When devising the best marketing strategy, most businesses struggle with the same things.
- Reliable information
- Budget constraints
- Channel selection
But what if there was a way to counteract these obstacles to make marketing efforts easier?
Enter data appending.
A process to supplement missing consumer information with additional data from another database or external sources.
In this month’s blog we’ll take you through some of the practical applications for data appending in 2025 and how you can start building a more holistic profile of your customer.
Let’s get started!
Appending 101
Before we dive into the real-world benefits, we first have to define a few of the data appends out there.
Email Appending: One of the most common appends. Emails can be matched via several different data points, especially names and postal addresses.
Use Case: Powering newsletters, drip campaigns, and customer re‑engagement.
Demographic Appending: Allows for greater segmentation of your target audience, and more specificity in your marketing messages!
Use Case: Finding age, household income, presence of children, home ownership, etc.
Behavioral Appending: A less common but extremely powerful append. With the right data points, businesses can narrow down the consumers likely to take a certain action or that align with a way of thinking.
Use Case: Uncovering purchase propensity, brand affinity, or lifestyle interests.
Psychographic Appending: Similar to behavioral, this append gives insight into the personality and character of your customer base.
Use Case: Finding values, attitudes, preferences (e.g., eco‑friendly shoppers, pet owners)
Statistic: 63% use customer data to influence product offerings.
Appending Benefits
Remember those challenges we touched on earlier? Let’s talk about overcoming them!
Aside from a cleaner, more structured database of information, there are a few KPI improvements that come along with a solid appending strategy.
Deliverability: By plugging in more reliable information, there’s a much greater percentage of your marketing message (email, direct mail, etc.) being delivered to the right person.
Channel Flexibility: With no limits on the channels at your disposal, omnichannel strategies become MUCH easier to plan and execute.
Optimized Budget: This one is simple. Less mistakes means least budget wasted!
Statistic: 87% of databases are incomplete, missing data like email addresses or phone numbers.
To Append or Not Append
The last question to consider.
…is appending a good fit for your business?
It depends. But here are a few scenarios to determine if appending is right for you.
Deliverability Issues – If >15% of your last direct‑mail send were returned, or > 10% of emails bounced, appending is an ideal fix.
Data Gaps – Large “unknowns” across your database (age, income, race, ethnicity, etc.). An append can fill those gaps.
Email Stagnation or Low CTR – In addition to the over saturation of email, a low click‑through rate may be an indicator of missing or stale data.
New Initiatives – Trying something new can be risky. Before entering a new segment or testing a new product/service, it pays to be well prepared and ensure your data is robust and current.
If any of these apply to your business – might be time to give us a call!
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