‘Gone away’ is a term used for people who have moved address. In many cases, when gone aways move home, they fail to notify that they have done so, ultimately leading to a breakdown in communication and potentially becoming a lost customer.
Gone aways are a key data decay catalyst in consumer databases. Around 1 in 10 people move home each year, demonstrating the impact gone aways have on customer data management. Your business might hold a large quota of incorrect customer addresses that not only cause you to waste time and money on bad customer data, but may also result in a breach of data protection law.
Are you doing enough to maintain accurate member records in your pension scheme? Our free guide provides advice on steps to mitigate data decay and trace gone away members.
The first step in tackling the problem is identifying genuine gone aways. The most efficient and cost-effective way of doing this is to perform a thorough data cleansing exercise of your entire database, which should include gone away suppression or flagging.
Once identified, you may wish to trace gone aways in bulk via a batch tracing method or individually using LexisNexis® TraceIQ®, our online tracing system.
“We are re-engaging with a higher percentage of our customers while reducing mailing costs and also reducing the risk of data protection breaches”