The document discusses breaking into the database business and provides an overview of direct mail marketing. It notes that around 55-60% of printed matter ends up in the mail and mailing services are a top value-added service for printers. The document covers why getting into databases is a good idea, defines mailing and direct marketing terms, and discusses data quality, list preparation, and working with the US Postal Service. It aims to educate on opportunities and considerations for offering mailing and database services.

1. Breaking into the
Database Business
Gail Nickel-Kailing
Business Strategies Etc.

2. Don’t Mail Junk Mail
Junk Mail:
Sent to the wrong person with the wrong
offer for the wrong product at the wrong
price at the wrong time.
Illegal or immoral…
2

3. And, remember…
No one ever made a sale from the bottom of
a trash can!
3

4. ‘Scuse Me?
“This ‘telephone' has
too many
shortcomings to be
seriously considered
as a means of
communication. The
device is inherently of
no value to us.”
Western Union internal memo (1876)
4

5. Today’s Seminar
• Why should you get into the “database
business”?
• Good data:
– What it is
– How to get it
– How to keep it
• Postal mail data vs. email data
• Data security and privacy
• Choosing a data quality software vendor
• Resources
5

6. A Couple of Definitions…
Before we talk about databases, we should
touch on what you plan to do with them.
So - in the production arena - what is
mailing?
– Mailing is NOT printing
– Postage is NOT revenue
– Mail list manipulation and management is NOT
prepress file management
And always remember:
– You must – MUST – keep your mailing
software current at all times!
6

7. Why Get into the Database Business?
• About 55 - 60% of all printed matter ends
up in the mail sometime in its product
lifecycle.
• As much as 40+% goes directly into the
mail system.
• Mailing is the #1 value added service that
commercial and digital printers want to
add.
7

8. Direct Mail
• A strong economy supports direct mail
• Legislation and regulation limiting
telemarketing and e-mail marketing
• Digital printing approaching an “audience
of one”
• Most of us are more upset to receive
unsolicited e-mail - “spam”- than to
receive unsolicited print mail - “junk”
• “Flip side” – states proposing “Do Not
Mail” legislation
8

9. Direct Marketing Expenditures Up
• Since 2002, direct marketing expenditures:
– 69% increased
– 16% stayed the same
– 15% decreased
• Direct mail expenditures:
– 54% increased
– 33% stayed the same
– 13% decreased
• Expenditures – getting vs. keeping customers
– 52% on customer acquisition
– 47% on customer retention
• 72% have increased their use of e-mail
marketing
Source: Direct Marketing Association
9

10. 2006 Direct Mail Expenditures
Source: The Winterberry Group
10

11. 2006 Direct Mail Growth
11

12. ‘Scuse Me?
“The citizens who live
in the next century will
pay one cent for a
postage stamp.”
USPS Postmaster General
(1893)
12

13. How Personal?
Every pixel on every part of piece
customized to recipient
Rules-based database and
image merge, plus dynamic layout
Target Marketing: Database and image merge –
link to databases and images
Every piece different Hybrid documents – personalized
pages with static pages
Dynamic Layout
Database merge – link
to all fields in database
Data merge – name, address, salutation,
Plus name or other data embedded in text
Document assembly –
assemble pre-written paragraphs
Mail merge – name and address
Static Layout
and salutation on letter
Address merge – name and address
on both letter and mail piece
Mass Marketing:
Addressed to recipient on envelope –
Sorted by ZIP
Every piece the same
Addressed to “Resident” –
Selective inserts – sort by ZIP
Addressed to “Resident” –
Same contents – each piece the same
Customize
Source: Personalized Printing, Frank Romano, RIT, May 2001
13

14. Another Look at the Continuum
Source: The Winterberry Group
14

15. An Audience of One…
Personalized URL
Personalized Images
15

16. Value of
Personalization/Customization
• 48% - Increase in repeat orders/customer
retention
• 34% - Improvement in response time
• 36% - Improvement in response rate
• 32% - Increase in overall revenue/profit
• 25% - Increase in order size/value
Source: Personalized On-Demand Printing and Publishing: Targeting the Right Opportunity, (C) 1997, CAP Ventures, Inc.
16

17. Improvement in Direct Mail Responses
• Basic mailing: B&W, static text – 0.46%
response
• Adding name only – increased response
44%
• Adding full color – increased response
45%
• Adding name & full color – increased
response 135%
• Applying database information in
constructing the offer – increased
response over 500%
Source: An Investigation: Direct Mail Responses, by D. Broudy & F. Romano, Digital Printing Council, October 1999.
17

18. ‘Scuse Me?
“I think there is a
world market for
about five computers.”
Thomas J. Watson
Chairman of the Board,
IBM (1943)
18

