Direct mail data hygiene still not good enough, says new research

Despite the increased use of data cleansing within the direct mail industry, significant amounts of mail is still being sent with name and address errors, according to recent research.

A new report by Nielson Media Research, based on a panel of 10,000 consumers show that in 12 months, the public discarded more than 21 per cent of mailing they received without even opening the envelope.

Mark Roy, chief executive of the Read Group said: "It is a sad indictment of our industry that, in this apparently sophisticated age, such a huge percentage of direct mail is headed directly for landfill."

Research by Read in conjunction with YouGov shows that 72 per cent of consumers want between 50 and 90 per cent of their junk mail stopped, which amounts to a staggering 1.8 billion items a year. This equates to about 140,000 tonnes of wasted paper, or 900,000 trees.

In terms of unopened mail, charities continue to be among the worst offenders, accounting for nearly a third of all unopened mail across all sectors.

Some organisations seem reluctant to carry out data-hygiene activity because of the expense - data prices have remained steady, with the average list costing £100 for 1000 names.


© Adfero Ltd

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