Ensure business databases up to date

April 19, 2010

New research has shown that companies in the UK are losing £146 million annually as their mailing lists are not up to date.

The report was published by the IT firm Postcode Anywhere and revealed that companies in the UK lose this cash when they have incorrect delivery addresses on their direct mail campaigns.

The research was carried out in collaboration with the Interactive Media in Retail Group and it found that a staggering 5.8 million items do not get delivered first time due to a mistake in the address.

The managing director of Postcode Anywhere, Guy Mucklow, explained: "E-commerce businesses are shooting themselves in the foot if they take shortcuts with their address forms." He added: "According to our results, every delivery that fails due to an incorrect address costs an average £25.50 to put right, through refunds, redeliveries and wasted man-hours."

Cynthia Williams, director of product marketing at Pitney Bowes Business Insight, said that incorrect or incomplete mailing addresses can lead to customer dissatisfaction and missed sales. She said: “Late or misdirected mail can increase inbound customer service calls by up to 30 per cent.” She advised that improving address quality can limit those costs and lower a company's risk in terms of collections, in addition to speeding up new orders.