We all know that at the heart of every effective CRM system is clean data. But what are the many kinds of bad data?
Fraudulent data is damaging data that has been intentionally entered by humans or bots. One way that fraudulent data occurs when your company has sales initiatives that require users to sign up using a bad form. Many users concerned about data privacy will just put fake details to access exclusive promotions or benefits without giving up their personal information. While it’s not as common, competitors can also use the tactic of using fraudulent data to inhibit the effectiveness of your CRM system through wasting resources.
Invalid data is when the information that was acquired is correct, but either has bad formatting or keyed into the wrong fields. CRM processes are not entirely seamless because they still require human intervention for accuracy. As the world becomes more globalized, sales representatives struggle with spelling errors on the names of leads. During the data entry process, they may input the wrong emails or numbers by accident. Unchecked emails that are not valid or invalid before integrating into the system are at high risk of bouncing back.
Duplicate data is a common issue for CRM systems with campaigns that benefit first-time customers is that people create multiple accounts to get the same benefits, more than once. There are also cases of customers logging under different names, addresses, or emails in unintegrated software platforms. While duplicate data may seem harmless from the customer side, when done on a large scale will make your company’s sales funnel inaccurate. Companies will lose money on acquisition campaigns designed at a loss in hopes of nurturing a lead later on.
While it may have been correct and useful information at some point, data can become obsolete. While customers can truthfully provide data, their contents are not valid forever. Obsoleteness data can be due to things like name and address changes, the point of contact changing jobs, or companies closing. Customers have ever-changing lives. If your data doesn’t change with your customers, your offers no longer become relevant. Should your messaging still reach your contacts, they will either ignore or you or mark you as spam.
Incomplete data happens when sales reps lack relevant information necessary to engage with the customer further. Some companies also have sign-up forms that do not verify if they included necessary information before being added to the CRM system. Having incomplete data often requires manual intervention to fix.
Completely accurate and useful data require not just a seamless data entry process; they also need a good data cleaning and management process. Clean data is updated regularly, timely, and accurately. One of the best ways to make sure they’re always up to standard is working with companies that have crm data entry experts. Hey DAN combines the latest advancement in AI with human intuition and has been delivering measurable results in over 15 years.
You’ll lose out on good customer leads.
Having a good CRM database means knowing useful, timely, and relevant information about your customers. A strong fundamental understanding of your existing customers are clues to improve not just your product or service but your overall customer experience.
If you don’t understand what customers want or need from you, you may be losing out on providing what they expect from you.
You will annoy customers.
Customers who feel unheard will quickly move to make their purchases where they are. Gone are the days when marketers would put up billboards and radio ads with no amount of targeting. These days, customers will be hesitant to trust you if you can’t even remember their names.
It will mess up your sales pipeline.
When you do not know who your customers are or the clear historical signs that they are ready to convert, you will not know where to put your energy. Your sales teams will struggle to manage their time and end up wasting resources pursuing a lead that is likely not going to make a purchase.
It will frustrate your sales teams.
No matter how many capable salespeople you have on your team, with bad data, they will be going into battle without ammunition. Not only will they have no accurate picture of their prospective clients, but they will also lose visibility on their existing ones.
To nurture relationships with customers, companies need to understand where they are at any point in time. Loyalty is fickle, but positive customer experience makes all the difference.
It will waste endless resources.
One of the worst things that can happen with bad CRM data is forecasts will not be accurate. Management will not be able to set reasonable targets that will lead them to burn out and low morale from their sales teams.
Customers want a seamless experience between channels. An effective CRM system will pass customer information between relevant departments while speaking with the same voice. Great CRM remembers their birthdays, contact details, and addresses for shipping. