Ever checked the validity of your database?

Here we are talking about how many valid data do you have, and not literally the validity. It would be surprising to learn how many invalid email addresses you collect via web forms and other self-reported collection points.

While working on one of the projects for our clients, we ran a small observation. The request was for an email reverse append for the client who wanted to obtain the name and postal address for emails they had acquired.

Our appending team had put in their full effort in collating the details of the list. However, by the end of the completion of this report, we were a little disheartened at the result. We were just able to append the requested information to about 19% of the file. Initially we though our team had not given their best shot and decided to have a keen run through, but there was nothing more to add.

Later we found that a huge number of bogus or invalid email addresses had made into these sign up forms. If this client had not come to us or any of the data services company, and gone ahead with whatever they had received, the impact would have affected their sending reputation.  Here are a few examples of the types of data we found in the client database .

Invalid email addresses like a@b.com, 97985jhdsf@mailcatch.com, 9999@y.com etc. When you are running a campaign on your database, if the cleansing has not been done the right way, it will affect severely on your brand.

Have a database which needs a touch?