19. Addresses – the Good, the Bad, the Ugly
• All addresses are not equal, some are
correct but not worth mailing to.
• 17% of Americans move every year, and
only 80% of them file a change of address
with the USPS.
• Customer databases, for the most part,
are abysmal.
• In a 2005 report by the USPS, UAA mail:
– 1.6 B pieces of mail returned
– 1.98 B pieces were forwarded
– Over 6 B pieces were discarded
19

20. E-mail Databases - Even Worse
• Few places to rent e-mail lists
• No legitimate compiled lists available
• CAN-SPAM - must honor opt-outs
• Unsolicited e-mail - “spam”- vs.
unsolicited print mail - “junk.”
20

21. ‘Scuse Me?
“Computers in the
future may weigh no
more than 1.5 tons. ”
Popular Mechanics (1949)
(1949)
21

22. You talking to me?
• D. G. Kailing • Dona Gail Kailing
• D. G. Nickel • Dona Gail Nickel
• D. G. Nickel-Kailing • Dona Gail Nickel-Kailing
• D. Gail Kailing • Dona Kailing
• D. Gail Nickel • Dona Nickel
• D. Gail Nickel-Kailing • Dona Nickel-Kailing
• D. Kailing • G. Kailing
• D. Nickel • G. Nickel
• D. Nickel-Kailing • G. Nickel-Kailing
• Dona G. Kailing • Gail Kailing
• Dona G. Nickel • Gail Nickel
• Dona G. Nickel-Kailing • Gail Nickel-Kailing
22

23. You emailing me?
• Gail@business-strategies-etc.com
• Gail@whattheythink.com
• Gail_NK@yahoo.com
• KailingG@aol.com
• Gail@Nickelswood.com
• DGailNK@gmail.com
• g.nickel-kailing@comcast.net
23

24. ‘Scuse Me?
“There is no reason
why anyone would
want to have a
computer in their
home.”
Kenneth H. Olson, President
DEC (Digital Equipment Company)
Convention of the World Future
Society (1977)
24

25. Poor Data Quality
• Poor quality means lost revenue or higher
costs
• 23.8% of mail is incorrectly addressed
and requires correction
• 2.7% is completely undeliverable
• People consider 70% of their e-mail is
spam (DoubleClick, 6th Annual Consumer
E-mail Study)
25

26. Where Does Bad Data Come From?
• Self-entry by the customer - my bad!
– 3124 West McGraw Street (BOA)
– 3214 West McGraw Street (BSE)
• Internal data entry
– Salesforce.com:
• First Name Field: Bobbie (Roberta)
• Title Field: Mac Operator, retired, deceased
• Company Field: CREDIT HOLD ABC Co Inc / The XYZ
Group
• External prospect lists
– External lists are someone else’s internal lists
26

27. Customer Data Quality Requirements
• The data are accurate
– The address actually exists
– The person/company exists
• The data are current
• The data are complete
– Each address has complete info for delivery
• The data are not redundant
– One and only one record per contact
• The data are standardized
27

28. Managing data quality
• Trap bad data before it gets into the
database
• Flag existing undeliverable addresses for
correction or deletion
• Update current records with information
changes immediately
• Enhance records by appending related
mailing information (ZIP+4 codes, for
instance)
• Standardize addresses to USPS
specifications
28

29. Developing a Data Quality Program
• Acknowledge that there is a problem
• Assign a person responsible for the
program
• Identify the source of poor quality
• Complete a technology assessment
• Evaluate data quality vendors
• Implement the solution
• Validate the solution
29

30. Selecting a data quality vendor
• Completeness • Streamlined
testing and QA
• Enterprise design
• Comprehensive
• Ease of use
data capture
• Sophisticated
• Ease of integration
rules engine
• Processing power
• Vendor support
30

31. Keeping Data Private and Secure
• Physical security - access to the facility,
media handling
• Electronic security - fire walls, network
security, file security
• Data delivery - physical or electronic
• How to handle “back up, store, and
delete”
• Production workflow - finished and
unfinished products
• Distribution of raw and finished products,
spoilage
31

32. ‘Scuse Me?
“640K [of computer
memory] ought to be
enough for anybody.”
Bill Gates
Microsoft founder and chairman
(1981)
32

33. Mailing Terms You Need to Know
• CASS – Coding Accuracy Support System
– a certification process to ensure that
postal automation software can
accurately standardize addresses and
encode them with ZIP+4 and carrier route
information.
• PAVE – Presort Accuracy Validation and
Evaluation – a certification process to
ensure that postal presorting software
can accurately presort and prepare
mailings for deposit with the USPS.
33

34. Working with the USPS
I’m from the USPS and I’m here to help you…
• The Post Office is just that place where you
buy stamps.
• The Postal Service – as in USPS – is the
service provider with whom you work.
• There is no one named “someone” at the
USPS.
34

35. Mailing Services Menu
• Lettershop services – “lick and stick”
• Personalized
– Personalized letter, inserted with brochure into window
or matched envelope.
– Small volumes
– Simple VDP applications – “mail merge+”
• Customized
– Simple variable graphics and text (versions)
• 1:1 Marketing
– Complex variables, conditional logic,
– Cross media publication – e-mail, Web, direct mail
– Fulfillment, response management (including
personalized micro-sites, analytics)
35

