General Questions

Q. What does Cleanlist do?
A. Cleanlist provides data cleaning and enhancement services to organizations that want to have up-to-date, enhanced and/or properly formatted contact lists. For those that do not yet have a prospect list, our ResponseCanada™ database can provide you with a targeted prospect list that is filtered to your geographic and demographic specifications.

Q. How will clean data help our organization?
A. Cleanlist’s data cleaning and enhancement services can save your organization time and money by improving your direct mail deliverability rates. For example, increasing your deliverability rate from 75% to 95% on a campaign with 10,000 mail pieces, with an expense of $1.00 per piece, reduces the cost of undeliverable items from $2,500 to $500 – a $2,000 savings!

Q. How does data “get dirty” over time?
A. There are many reasons why data “gets dirty” over time. To put it simply, many individuals do not contact all of their goods and service providers when they move or have a loved one pass. Additionally, many organizations end up with duplicate contact records due to process overlap or list merging issues.

Q. How often should our data be cleaned?
A. For many organizations, it is very important to have an up-to-date contact list at all times and for these clients we recommend running the National Change of Address (NCOA), Deceased Suppression and Prison Suppression services on a monthly basis. For other organizations, it is recommended that you clean your list before the start of any direct mail or telemarketing campaign.

Q. Where does Cleanlist get its data?
A. Cleanlist works with a wide variety of data suppliers that include postal services, telecommunications companies, and market research firms. All data services provided by Cleanlist are fully privacy-compliant.

Q. Does Cleanlist offer U.S. data services?
A. Yes! Cleanlist is happy to offer a wide range of U.S. data solutions. Please visit our U.S. Cleanlist site for more information.

Q. Does Cleanlist provide references upon request?
A. As a general policy we do not provide references in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our clients and third-party agencies. However, we do offer free evaluations if you would like to learn more about your data.

Service-specific Questions

Q. Why is address standardization and correction included with every order?
A. Many of our services use mailing addresses as the primary factor in matching records. In order to ensure the best results we include the Address Standardization & Correction service with all orders.

Q. Why is supplementary paperwork required for certain services?
A. In order to comply with the regulations of some of our data suppliers, we require supplementary forms to be filled out and placed on file. If you require assistance in completing the required forms, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Q. Are ResponseCanada™ contacts processed through Canada Post’s NCOA database?
A. Unfortunately, we are unable to directly incorporate NCOA data into our prospecting data products, but as a compromise we do flag any NCOA matches as “undeliverable”. This allows our clients to avoid mailing to known bad addresses, while staying compliant with the requirements of the Privacy Act and requirements set by Canada Post.

Q. What do the NCOA return codes mean?
A. If you process your file with our National Change of Address (NCOA) service your records will be flagged with 1 of 6 possible codes:

Family Move (F). All members of the family have moved.

Individual Move (I). Only one person from the household has moved.

Business Move (B). The business on record has moved.

Deceased/Estate Move (D). The recipient has died and no forwarding address has been provided. While this record can likely be suppressed from your list, it is recommended that you also process your entire list with our Deceased Suppression service.

Nixie (X). Individual, family, or business has moved but no forwarding address has been provided, possibly for privacy reasons.

No Match (-). No match has been made.

Q. Is NCOA processing useful for deceased identification?
A. No. In a given year, Canada Post’s NCOA database only covers ~10% of all deceased Canadians. Even then, deceased/estate NCOA moves are withheld from the database for 1 year, until the forwarding order has expired, so those deceased records that are captured will be at least a year old by the time they are made available in the NCOA database.

Fortunately, Cleanlist recently launched a brand new Deceased Identification product, the first of its kind in Canada, with coverage of over 90% in English-speaking regions.

Q. How far back do Cleanlist’s deceased records go?
A. Cleanlist officially launched its Canadian Deceased Identification solution in March, 2012. At that time, we had weekly coverage rate of nearly 100% of English-speaking Canada. In addition, the launch database included a history of approximately 1 million deceased Canadians.

