Deduplication

Deduplication is one of the most indispensable features of a marketing database. These databases are updated on a regular basis and duplicate sets of records creep in. The advantages of having a clean database include:

1. You will not irritate your customers by sending them the same information more than once.
2. You will save money! ( you can save by eliminating the cost of communicating with customers more than once.)
3. The information that can be mined from the database will be much more meaningful.

Deduplication consists of two steps:

1. Firstly, finding the duplicates which are not limited to exact matches but also takes phonetic differences into account.
2. Secondly, merging the separate sets of data into one superior customer record.

Database marketing involves trying to include as much customer data as possible, and as many customers as are possible. This causes duplicates, it is inconceivable to dispense of the duplicated record but we should rather create one superior record containing the best information from both customer records.

Duplicate customer details can come from a number of different sources. Consider the amount of customer information available, you have your own customer database, web based submission forms, competition entrants, bought in lists, sales contacts etc. The list continues. It is easy to understand how duplicates can creep in and the need to eliminate them to maintain a professional relationship with your customers.

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