36. 10 Steps to Offering Mailing Services
• Develop a strategic plan.
• Select your postal automation/presorting
software.
• Select your mailroom equipment.
• Develop a mail piece design/validation process.
• Develop a list processing/management process.
• Develop security/privacy management
processes.
• Develop a quality assurance program.
• Hire/train your staff.
• Modify your estimating and pricing procedures.
• Use your postal automation software to generate
new revenue.
Get Involved – Stay Informed
36

37. Mailing “Gotchas!”
• Mailing, as a process, continues to get
more complex.
• Before 1990, there were three postage
discounts.
• In 1990, a postal “reorganization”
increased discounts to about 75.
• Today there are over 4000!
37

38. A note: CYA
• Get good “Errors and Omissions”
Insurance.
• You could be expected to pay for the
reprinting, mail processing, and postage
for errors resulting in a failed mailing.
• Other liability issues:
– Inventory “shrinkage”
– Postage management
38

39. ‘Scuse Me?
“The Web – it’s not
going to be that
profound.”
Steve Jobs
President, Apple
(1996)
39

40. Prepare a List for Mailing
• Lists cleaned and standardized
– Per postal regulations
– For aesthetics, e.g., all caps
• Duplicates eliminated (merge/purge)
• Current customers’ names eliminated if
appropriate
• Names recently mailed are eliminated if
appropriate
• All records coded for post-mailing analysis (list
ID, date of mailing, campaign ID, etc.)
• Seed names added to monitor postal
performance
• Records sorted for maximum postal
cost/efficiency
40

41. Now that we’ve scared you…
• About 55 - 60% of all printed matter ends
up in the mail, sometime in its product
lifecycle.
• As much as 40+% goes directly into the
mail system.
• Mailing is the #1 value added service that
commercial and digital printers want to
add.
• Confirm with your customer and prospect
base that you have the market.
• Go for it!
41

42. ‘Scuse Me?
“Make all the
improvements you
want, just don't
change anything.”
Anonymous
42

43. Questions?
The greatest problem in
communication ...
the illusion that it has
taken place!
George Bernard Shaw
43

44. Postal Software
• Entry level
– Envelope Manager, Mailers+4, AccuZIP,
SmartAddresser
• Mid-tier
– BCC Software, Satori Software, SmartMailer,
Postalsoft Desktop Mailer, Anchor Computer
• Top-tier
– Group1/Pitney Bowes, Trillium (Harte Hanks),
Business Objects, Acxiom
44

45. Resources - USPS
• USPS - www.usps.com
• RIBBS – http://ribbs.usps.gov
• Postal Explorer – http://pe.usps.gov
• MERLIN – www.usps.com/merlin
45

46. Resources - Events
• MailCom, MSMA - October 8-10, Las Vegas NV
• DMA05, Direct Marketing Association -
October 13-18, Chicago IL
• Parcel Shipping & Distribution Forum -
October 29-31, Chicago IL
• Xplor/Graphics of the Americas - February 27-
March 1, 2008, Miami Beach FL
• AIIM/On Demand/Xplor - March 3-6, 2008,
Boston MA
• National Postal Forum, USPS - May 18-21, 2008
- Anaheim CA
46

47. Resources - Associations
• Mailing and Fulfillment Services
Association, www.mfsanet.org
• Mail Systems Management Association,
www.msmanational.org
• Alliance of Non Profit Mailers,
www.nonprofitmailers.org
• PostCom – Association for Postal
Commerce, www.postcom.org
• Parcel Shippers Association,
www.parcelshippers.org
47

48. Resources - Publications
• Mailing List Strategies - A Guide to Direct Mail Success ($) -
Rose Harper - 30+ used copies - www.amazon.com
• Direct ($) - www.directmag.com
• MultiChannel Merchant - www.multichannelmerchant.com
• Mail Magazine ($) - www.mail-magazine.com
• DOCUMENT - www.dptmag.com
• Mailing Systems Technology - www.mailingsystemsmag.com
• Parcel Shipping and Distribution - www.psdmag.com
• PostalWorld ($) - www.mypostalworld.com
• PostInsight - www.postinsight.com
• Business Mailers Review ($) - www.businessmailersreview.com
• PostalNews - www.postalnews.com
• Presort.com - www.presort.com
• PostalMag - www.postalmag.com
• DM News ($) - www.dmnews.com
• Inside Direct Mail - www.insidedirectmail.com
48

49. Gail Nickel-Kailing, Principal
Business Strategies Etc.
Providing research, advice, and council to
enterprises and service providers to
enable effective internal and external
distribution of online and offline documents
since 1984.
E-mail: gail@business-strategies-etc.com
Tel: 425-894-8524
Fax: 413-460-3602
Skype: Gail_NK