Seeding (the act of including a decoy in your data) can be expensive, so is it really necessary?

This is a question we hear all the time here at JR Direct and the short answer is “YES”. Actually, that’s the long answer too. Seeding is ALWAYS worth the time and effort.

Your names are your most important asset… period. Most of our clients commonly associate seeding with tracking their rental data, but even if you don’t rent your data there is a strong case to be made for seeding. When we hear a client say “I don’t rent my names out so why should I seed them?” our answer is always the same – to protect your biggest asset. It seems we are hearing daily about how someone’s database has been hacked and private information has been stolen. In today’s world of digital media and cloud storage we have to be even more careful when dealing with customer data.

At JR Direct, we see companies taking unnecessary risks all the time – sending us data that is not encrypted, or worse, stored on so called “free” cloud drives with little or no security. It doesn’t take much for this data to easily fall into the wrong hands. Regardless of the security measures you have in place, having a decoy in there will help you monitor your own data in case there ever is a breach.
(as a side note, at JR Direct we take your data protection seriously and we adhere to the world leading Canadian Data Protection Standards to keep you asset secure.)

The counter argument is that seeding can be expensive and time consuming, so a lot of companies are taking chances and hoping for the best. Unfortunately this puts their data, their biggest asset, at risk. If you don’t have the resources to maintain your own seeding, talk to your Account Representative at JR Direct and ask them what seeding solutions are available to help meet your needs:

  • “Co-Op Seeding” can dramatically save you the costs of a full seed. You get a report on all seeding activity on your names. This managed seeding service does the work for you and helps protect your names.
  • JR Direct List Management Services includes free seeding! As a value added service to our clients, when we manage your list, every rental of your file includes a free seed inserted and monitoring of all activity to that seed on your behalf.
  • Merge/Purge Seeding can also protect your names every time you mail them yourself. For a small fee added to your Merge Purge, JR Direct can help protect your names every time you mail them. By inserting the unique seed at the point of mailing we can ensure your mailing was delivered and is not abused.

Should you seed? Seeding helps protect your biggest asset, and for obvious reasons no one wants to be the Target of data breaches and theft.