Tip

How Clean is Your Data?

Have you ever been called Mr when you are a Mrs, or vice versa? It‘s incredibly irritating, isn’t it? First impressions count and this ethos should always be applied when contacting your customers, whether over the phone or through direct marketing.

The cleanliness and accuracy of the data you collect about your customers is vital. Otherwise you risk offending your customers before they have even walked through the door! Clean data is also the first step on the road to success with your email marketing activities.

Here are a few simple steps to help keep your database clean:

• Think about the information you need to personalise your emails and written communications and then focus on collecting this in as much detail and with as much accuracy as possible
• When talking to a customer, re-confirm back to them all contact details including: the spelling of their name, their title (Mr, Mrs etc), email address and telephone number
• Check with customers whether or not they would like to receive emails from you and respect their decision - never email customers who haven’t given their permission
• Make sure you unsubscribe all customers who ask to be removed
• Investigate any bounced back emails and either remove them from your database or update their contact details
• If your customers don’t open three email communications in a row then consider removing them from your database. Alternatively, you could send them an email asking if they still want to be subscribed, and potentially use this as an opportunity to incentivise them to return to your restaurant

Happy cleaning!