Due the policies of our various data suppliers, the amount of history available varied across regional pockets. As a result, Cleanlist’s history database has inconsistencies prior to 2012, with some areas being better covered than others.

On average, our historical coverage is as follows:

2012 + near 100% of English-speaking Canada
2009 to 2011 approximately 70%
2005 to 2008 approximately 40%
2000 to 2004 approximately 15%

Note: If we find a match to a contact on your list we will append the date-of-death.

Q. How many Canadians die each year?
A. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 260,000 Canadian die each year (2012 statistic). Of those, approximately 210,000 are in English-speaking Canada.

Q. For how long does Cleanlist retain deceased information?
A. Cleanlist retains collected deceased records indefinitely so records do not “roll off the file” after a set period of time.

Q. What type of coverage does Cleanlist’s deceased service have?
A. Cleanlist collects data on deceased Canadians for near 100% of English-speaking Canada. The French-speaking province of Quebec and some parts of New Brunswick are not currently covered.

Q. How often is Cleanlist’s deceased identification list updated?
A. To ensure we have the most up-to-date information, our Deceased Identification product is updated on a weekly basis.

Q. What are the differences between the Deceased Identification confidence codes?
A. Cleanlist evaluates several data elements when cross-referencing your contact information to the national deceased database. Depending on the data elements that align, and other factors we consider, matches are assigned to one of five confidence level categories.

C1 (Highest confidence match)

• Match made on full name + full street address + city, or
• Match made on full name (or first initial) + city + date of birth

C2 (Very high confidence match)

• Match made on full name (or first initial) + partial street address + city, or
• Match made on full name (or first initial) + city + age, or
• Match made on full name (or first initial) + date-of-birth

C3 (High confidence match)

• Match made on full name (or first initial) + rural address + city
• Match made on last name + first initial + city + age
• Match made on full name + city for uncommon last name

C4 (Confident match)

• Match made on full name + city for common last name
• Match made on last name + first initial + city for uncommon last name
• Match made on full name + age for uncommon last name

C% (Suspected match)

• Match made on last name + first initial + city for common last name
• Match made on full name + age for common last name

To decide how to use the confidence coded results, you need to consider the implications of identifying someone as deceased. For instance, if you’re preparing a direct mail campaign and what to prioritize contacts, you may simply suppress all contacts flagged deceased. Alternatively, if you’re planning to close accounts for deceased contacts, we strongly recommend you do more research on the lower confidence level matches.

National Do Not Call List (DNCL) Questions

Disclaimer: The following summary of the Canadian National Do Not Call List rules and requirements is provided as a convenience to Cleanlist’s clients. In no way does this summary constitute legal advice nor is it intended to replace the advice of an expert. For specific advice pertaining to your organization, Cleanlist recommends you consult your lawyer or the CRTC.

Q. What is the National Do Not Call List?
A. The Canadian National Do Not Call List (DNCL) was introduced in 2008 as a federal government initiative administered by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in an attempt to reduce unwanted telemarketing calls to consumers. At present, over 9 million telephone numbers are registered or approximately 40% of those publicly listed in the telephone directories.It’s illegal to make a solicitation call to a consumer whose number is registered on the DNCL.

Q. What does the DNCL apply to?
A. The CRTC considers everyone who makes unsolicited phone calls (or sends faxes) to consumers a “telemarketer”. The rules do not apply to businesses contacting other businesses. Registering as a “telemarketer” is mandatory for everyone making unsolicited phone calls. It’s also mandatory that “telemarketers” subscribe (at a fee) to the list of do-not-call numbers, unless your organization is exempt (registered charities, political parties, market research firms, newspapers and those with existing business relationships).

Q. How does the CRTC define an “existing business relationship”?
A. If you call customers who have placed an order with you in the past 18 months, or prospective customers who have contacted you in the past 6 months, you’re considered by the CRTC to have an “existing business relationship” and are exempt from using the DNCL.

