Why email and phone append are essential for prescreen

In today’s world, the digital revolution has drastically transformed the way financial institutions and mortgage lenders target, reach, and interact with their prospective and current clients. While prescreen campaigns may have leaned on traditional methods like direct mail in the past, today’s consumers expect faster, more convenient communication—particularly through digital channels.

Email has quickly become a preferred method for delivering prescreen offers due to its speed, efficiency, and low cost. At the same time, phone outreach—especially through mobile and SMS—continues to be a powerful way to connect with consumers in real time. Together, these digital channels allow businesses to run more responsive, data-driven campaigns that reach users where they’re most likely to engage.

But before you launch your next prescreen campaign, it’s critical to ensure that you have the right contact information in place. In this article, we’ll explore how email append and phone append can help enrich your existing consumer data—improving deliverability, expanding your reach, and driving better results across your marketing efforts.

What are email and phone append?

Email append is the process of adding missing or updated email addresses to your existing customer database using trusted third-party data sources. Starting with a name and postal address, businesses can match records and add deliverable email addresses—helping ensure your message lands in the right inbox.

Phone append follows the same concept. Using a consumer’s name and address, phone append services identify and attach the most accurate mobile or landline numbers. This allows marketers to reach customers via SMS or phone calls, adding another layer of flexibility to your outreach.

Together, these tools power a more complete, compliant, and effective prescreen campaign—especially when used in tandem.

5 reasons to use email and phone append for prescreen campaigns

Prescreen campaigns are most effective when they reach the right people, at the right time, through the right channels. By leveraging both email and phone append, you can enhance targeting, improve engagement, and streamline your outreach. Let’s now look at five key reasons why both are essential to a successful prescreen strategy.

1. Reach a larger audience

Prescreen offers are time-sensitive, and your ability to deliver them quickly can make or break your campaign. Email and phone append allow you to reach a much larger segment of your audience than direct mail alone.

By enriching your records with both email addresses and phone numbers, you gain multiple points of contact—ensuring your message is seen and increasing the likelihood of engagement. Whether someone prefers a text, a call, or an email, you’ll be ready to meet them there.

2. Accelerate response rates

Email and SMS deliver messages instantly. With email append, users receive your offer in their inbox within seconds of sending. Similarly, phone append gives you access to mobile numbers for rapid-fire SMS campaigns or outbound calls.

Compared to the days or even weeks it takes direct mail to reach a mailbox, digital outreach leads to faster decision-making and a shorter conversion cycle.

3. Enhance customer satisfaction

Consumers expect convenience—and offering them a choice in how they engage is a great way to deliver it. Some prefer the low-pressure nature of email. Others may respond more readily to a personalized text message or phone call.

Phone and email append services enable multichannel communication, allowing you to tailor your outreach to individual preferences. The result? A more seamless customer experience that boosts satisfaction and response rates.

4. Increase the accuracy of your data

When it comes to prescreen campaigns, accurate contact data is essential for reaching your audience quickly and effectively. Email and phone append both play a critical role in filling data gaps and ensuring your outreach is based on verified, up-to-date information. With email append, you can confirm deliverable addresses before sending, while phone append ensures mobile and landline numbers are accurate and callable. Together, they help your team engage confidently—knowing your offers are reaching real people through the right channels.

5. Reduce overhead costs

Direct mail comes with design, printing, and postage costs that quickly add up. By shifting prescreen communications to digital channels—powered by email and phone append—you significantly reduce overhead.

Digital communication is faster, more cost-effective, and easier to scale. Plus, multichannel outreach often drives better results, giving your team more ROI from each campaign.

Experian makes prescreen campaigns easy

At Experian, we believe that data should guide your business’s every move. Whether you’re prepping your company’s prescreen campaigns or want to ensure you’re reaching clients with the correct data, we’re here to help. Our team of data quality experts can connect you with the tools and software necessary to get started.