April 29, 2009 – 10:20 am
Deduplicating data effectively is a key part of building a single customer view, allowing a complete picture to be gained of everything known about your contacts. This can be more difficult than it sounds, often requiring a complex mix of both ‘science’ and ‘art’ to achieve the best results. Here we list our top 5 [...]
September 25, 2008 – 10:38 am
Comparing two or more lists is a common task in data analysis, but is not always as simple as it sounds. This month we explore five techniques that can help provide insight when performing list comparisons: 1. Intersections & non-intersections. Finding ‘intersections’ or overlaps between different lists enables the joining of data from different sources. [...]
For any organisation collecting customer data, there are several common challenges which mean that data is always a difficult thing to do well. Here’s why: 1. More than one system. Companies often need to use multiple systems to get ‘best of breed’ functionality from each (think finance, campaigns, e-commerce …) While clearly necessary, this creates [...]
Email addresses can reveal more than you might imagine about your contacts. Here we explore some smart ways to gain extra insight from this simple piece of information: 1. Checking deliverability. Email addresses can be validated against an official specification (RFC822) in order to confirm they are correctly formed. In addition, the domain part of [...]
November 29, 2007 – 10:57 am
Read on if you’ve ever wondered about the logistical challenges behind a system like MasterVision – collecting, integrating and analysing millions of rows of data every week. Sadly we don’t employ an army of Oompa-Loompas, but we do have an impressive set of software robots doing almost all of the hard work: 1. Collecting files. It [...]
August 30, 2007 – 11:00 am
Even with the most accurate checking of contact details during sign-up, over time these will become out-of-date as your contacts may move house, change their e-mail address, or even die. In the UK there are a number of managed lists which are designed to help address this issue, each of which can be used to [...]
Nick Andrews
