10 key questions you should be asking your data supplier and why.

You need to know that the data you buy is legal, up-to-date and targeted. Here are our top 10 key questions you should be asking your data supplier. An explanation of why is provided after each question.

GENERAL
1. How often is the data updated? Business data can decay at up to 40% a year, leading to a decline in response rates and deterioration in the cost-effectiveness of your campaign.

2. How is it updated? Different methods can be used for updating data which do not always equate to the best solution for direct marketing purposes. For example, relying on downloads from the latest set of Companies House data will only provide information on registered businesses and will not give details of non-limited/sole traders.

3. Are you registered with the Data Protection Act 1998? All list owners in the UK must go through the process of notification/registration with the Information Commissioner's Office and must collect data both fairly and lawfully.

4. Do you have deliverability guarantees? Deliverability guarantees can be a good measure of the confidence of the data supplier in the currency of their data and provides reassurance to you.

EMAIL SPECIFIC
5. Are the addresses collected in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Direct Marketing Association's DM Code of Practice? This can reduce the risk of being viewed as a spammer with potentially damaging consequences such as being blacklisted by your ISP and suspension of all your online operations.

6. Have the recipients agreed to their details being passed to third party organizations for direct marketing purposes - essential for non-corporates? Reason as 5 above.

7. Can the email address be linked to a qualified trading postal address? Reason as 5 above, plus the benefit of using more than one communication channel.

DIRECT MAIL SPECIFIC
8. Are the addresses at registered or trading sites? Registered addresses are very often not the same as the trading address. Send your mailing piece to the former and you could end up with a lot of wasted costs.

9. Is the decision-maker based at the address supplied? Not all data suppliers can provide the names of decision makers at the site from which they operate. Again, make sure costs are not lost through using the wrong data.

TELEMARKETING SPECIFIC
10. Are telephone numbers suppressed against the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and how regularly does suppression take place? Prospect a business or individual by telephone that's on the TPS or CTPS register and you could end up with a £5000 fine. Julie Knight, Managing Director