over.

Your Database

Maintenance

The information in your database has to be current at all times to do effective marketing. Your company can do updates, addition, deletions in-house or have us do the job for you.

When we do the database maintenance for you, according to your requirements and instructions, we include a postal code lookup during entry/update for Canadian addresses using the latest information from Canada Post.

If you like, we can have your data run through the NCOA (National Change of Address) database to change any addresses where people or companies have been identified as having moved. The NCOA service is available for the U.S. and Canadian markets. In addition, we can append telephone numbers for the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Adding new functionality

As your requirements change over time we'll add new features to your database. It's important to fine-tune the database as you discover more uses for its incredible flexibility.

Storing your data

If you maintain your database in-house, make sure to perform backups meticulously and store the backed up data off premises.

For databases maintained by us, backup of your database is performed on a regular basis. Your database is stored in two different locations at all times to protect your data.