There are many ingredients that go into the mixing bowl of running successful and effective direct mail campaigns. Proper planning, high-quality data, and a committed team are just some of these ingredients. But two of the most important for the success of direct mail campaigns is the personalisation of said campaign, as well as the privacy of the data and information involved within it. This is especially the case with the new GDPR laws effective from May 2018.
What is data privacy?
We think this definition from Tech Target summarises data privacy quite nicely:
“Data privacy, also called information privacy, is the aspect of information technology (IT) that deals with the ability an organization or individual has to determine what data in a computer system can be shared with third parties.”
Why it’s important to personalise direct mail campaigns
Everyone likes a personal touch. Whether it’s through gifts, interaction or situations, adding a personal touch makes us feel special and not just another number. There are many ways that you can personalise direct mail campaigns, and it has been proven to improve the success rate of these campaigns.
In fact, 98% of people said that personalisation is important in direct mail campaigns, so make sure you aren’t only appealing to the 2%! Some of the ways that you can personalise a campaign is through great copywriting or by simple touches, such as addressing your mail to the recipient themselves.
Simply addressing mail to “the homeowner”, “occupier” or “dear resident” is a clear sign that you’re just blanket firing out mail, rather than putting time into proper research, data gathering and personalisation.
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Managing privacy and data during direct mail campaigns
Personalising a campaign will, of course, mean that you will need to collect personal details on the persons that you are sending your mail to. This could be simply such as their name, as we referred to above, or maybe it could be deeper things such as their interests or beliefs.
Some direct marketing tactics have received a bad name in recent years due to pushy nuisance callers and rogue, aggressive marketers, so it’s more important than ever that you properly manage privacy and protect data.
How do bakergoodchild manage privacy?
We take all of our direct mail campaigns seriously, no matter the size and no matter the client. We are fully compliant with all the relevant laws, and you can see from our about us page that we have many accreditations, certifications and memberships. These all ensure that we are fully qualified when it comes to gathering, managing and handling sensitive information.
We are a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), which means we abide by their five main principles when approaching any direct mail campaigns:
- Putting the customer first
- Respecting their privacy
- Being honest and fair at all times
- Being diligent with data
- Taking responsibility
We are also ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 accredited, which relates to quality management and environmental conduct respectively, as well as being registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. We also fully comply with the requirements of the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which becomes a legal requirement throughout Europe from 25th May 2018.
Finally, we have partnerships with some of the strictest mailing houses in the UK, such as the Royal Mail, which has a stern criterion for quality and privacy management.
Discuss your data privacy further with bakergoodchild
Looking to launch a direct mail campaign but worried about data privacy? Discuss privacy and data confidentiality with one of our team today by calling 0800 612 1972.
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