Q. What are the penalties for non-compliance?
A. Failure to comply with the DNCL rules and regulations can result in CRTC-imposed penalties of up to $1,500 for individuals and up to $15,000 for corporations per violation.

Q. What does it cost to subscribe?
A. DNCL subscriptions are expensive. The subscription fees charged by the CRTC are as follows:

• 12-months: $33,642 for all area codes or $2,013 for one area code
• 6-months: $20,482 for all area codes or $1,043 for one area code
• 3-months: $11,063 for all area codes or $533 for one area code
• 1-month: $3,738 for all area codes or $180 for one area code

In addition to the CRTC fees above, marketers will incur a cost to scrub their lists against the DNCL file. This service can be outsourced to Cleanlist or it can be done internally. Your Cleanlist account manager can provide you with a cost estimate for the type of service you’ll require.

Q. How can I avoid paying the CRTC fee?
A. The CRTC doesn’t allow companies to share their subscription outside their organization. It also doesn’t allow service bureaus like Cleanlist to subscribe and share the DNCL list amongst its clients. Unfortunately, if your organization is making unsolicited phone calls to consumers, there’s no way to avoid subscribing and paying the CRTC fees.

Q. What else do I need to know to be compliant?
A. In addition to registering with the CRTC and subscribing to the DNCL, you should become familiar with the “CRTC Unsolicited Telecommunication Rules”. Key requirements include identifying yourself and the purpose of the call to the consumer at the beginning of the call and respecting time limitations.

It’s also mandatory for all telemarketers (including those exempt from the DNCL) to maintain their own internal do-not-call list.

Q. How do I register with the CRTC and subscribe to the DNCL?
A. It’s relatively simple to register as a telemarketer and subscribe to the DNCL list. The whole process can be completed on-line in less than 10 minutes. Here’s the link where you can begin:

Register Your Organization

Q. What information does Cleanlist need to scrub my lists?
A. Cleanlist is a registered service provider with the CRTC. If you wish to use Cleanlist’s services to scrub your call lists, you need to provide the following information:

• Registration Access Number (RAN) – This is the number used to log into your account.
• Subscription Access Number (SAN) – Click “Access Subscriptions” to get your SAN.
• Download Key – From the “Access Subscriptions” page, click on the SAN in the table to view the details of your subscription. Your Download Key is at the top of these details.

Note that if you do not currently have an active subscription you will not be able to retrieve your SAN or Download Key. To purchase a new subscription, click on the “Purchase Subscriptions” menu item.

Q. Once my list has been scrubbed, how long is it good for?
A. A DNCL list scrub is valid for 30 days. Lists scrubbed more than 30 days ago must be scrubbed again before they can be used for telemarketing.

Additional DNCL Resources:

• Key facts for telemarketers about the National DNCL
• CRTC Unsolicited Telecommunication Rules
• National DNCL Frequently Asked Questions

File Format & Submission Questions

Q. How do I submit my data for processing?
A. If you are using our self-service website, you will be asked to upload your data file during the order process. To place an order on our self-service website, please visit myCleanlist. If you are having a full-service job performed by our data experts, please upload your file via our myFiles web application.

Q. How can I ensure that my data meets the file format specification?
A. If you are using our self-service website, please visit our File Format Specifications page where file types, encoding and input fields are discussed. If an improperly-formatted input file is received, your order is likely to encounter delays and possibly conversion fees.

If you are unable to provide a file in the necessary format, please consider our Full-Service delivery option.

Q. How secure is my data?
A. The security and integrity of your data is very important to us at Cleanlist. We only accept and transfer data files through our secure myFiles web application and while your data is at Cleanlist, it is warehoused in our world-class data centre. Please see our Information Security page for more details.

We we do not accept data via email, nor do we return data files by email.