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In an age where no one thinks of environmentalists as welly-wearing fanatics any more, any industry responsible for wasting as much paper as the DM business risks accusations of profligacy. According to the DMIS Survey 2003, two-thirds of the five billion direct mail packs sent out in the UK that year were thrown in the bin.

The DM business is fighting back. The DMA has embarked on an environmental campaign and virtually every direct marketer claims to be spending more time identifying only those consumers who are likely to be interested in their offer.

A key part of the DMA drive is increasing the use of suppression files.

Fundamentally, suppression removes those people from your mailing list who should not be there: those who have died; those who no longer live at an address, or those who have registered to not receive direct mail.

Remove these people and your mailing becomes more focused, you save money on mailing packs, and increase response rates, since the total number of people responding will be measured against a lower total mailing.

So far, so simple. Where suppression starts to get complicated is in the number of files available, and in the variations in quality and coverage.

A few years ago you could almost count available suppression files on the fingers of one hand, but in recent times, they have flourished. This has widened choice, but has also increased confusion - ironically, making it the perfect excuse to put suppression at the bottom of the 'To do' list, because it's all so confusing.

Mixed messages

"There's no doubt marketers understand the importance of using suppression files," says Thomas Adalbert, managing director of The Preference Service.

"Research we carried out among 342 marketers in August 2004 revealed that 64 per cent of responders thought the use of suppression products should be made compulsory. However, only 35 per cent of marketers said they use suppression products. The industry needs to get to the bottom of this."

The DMA runs the three 'preference' files, MPS (Mailing Preference Service, including Baby MPS), FPS (Fax Preference Service ) and TPS (Telephone Preference Service), with which consumers can register to stop companies sending them direct mail or faxes, or phoning them. The TPS and FPS are legally enforceable. The MPS is not, but it is a condition of both the DMA and the Advertising Standard Authority's Code of Practice.

Added to these, there are a number of commercial suppression files that charge for every record matched, typically 20p per match. The Royal Mail operates the NCOA (National Change of Address) file, based on consumers who have moved home and provided Royal Mail with their new address so it can redirect their mail. This is one of the most reliable suppression files, however only about one-third of the 3.25 million people who move house in the UK each year use it.

Good practice to use bereavement files

There are two main bereavement suppression files. The Bereavement Register is operated by REaD Group, one of the longest-established and biggest players in suppression, while Mortascreen Plus is operated by Smee and Ford, and marketed by DM group Millennium. It relies on relatives of the deceased to inform of a death using forms that are distributed in funeral directories, hospitals, hospices and registrars offices.

Given the damage to a brand that is caused when a mailing pack is sent to someone who has recently died, one would assume that all companies would screen against bereavement.

As data expert Tony Lamb, group data delivery director at Wegener DM points out: "There is no scenario where you should not be using deceased suppression. It is bad practice not to and unpleasant for those consumers who have lost someone."

Nevertheless, Mortascreen Plus product manager Karen Webster says it doesn't always happen. "We've seen a big increase in take-up over the past five years, but there are still some companies who don't use it," she says. "The main problem we find is with cold lists. People use Mortascreen Plus for their own list, but if they buy from a broker, they assume it has been screened, and often it has not."

The latest entrant to the bereavement market is The Baby Suppression File, operated by Bounty. The company distributes literature and samples to expectant mums and collects more than 8,000 registrations a year. Suppression details are passed to Bounty from midwives where a pregnancy has not run full term or a child has died.

There are several goneaway suppression files, including the REaD Group's GAS, Acxiom's new Purity file, and a number of online solutions.

Jason Lark, managing director at data consultancy Celerity, says companies should be wary of these online offerings. "Many of the online suppression solutions available are extremely harsh and crude in their matching rules and seem solely designed to deliver the highest amounts of matches possible.

This generates increased revenues for these companies while stripping their clients' data of potential leads and revenue."

The problem Lark refers to, in fact, is just as relevant for offline systems but, he says, it's exacerbated in the online, self-service arena because clients are left to run the file without advice or contact with the suppression file operator.

Goneaway files must be checked

The heart of the problem is knowing what constitutes a goneaway. Consumers have caught on to the idea that by returning direct mail with 'Gone Away' written on the envelope, they won't get any more 'junk mail' from that company.

"We found back in 1995 that 28 per cent of postal returns still lived at that address," says REaD Group chief executive, Mark Roy. "Now the number is closer to 40 per cent."

However, Roy maintains that such consumer game playing does not mean they are unlikely to respond to future campaigns.

"In the days when companies only sold one or two things, that might have been a valid argument," he says. "But a blue chip organisation today might have 20 different products, so just because someone doesn't want your life assurance, it doesn't mean they won't want a loan a few months later. All they are saying is they don't want that mailing at that time in their life."

The problem is that some suppression files treat these unvalidated postal returns as validated goneaways, suppressing potentially warm prospects from the database. As Wegener DM's Lamb says: "The reality is, the more inaccurate the suppression product, the more match rates you get, and the more money you make."

Steven Day, a director of UKChanges, which carried out a benchmarking exercise on UK suppression files in February this year has seen examples where companies have over-suppressed clients' data. "There is a balance to be achieved. If you have a low-value product, it's better to take people out than mail them. But if it's a specific target market for high-value products and you have purchased accurate data, over-suppression dents the potential of the campaign."

One approach is to use an alternative source of goneaway data. Acxiom's recently launched Purity file does not source goneaways from postal returns.

Instead, they are based on data from the company's Infobase Lifestyle Universe that has been collected over the past 15 years.

Lisa Chittenden, head of research and development, says tests to validate the file show 98.1 per cent accuracy, compared to an industry average of 95 per cent. This means that for every 100 people suppressed as goneaways, 98 of them are no longer resident at that address.

"We're just trying to be as transparent about this as possible," says Chittenden. "There's a lot of cynicism out there about how suppression files are put together, and I wonder if some people have jumped on the bandwagon and put together files without being completely up-front about where the data has come from."

This being the case, direct marketers are advised to test any suppression file, and the application of the file, before they use it.

The best approach is to use a form of audit process, says Sophie Sale, head of product marketing at Experian Marketing Services. "Get an idea of the volumes you are talking about and the cost and also look at different data sources and at how they are applied to clients' data," she says.

Under- and over-matching of suppression files can result in up to 20 per cent of people being ignored or taken out in error. Testing should flag this up. "It's not just a choice of which file to use," she adds.

"The most accurate suppression records are useless if they are not applied correctly."

Andy Taylor, managing director of data bureau Ebiquita, concedes that suppression is a complex business, but says companies should let the experts guide them through it. "The quality of data in the files varies considerably, and to the uninitiated, which files to apply, in what order and to what file can be difficult," he admits.

According to Taylor, this is great news for data bureaux, especially independents that hold a range of suppression files. "A couple of years ago choices were limited, but there is now a broad range of available options. This could be confusing for clients, but it provides them with a much more effective and accurate service. And clearly, for the industry, it presents an opportunity for us to deliver sensible advice on the data application."

And never, it seems, has that sensible advice been more urgently needed.

WHAT TO ASK

Questions to ask your suppression file supplier

- From where is the data in the suppression file sourced?

- How often is it updated?

- Are goneaways validated? If so on what basis? If on postal returns only, how many returned mailing packs constitute an assumed goneaway?

- Will the company supply a sample of a few thousand goneaways in a given postcode area that you can verify using Electoral Roll data, or a telephone survey? If not, why not?

- Can you trial the file on a sample of your data?

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