Alliant Introduces Cognito™, a Precision High-risk Address Suppression File for Direct Marketers

Cognito lets marketers identify over 750,000 US postal addresses that they should avoid doing business with. The file combines Alliant's cooperative transaction data and advanced analytics to identify postal points which consistently exhibit fraudulent behavior. Direct marketers, e-commerce companies, credit issuers and other marketers who need to avoid risk have tested Cognito and find that it can save them significant dollars in write-offs and lost products and services.

BREWSTER, NY (PRWEB) June 5, 2009 -- As marketers cast their nets wider for new sources of customers, they risk attracting consumers skilled at finding ways to get something for nothing. To minimize that risk, Alliant Cooperative Data Solutions has developed Cognito™, a high-risk postal address file that lets marketers instantly identify the "riskiest" addresses in the U.S.

Cognito™ is derived from the actual direct marketing behaviors of over 124 million consumers tracked in Alliant's performance database, DecisionBase360™. DB360 contains detailed transactional and payment information updated monthly by major direct marketing companies. Alliant applied rigorous analytic techniques to develop Cognito from this huge store of historical consumer information. The final product includes over 750,000 U.S. postal points that consistently exhibit fraudulent behavior after responding to marketing offers.

Cognito addresses are truly the 'worst of the worst', based on the collective experiences of our contributors

These delivery points average 50 orders each, with an abysmal 4.5% payment rate.

Bad debt from Internet and email sources is always two to three times higher than other channels

Internet marketers have a big need for a screening solution like Cognito.

CFOs in particular are finding a compelling value proposition in Cognito's ability to limit exposure to losses. Alliant has conducted a number of tests with direct marketers seeking an easy-to-implement solution to minimize losses from fraud. A magazine publisher observed a 10% reduction in overall bad debt. A multichannel retail firm reported that their tests showed that the file should generate as much as a 2% overall reduction in the number of fraudulent accounts opened each year. For all of these firms, Cognito represents a simple and direct opportunity to reduce the costs associated with excessive returns, write-offs and outright fraud, even as marketers invest in opening new channels.

Alliant reports that marketers are finding ways to deploy Cognito throughout their operations. The product is packaged as an annual site license which allows marketers many options for usage, from eliminating mailing to high-risk addresses, to screening in-bound orders before fulfillment.

Alliant executives also expect Cognito to have a large following among marketers who make extensive use of the Internet to generate sales and leads. "Bad debt from Internet and email sources is always two to three times higher than other channels," says Parzych. "Internet marketers have a big need for a screening solution like Cognito." Since there is no personally identifiable information in the file, Internet privacy issues are not a concern."

Alliant has adopted value-based licensing for Cognito™, a sliding scale that allows both larger and smaller marketing organizations to pay for the solution based on the expected monetary benefit as determined by test files. The one-year license for the install file includes four quarterly updates. For more information about the analytics behind Cognito™ or to arrange to send a file to Alliant for a test contact Mary-Jo Checco, Director of Account Management.

About Alliant Cooperative Data Solutions, LLC
Alliant's consumer segmentation solutions help marketers achieve higher levels of profit in direct and interactive marketing campaigns. Alliant's proprietary cooperative databases are built from historical transaction-level customer records contributed by many of the world's leading direct response marketers, powering marketing decisions with a rich, detailed source of consumer behavioral information. Alliant's data-driven analytic solutions help marketers identify profitables, delivering increases in response and average order size, minimizing payment risk, and increasing the success of customer retention and reactivation efforts for direct and interactive marketers. Based in Brewster, NY, Alliant is a Landmark Interactive company. Alliant's web site can be found at www.alliantdata.com">www.alliantdata.com.

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