Just over two years later and the BLA is being relaunched with the aim of raising awareness among list buyers and encouraging more companies to seek accreditation. Ten companies have been through the accreditation process and these lists are currently in the process of being re-accredited.
One important change to the accreditation process is that the DMA site visit will include the collection of a data sample. This will be checked for de-dupes and against the relevant PAF and suppression files to ensure that the data quality is up to scratch. "We need to be absolutely confident that the data has been cleaned to the levels the owner claims," says Neil Matthews, compliance manager at the DMA.
Another new addition to the audit process is the introduction of a customer satisfaction survey. Clients who have bought the data will be contacted and asked a number of questions to check that they were satisfied with the list's performance in terms of data hygiene. This will ensure that standards don't slip once a company is fully accredited.
For any company considering accreditation, below is a breakdown of the various stages they will have to go through:
- An online accreditation process, where a questionnaire is completed. Questions asked include: what percentage of your database is fully postcoded? Are your lists TPS/MPS/FPS screened? What is your returns policy? Do you have systems to manage deletions and gone-aways? Do you have a published price list?
- The questionnaire is scored and companies notified if they have succeeded or not. They will then be sent a registration fee based on aggregate file size. This ranges from £675 to £1,500
- A site visit carried out by the DMA Compliance Unit to check systems and procedures and collect a sample of data to be taken away
- Companies are notified if they have achieved accreditation and are issued with a certificate
- A customer satisfaction survey to monitor list performance
- Lists must be re-accredited annually and failure to meet standards can result in removal of accreditation.
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