Is your data cycle on the right path?

We all know we have an obligation to maintain clean and accurate data.

If you’re registered under the data protection act (and if you hold any personal data, you should be), then making sure your data is accurate is actually a legal obligation, as well as an ethical commitment to best practice in direct marketing.

Keeping your data clean and up to date makes good business sense as well. An accurate mailing list helps your direct marketing become more cost effective, avoids waste and saves money. It also helps reduces potential annoyance amongst recipients caused by duplicated mailers, or incorrectly spelt names.

So what do you need to check for, and how often should you do it? Here’s a quick guide to managing your data cleansing cycle, based on best practice guidelines issued by the UK’s Direct Marketing Association:

And if you need any help putting your cycle together or screening data against the MPS, TPS, CTPS, FPS or BMPS, just call the Easycheck team at Selectabase on 01304 382211 for advice and low cost screening options.

Make an impact amongst expats

Reach potential overseas property owners before they buy with the Overseas Home Buyers consumer list from Selectabase.

An estimated 5.5 million British consumers now live permanently abroad – around 1 in 10 of the UK population. In addition, an estimated 500,000 British people live abroad for part of the year, mainly through second-home ownership.

The emigration of British people has happened in cycles over 200 years and the trend is now rising again.

There has been significant growth in the number of British emigrants who are retiring or taking early retirement abroad and research suggests that the UK will continue to experience high emigration in coming years.

The Overseas Home Buyers B2C database features carefully profiled consumers who are likely to purchase a property overseas, such as pensioners looking to retire abroad, or affluent over 45’s seeking an investment or holiday property.

Overseas Home Buyers data allows you to target a whole host of services to these consumers before they make their final buying decisions:

The Overseas Home Buyers list from Selectabase is also an attractive proposition for targeting affluent greys and older consumers in general – not just for property related products or services.

If you’d like to explore the impact you could make upon the expat market, contact Selectabase now on 01304 382211 for a free quote.

Startupsplus makes a gift of new business leads

The UK retail sector is hugely valuable, and no more so that in the giftware sector. This wide ranging market segment comprises a array of retailers selling items that could be given as a gift, plus items for the home and individual.

One thing that unites gift retailers though is that the majority are small independently owned stores – a real marketing challenge when it comes to keeping track of who’s moved and who’s just opened up for business.

Which is where Startupsplus comes in, with the Gift Industry package. This sales lead service tracks all the latest new and relocating gift shops across the UK, including retailers of:

Details of these new outlets are then provided each month as a data file of valuable sales leads to trade suppliers, wholesalers and distributors of gift products and retail services.

A Startupsplus Gift Industry subscription can help you get your products in front of potential gift retailers just when they are starting up – before decisions are made.

Because one things for sure - it’s much harder to persuade gift retailers to stock your products, when their shelves are already filled with your competitors lines.

One established subscriber, Pots & Potions Ltd., has been delighted with the results that Startupsplus has generated:

“We received our first list of contacts from Startupsplus in early August 2006. By the beginning of September, we had received orders for over £800 worth of products. We pay £36 a month for the list, so a return of £800 is a good investment, and this does not include the value of the repeat sales. Thank you Startupsplus!”

Startupsplus Gift Industry leads are also of value to any supplier of retailing equipment or services. That could include everything from display and merchandising, to tills, banking, insurance, signage, recruitment, security, exhibitions, and publishers.

New gift retailers are just about to make long-lasting buying decisions, so you need to get information about your products in front of them fast.

And there’s no better way of doing this than subscribing to Startupsplus Gift Industry monthly lists.

Call 01304 382211 now for a FREE count and prices, and speak to a Startupsplus representative about the Gift Industry subscription.

Home improvement industry opens door to new business

Home improvement businesses across the UK are benefiting from a unique sales lead service from Selectabase called Recentlymoved.

New home movers have been shown to spend more on home improvements within the first six months of moving in, than established home owners will spend in 5 years!

Recentlymoved identifies the latest home movers from across the UK, enabling home improvement businesses to effectively target the 12.2% of the UK population who move house every year.

Home improvement companies using the service include suppliers of glazing, loft conversions, landscaping, decorating, builders and many other services.

Recentlymoved has been generating impressive results for many home improvement suppliers, with one subscriber commenting that “the data received has been excellent - in the past few months we have been signing between 2 to 4 clients a month.”

Subscribers have also appreciated the way that Recentlymoved takes the hassle out of new business development: “Selectabase have been able to provide a solution that entirely suits our working marketing plan. Selectabase are able to target specific consumers and provide an excellent level of customer service which is why we have consistently used them over the last few years” said another customer.

Home improvement suppliers simply need to follow up the list of Recentlymoved sales leads from their local area which they are sent each month, to start generating quality enquiries.

The service works out as being far more cost effective than cold calling or local press advertising, and enables you to reach potential new customers before your competitors, so pressure on prices may not be as great.

If you are serious about growing your business in the next twelve months get the advantage, get Recentlymoved.

How many new householders are moving in your local area each month? Simply visit www.recentlymoved.co.uk or call us now on 01304 382211.