Jun 23 2010
Avoiding Data Append Mishaps
Those who know me well know that I am a fan of quality steaks and quality email data appends. A favorite high-end steakhouse of mine, Fleming’s, is batting .500 in this regard. They serve some of the best steaks in the world, but unfortunately, experienced a misstep while performing a recent data append.
I have been a Fleming’s email subscriber for some time. I diligently open each email looking for the next delicious deal. Recently I received an email from Fleming’s with the subject line “Email Communications from Fleming’s.” This immediately raised my suspicions. When I opened the email I instantly recognized it as an email append message. I was being automatically opted-in to receive emails from Fleming’s even though I was already an active subscriber. Oops…
This screen shot shows the append email, and past emails I have received. As you can see, I regularly receive their emails.
So, how did this happen?
My guess is that Flemings ran a data append and acquired my email address from some third-party database, but neglected to exclude already subscribed email addresses from their final list. They not only confused existing subscribers with an opt-in message but probably also paid someone for this service. Double ouch!
An email data append typically works like this:
- Offline customer data (name, address etc.) is compared to a database looking for an email address match.
- This list of newly appended customers should be compared against your past opt-outs and current subscribers prior to sending the email. If this precaution is not taken, the sender risks abuse complaints from customers who have already subscribed or unsubscribed in the past.
- Once an email address is matched to an offline customer, an email is sent reminding them of their past relationship with you and asking to opt-in to the email program. This newly acquired subscriber must be given the option to opt-out in the append email.
Thinking back to Flemings’ email, one positive takeaway was that the email append creative they used was really sharp. They explained why I was receiving the email, provided ample ways to opt-out, and also told me more about who they are and what they offer their customers.
data append can sort the old database
This site expain clearly actaully what is email append and data append i have learnt very much thanks a lot