What is data cleansing for businesses?

Data cleansing, often referred to as data scrubbing or data cleaning, involves the identification and removal or correction of inaccuracies within your data. These inaccuracies can be errors, duplicates, incomplete entries, data corruption, or improper formatting. There are multiple techniques, tools, and software solutions available for conducting this essential data refinement process.

Why is data cleansing important for businesses?

Data cleansing is vital in helping businesses grow. Accurate data ensures that a company’s decisions are based on reliable information, leading to more effective strategies and improved customer engagement. 

Data cleansing also helps in avoiding costly errors and inefficiencies, such as sending marketing materials to incorrect addresses or contacting customers using outdated information. By maintaining clean data, businesses can enhance their reputation and customer relationships by providing personalised and accurate communications. This is essential for building customer loyalty and trust, which are pivotal in driving growth, and is useful when sending direct mail campaigns.

What is the process of data cleansing at a print company?

The process of data cleansing by a print company involves refining and optimising the data used for printing projects. It is crucial for ensuring the accuracy and quality of printed materials. 

At ThreeFiveFour, we offer data cleansing services for both warm and cold data. Take a look at the step-by-step guide to our data cleansing process:

1. Data collection and reviewing

The first step is to collect all relevant customer data that will be used for your next project. This data can include customer names, addresses, contact information, and any other details relevant to the project.

The data is then reviewed for any obvious errors, such as spelling errors, incorrect addresses, or missing information. This initial review is best for identifying the most obvious issues.

At ThreeFiveFour, our data cleansing service is always tailored to each individual customer. Our recommendations are only ever beneficial to you and are aimed at improving your data.

We then standardise the data to ensure consistency. This involves formatting data in a uniform way, such as using a standardised address format or date format. This makes it easier to process and ensures that printed materials look professional.

Data Collection Graphs

2. Deduplication

Once the data has been formatted, the next step is to identify and remove duplicate records in the data. Duplicate entries can lead to wastage and errors in print materials. The process can be manual or automated, depending on the volume of data.

Deduplication is specific to each individual customer. For example, if there are multiple customers at one address we can choose to dedupe addresses. This means only one person at this address would receive the mailer.

Duplicate records can result in unnecessary expenses. Removing these means you’ll be saving money by not advertising or sending mailings to the same end user multiple times.

3. Check and enhance data

The data then needs to be validated to ensure its accuracy and correctness. This step includes verifying addresses for correctness and ensuring that all contact information is up to date. Our services means you can guarantee your data will be correct.

We also enhance the data by adding any missing information or correcting errors. For example, if a customer’s address is incomplete we will make sure this is completed correctly.

4. Printing

Once the data is thoroughly cleansed and validated, it’s ready to use in the printing process. Whether you’re printing direct mail materials, labels, or any other print project, the clean data will help ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of your materials.

Printed material about to be put into guillotine.

5. Mail Sorting

Once the data has been cleansed and printed, we then mail sort this for optimal postal discounts subject to quantity and client requirements.

The efficiency and accuracy of the mail sorting process are crucial for timely and cost-effective delivery of printed materials. Automated systems, address verification tools, and adherence to postal guidelines play essential roles in ensuring that the materials reach their intended recipients promptly and accurately.

ThreeFiveFour is an experienced print company, so you can count on us for all your print production and direct mail requirements.

Data cleansing is a critical step in print production to avoid wasted resources, errors, and inefficiencies. By following a structured process, print companies like us can enhance the quality and impact of our customers’ printed materials while maintaining the accuracy of customer data.

5 Tips for Saving Money on Printing for Your Business

Finding ways to save money on marketing campaigns and mailers remains a top priority for most businesses. Printing, despite living in a digital world, is still an essential part of many businesses operations. However, it can also be a significant expense. That’s why we’ve put together a few top tips for saving money on printing for your business.

1. Explore Printing Services

The first thing you should do when it comes to saving money on your printing, is to seek reliable and cost-effective printing companies. Do your research and don’t just settle for the first one you find. 

Exploring local or regional print vendors might also be beneficial. You might find that they offer competitive rates compared to printing companies on the other side of the country. 

Not only can you find cost-efficient options, you can also look around for reputable printers. Online reviews, testimonials, and recommendations from trusted sources can provide insights into the printer’s reliability, customer service, and overall satisfaction level. Opting for vendors with positive feedback and a solid reputation helps businesses avoid potential issues and ensures a smooth printing experience.

ThreeFiveFour offers reliable and cost-effective printing options, get in touch with us to see how we can help.

2. Reduced Equipment and Maintenance Costs

Investing in high-quality printing equipment can be expensive. That’s why most businesses outsource their printing services to save paying out for the equipment. 

Not only is the cost of printers expensive, you’d need to consider the ongoing costs for supplies and maintenance. This includes things like ink cartridges, toner, printheads, maintenance kits, and specialty papers. High-quality printers often require specific supplies in order to produce optimal results.

Maintenance costs can also add up when investing in your own printer. Printers need regular servicing, cleaning, and new parts may be required. If any technical issues or breakdowns occur, the cost of repairs can also add up. 

That’s why outsourcing your printing is handy and cost-effective. Printing service providers, like ThreeFiveFour, take care of all the costs including maintaining high-quality printers. 

3. Expertise and Efficiency

Printing companies can offer solutions to make your printing cheaper. When opting for reliable print service providers, you can guarantee that your work is in safe hands. ThreeFiveFour has over fifty years experience in the printing industry, so you can be rest assured that we’re experts in managing all printing processes.

Most printing businesses have skilled staff who are experts at printing. This means they can optimise print jobs, minimise any waste, and offer ways to save money on printing projects.

There are many ways around saving money on printing. For example, businesses can save a substantial amount of money when their mailer is sent as a closed piece mailer, as opposed to a naked mailer. By simply glueing the edges of the mailer, it saves roughly 5p per item (which adds up to a lot when sending out thousands of mail).

4. Advanced Technology

Keeping up with the latest printing technologies can be challenging and costly for businesses. Printing service providers continuously invest in state-of-the-art printing equipment and software to deliver high-quality results. 

Advanced technology allows printing services to offer a diverse range of printing options. This includes various print formats such as brochures, posters, business cards, banners, and personalised printing. With advanced digital printing equipment, we can cater to the specific needs of businesses and provide versatile printing solutions at a fair price.

By utilising the services of printing experts, businesses gain access to cutting-edge technology without spending on upfront investments and ongoing charges.

5. Buy in Bulk

Did you know that ordering higher quantities brings the unit price down? For example, ordering 1000 leaflets makes each individual leaflet cheaper than ordering 100 leaflets, despite the overall price being higher.

This is a great option if you reorder the same print materials often – just order higher quantities, less often!

It’s clear that outsourcing any printing work is vital when it comes to saving money while producing quality print material for your business. You can ensure to keep all maintenance costs down and find better deals from experts in the industry, all whilst ensuring your print is in safe hands.

Get in touch for all your printing needs!

T: 01268 293 794

E: [email protected]