Customer data changes – and combining different data sources can quickly result in duplicate or outdated addresses. Trebbau matches your address records against your own data, third-party lists, reference data and suppression lists to identify records that should be checked or cleaned before further use.
This improves the quality of your address database and helps you avoid unnecessary costs in mailing and direct marketing campaigns.
What is data matching?
Data matching compares existing address records with one another or with suitable reference databases according to defined criteria.
This can identify duplicates within a database or overlaps between your own addresses and third-party lists. Changes of address, deceased individuals, undeliverable addresses and entries on exclusion or suppression lists can also be taken into account.
The appropriate matching procedures depend on the data and its intended use.
Which data matching services are available?
Identify and remove duplicates
Duplicates can occur within a single database or when different lists are combined – for example, when third-party addresses are used alongside existing customer addresses for a marketing campaign.
Trebbau identifies and documents duplicate matches according to the agreed matching rules. This helps prevent duplicate communications and reduces unnecessary address rental, production and postage costs.
Matching against suppression lists, such as the Robinson List, can also be included in the data cleansing process.
Identify customers who have moved
When customers or prospects move, the address stored in your database may no longer be up to date.
Change-of-address matching compares existing addresses with relevant reference databases. Identified changes can be flagged for further processing or updated where the necessary information is available.
This helps maintain customer relationships after a move and reduces unnecessary mailings to former addresses.
Identify undeliverable addresses
An address with a correct postal structure is not necessarily still deliverable. Before a mailing, additional checks can therefore identify indications of undeliverability.
Trebbau’s deliverability checks take into account information including:
- Surnames and first names or company names
- Streets and house numbers or PO boxes
- Postcodes and towns or cities
Identifying problematic records before production helps avoid unnecessary production and postage costs.
Identify deceased individuals in your database
Customer and prospect databases may still contain records of people who have died.
Matching against relevant reference databases allows these records to be flagged in your own database or, when using third-party addresses, removed from the list intended for the mailing.
In addition to avoiding unnecessary mailings, this supports sensitive and respectful communication with customers and their families.
Match your own and third-party addresses before mailing
Deduplication is particularly useful when rented addresses are combined with your existing customer database.
A person may appear both in your own customer database and in a third-party list used for the campaign. Without prior matching, they could receive the same communication more than once.
Trebbau can match the different databases against one another using agreed criteria and document the results for further processing.
This produces a mailing list with fewer duplicate records and allows you to use your mailing volume more effectively.
Data matching or data updating – what is the difference?
Both services improve data quality, but they perform different tasks.
Data updating checks existing information such as addresses, names and salutations for formal and postal accuracy and corrects it where possible.
Data matching compares records with one another or with additional reference databases and suppression lists. This can identify duplicates, changes of address, deceased individuals and undeliverable addresses.
Depending on the condition of your data, both procedures can be combined.
Why choose Trebbau for data matching?
Not every database requires the same matching rules. The source and structure of the data matter, as does its intended use.
Trebbau works with you to select the appropriate matching procedures for your requirements. These can incorporate your own and rented address records as well as relevant reference databases and suppression lists.
Our experience in data processing, direct marketing and mailing production allows us to align data matching directly with subsequent processes – both nationally and internationally.
Check your address database before your next mailing
Would you like to reduce duplicates, account for changes of address or check your address database for problematic records before a mailing?
We work with you to determine which matching procedures are appropriate for your data and its intended use.
Speak to or use our contact form.
Frequently asked questions about data matching
Deduplication is particularly useful when multiple data sources are combined, third-party addresses are used alongside your own customer addresses or duplicate records are suspected within a database.
Yes. Your own customer database can be matched against third-party addresses used for a campaign. This identifies overlaps and reduces duplicate communications.
An address with a correct postal structure does not automatically mean that the person or company can still be reached there. Postal validation checks the formal accuracy of the address; a deliverability check can additionally identify indications that the recipient can no longer be reached.
Yes. Depending on the intended use, address databases can also be matched against relevant exclusion or suppression lists, such as the Robinson List.
