The Importance Of Data Verification
March 03 - 2021
Email Marketing Strategy 5 min read

Getting the right match isn't just a byline for a dating app, it's an essential part of email acquisition.
Ensuring that the data you're collecting is accurate saves you time, resources, and money. The allure of quantity is strong, but quality gets you far better results which is why today, we are going to talk about data verification.
What is data verification?
Building your list is an essential part of your email marketing strategy. The most common way to acquire new email addresses is through a website sign up. This can be done through a newsletter sign up form or creating an account, and can utilise incentives to get people over the line: 10% off when you sign up, for example.
All routes to email acquisition, whether it's in person at events or through point of sale emails/e-receipts is only worth it if the data input is accurate. This means no miss-spellings, no missing @ signs and, of course, no spam. Interestingly, according to the DMA one in four organisations have used purchased lists to gather new data. It's even more vital here, when you don't have control over what you're collecting, that the data you'll use for your campaigns is accurate and clean.
But why bother?
In a recent study done by the DMA, they discovered the average cost per acquisition for each email address is £29.17. When you compare this to the estimated lifetime value of an email recipient of £34.56, it's clear to see the importance of verifying each individual email address collected.
Going through the time and energy of creating a campaign so that it speaks to your audience and hopefully brings in revenue, to then send it to dudd email addresses will not only cost you money, but also increase the bounce rate and potentially flag you as sending spam to email clients. Data accuracy is one of the main overlooked areas of email marketing but it's fundamental to success.
Data validation methods
Currently, only 13% of organisations verify people's email addresses at the point of collection. This is surprisingly low given that this is the easiest and leanest way to validate new data.
It can easily be done through a few checkpoints. Asking the person to fill out their email address again and only allowing it through if the two emails match is one route. You could also set up a flagging icon that checks syntax, or looks for any missing @ signs. You can also add a challenge response test with Captcha or similar, which is a good way to block spam.
Only allowing an email address through that meets these requirements is one way to keep things streamlined. Double opt in, although handy, still triggers the initial confirmation opt in email regardless of its legitimacy.
Once you've got the credible email through, you can then run them through a welcome programme of emails to gauge their engagement. Depending on their level of interaction with the journey of emails you send them, you can filter them into 'low', 'moderate' and 'high' engagement pots.
When those different data segments have been created, you can then start to build more targeted emails for those groups. With the high engagement data you can perhaps afford to send slightly more emails per month, knowing that you'll get a greater ROI. This is just one way you can make things more streamlined and cost effective once you've collected your legitimate data.
*****
Great email marketing starts with verified accurate data.
I once had a sip of what I thought was a refreshing glass of water, only to quickly discover it was my flatmate's vodka... Don't let your data be the unwanted vodka of your email acquisition. Always verify.
If you have any further questions on data management, take a look at our email marketing services.
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