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  Temperatures are dropping, leaves are falling and seasonal beverages are selling – it must mean that the holiday season is quickly approaching. And while many people get to wait in anticipation for this magical time of year, marketers are hard at work planning and creating their upcoming holiday marketing campaigns. In fact, many marketers are likely focused on developing their most creative designs and strategic promotions – critical components to any campaign. But they also need to give attention to their subscriber lists. A recent study found that as much as 50 percent of lists are inactive. If audiences are not engaging with the brand’s communications, then brands may experience diminished returns, or worse. Why reactivate? The bottom line is that it is more cost effective for marketers to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. Past buyers represent higher open, click and transaction rates than non-buyers. By reactivating their inactive subscriber base, marketers have an opportunity to improve the return on each marketing campaign. How to reactivate? Email addresses may appear inactive for a number of reasons. The email address may no longer be in use, the subscriber does not find the content relevant, or the subscriber prefers to scan unopened emails and purchase in other channels. Marketers need to understand the cause behind each inactive address in order to strategically re-engage with past customers. Once marketers are able to identify all of their inactive subscribers, they will want to segment them into buckets. For example, those that clicked but have not purchased in the past 90 days, or those that have opened emails, but not clicked or purchased in the past 90 days. Each person is unique in their behaviors and interests, so marketers will need to engage these subscribers in a variety of tactics. Offering an incentive Using an engaging subject line Utilizing a confirmed opt-in strategy Sending more than one message as part of a reactivation strategy Marketers who strategically reactivate their inactive subscriber base have an opportunity to bring past-customers back into their sales funnel, and experience more return on their marketing campaigns. By leveraging data and insight to identify and re-engage this group, brands and marketers can also have a magical holiday season. To learn more about re-engaging your inactive email subscribers, download our e-book.  

This feature article from DMN profiles Emad Georgy, Chief Technology Officer for Experian Marketing Services, as well as his team’s approach to data and predictive analytics. According to the article, “The other drive for Georgy’s commitment to data analytics has been interactions with clients … Data can help brands ‘uniquely understand customer behavior. At Experian, with all of our expertise, we can play a role in getting data to a position where it’s actionable.’” Click here to read the full article.

Experian has warned that current accounts can be a ‘front door for fraudsters’, as the company’s new ID Fraud Tracker reveals current account fraud is now nearly triple what it was two years ago, while credit card fraud has more than doubled within the same period. In both cases, the increase has been driven by fraudsters using stolen personal details of genuine individuals to attempt to open current accounts or apply for credit cards. Nick Mothershaw, fraud expert from Experian, explained:“A lot of people may see the news about current account fraud and think that it’s not as bad as having their card details stolen. But it is…in fact it could be an Achilles’ heel when it comes to their identity. Current account fraud not only presents an immediate threat of emptying someone’s overdraft facilities, but can act as a front door for fraudsters to access a wide range of financial products, including credit cards. “Current accounts and cards are tightly linked, and it’s no surprise that card fraud has grown alongside the rise in current account fraud. We urge people to be vigilant about activity on their account. “We all have a role to play in keeping our identities safe, and we’re encouraging everybody to do their bit. Even something as simple as making sure you regularly check your electronic statements can help to identify fraudulent activity before it escalates into something much worse.” More misery for ‘generation rent’ Private renters who live in shared accommodation in young urban neighbourhoods, aged 26 to 35 (known as ‘Rental Hubs’), continue to be the biggest targets for fraudsters – 18.4 per cent of all victims. However, fraudsters are particularly increasing their focus on those ‘transient renters’, mainly 18 to 25 years old, who tend to share private low-cost housing and are most likely to move more regularly. They saw the biggest rise in fraud over the last 12 months and now account for 7.1% of all fraud victims, compared to 4.9 per cent last year. Mothershaw said:“People who live in rented homes need to know that fraud is a very real and, sadly, growing danger for them in particular. What makes them easy targets for fraudsters is the fact that many share accommodation and also move regularly – within one or two years. Unless they are regularly monitoring all their credit applications, it is likely to be a while before they realise they have become victims. They are also high users of smart phones and social media, so they really are prime targets.” Experian’s new ID Fraud Tracker is a quarterly analysis of fraud rates across a variety of consumer financial products, from cards and current accounts to mortgages and car insurance. Current account fraud between April and June this year reached 128 fraudulent applications in every 10,000 applications – the fifth consecutive quarter it has exceeded 100 in every 10,000 applications. The rate of fraud in card applications reached 48 in every 10,000 applications during the same period. The analysis dates back to Q3 2013, when rates of current account and card fraud were at 48 and 21 in every 10,000 applications respectively. Experian offers some proactive steps people can take against fraud: Online passwords: There’s nothing more attractive for ID thieves than someone who uses the same password across multiple online accounts. It is crucial to have unique, secure passwords for each online account. People should consider the strength of their password; always use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols and – where possible – change them regularly. Security First: Be conscious of the information you share when using shared Wi-Fi networks. Public networks and open Wi-Fi hotspots can be compromised more easily by fraudsters than secure networks. Be cautious of the information you share on your social profiles such as your email address, date of birth and all other personal information that could be easily traced. Passcode protect: A lot of personal information is stored on devices that are not password protected. That’s emails, apps, messages – a vast amount of information that could be a goldmine for fraudsters if the device is lost or stolen. People should always lock their mobile device, whether it is with a passcode or a gesture, to prevent access to such information, should the worse happen. Check the post: Whilst e-banking is becoming increasingly popular, receiving unexpected, irrelevant mail, could be a warning sign of ID fraud – particularly mail that is outside of the usual purchasing sphere. Shred and destroy any documents that contain sensitive, personal details. And if you move house, make sure you re-direct your post and register to vote at your new address. Be credit wise: Being credit smart and checking your credit report to see if credit has been applied for under false pretenses, you can get a better handle on whether personal information has fallen into the wrong hands. Web monitoring tools are also useful as they scour the web for stolen details – sending people an instant notification if their information appears somewhere new online.