Hi Tessiturians:
This question is for those in the community that acquire names from outside sources for mailings (and I apologize if you already received this on the Marketing Forum): where do you record any individuals who request to be removed from the mailing list after a mailing? Do you maintain an independent file of these names for suppression from future mailings or do you add the name into Tessitura and mark with the corresponding mail restriction? We currently maintain a separate file with the thought being that it isn't ethical to add a name to Tessitura that belonged to an outside source. However, as time goes on the separate database becomes outdated and those individuals are forever suppressed from mailings even if they become a patron of our organization down the road. If you maintain a separate file, for how many years do you keep names on that list?
If you enter them in Tessitura what do you use as an Original Source or other mechanism for marking the source of the name? I'm attempting to gather a consensus as to how many organizations put these names in Tessitura so please do respond.
Thank you in advance for your feedback!
Chuck Buchanan
92nd Street Y
We do put individuals in our database with a Do Not Mail/Customer Request setting and a customer service note indicating why the person was added (which source he or she was responding to). We have two other “no mail” settings—one for staff/in house, one for invalid addresses. Those we will change when circumstances change—a person is no longer on staff and is a ticket buyer; we are able to update the account address. We wouldn’t update the customer request block without an invitation to do so from a patron. I can’t think of an occasion where this has happened.
We send our list of Do Not Mail patrons to our mail house to filter outside trade lists, and, of course, suppress them for all of our own mailings. We don’t track such accounts by original source or attribute or such.
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Lucie SpielerIT Development and Training Manager
Editor, Season Program
Florida Grand Opera