ON THE FAST TRAIN TO PRE-SCREENING
Equifax Launches Express Screen to Streamline Credit Marketing
The challenge of improving response rates and reducing costs for credit marketing campaigns - and being able to respond to market opportunities quickly - is being managed by Equifax with the launch of its new credit pre-screening service. Equifax Express Screen has been developed in conjunction with CDMS, the commercial data management and document services operations owned by Littlewoods Ltd, to quickly and effectively reduce production and mailing costs whilst radically increasing response rates from consumers who match the credit profile of the mailing company. Customers benefit from this service as it will screen mailing files in a matter of days instead of weeks.
Explains Graham Arrowsmith of Equifax Marketing Services: "The financial services arena has become highly competitive and the need to bring products and services quickly to market is critical. We continue to see a growing demand from our clients for pre-screening services that can help them respond pro-actively to market changes. The creation of Equifax Express Screen recognises this need and provides a powerful predictive screening tool which can deliver rapid results."
By using criteria that matches the application process, such as an Equifax risk score as well as historical CCJ records, Express Screen standardises the pre-screening process. It is ideal for businesses that have not previously used pre-screening products, or businesses that do not have large volumes of customer data for analysis. In addition, the partnership with CDMS in the creation of Express Screen enables Equifax to offer a one-stop direct mail solution to further streamline the process, from pre-screening to fulfilment. CDMS enables highly targeted mailings to reach their destinations much quicker compared against industry norms.
Equifax will continue to offer its on-house pre-screening services to clients. "Equifax Express Screen was developed in recognition of the fact that not all clients require the sophisticated pre-screening solutions that Equifax offers," said Arrowsmith. "Clients who previously would have ruled out pre-screening due to tight timelines can now take advantage of the benefits resulting from screening out people who otherwise get rejected later in the acquisition process."
CDMS' Managing Director Steve Ward says: "Our rapid data processing provides unparalleled levels of match and de-duping capability. When combined with Equifax's Express Screen, we put the database user in control."
"Equifax Express Screen will help businesses reduce wastage from targeting consumers who do not meet the credit profile for specific offers" continued Arrowsmith. "In turn this will reduce the risk of targeting consumers in mailing campaigns who are subsequently declined and hence will have a poor customer experience. "
Data used in credit pre-screening by Express Screen will include:
- County Court Judgments and Bankruptcies
- Equifax Insight Payment Performance - this closed used group data, which is only available to companies who are members of Insight, provides a picture of consumer credit management
- Linked Addresses - used to identify additional data at previous addresses
- Risk Navigator score - a generic scorecard used to summarise all the data sources
