Providing Accurate Consumer Data
The Challenge of Geocode Based Prospect Mailing List Generation
We have another guest blogger this week. I’d like to introduce Chris Anderson, CTO and Vice President of Information Technology.
Chris discusses the challenge of providing accurate consumer database information to our customers and how important it is to strive for 100% accuracy.
- Steve
One of the most common questions the QuantumDigital Information Technology team receives is in regard to the accuracy of our national residential database.
We offer a multitude of direct mail list options for various customers:
- NeighbormailSM - Specify a quantity and one target address, and we mail to homeowners most like the one specified.
- Streetmail - Enter a zip code, select the streets, and we’ll mail to homeowners on those streets.
- ZipMailSM - We mail to homeowners within a specified zip code.
- New MapMailSM - You can make targeted selections on a visual, interactive map.
- RadiusMailSM - You provide a central address as a starting point, and we’ll mail to surrounding homes based on the miles from the address and quantity you specify.
- PersonaList® - Upload, manage, and mail to your list anytime.
For selections such as RadiusmailSM, we use a computerized process of selecting residents within a certain distance of the target address. We rely on the accuracy of the longitude and latitude coordinates of the address records in our system - and that is where the challenge begins.
We use several sources of address geocode coordinate data with each one having varying degrees of accuracy depending on the area. For many reasons, some of which are covered in the article, “Geocoding Challenges: Why Accuracy Matters,”providers of geocode data, although they strive for complete accuracy, will never have 100% accurate and complete coverage of all the areas our customers will want to mail to. This occasionally results in some less than optimal mailing list selections.
Most of our customers are very happy with the selection results and find that the accuracy is optimal for their needs. They have also commented that the automated selection process is a quick and easy way to generate a mailing list.
The QuantumDigital system also features the ability to view the selected addresses on a map, allowing the user to review their mailing list and even remove addresses, such as business competitors or neighbors, from their lists. Web based mapping is a great way to evaluate mailing list coverage and accuracy.
We will continue to evaluate geocoder solutions in our search for better results for our customers. As GPStechnology becomes ever more popular, we can expect continued improvements in geocode accuracy.
Please check out our mailing list selection demo on our homepage and please let me know how you feel about the results for your neck of the woods.
Best,
Chris Anderson
CTO, VP of Information Technology
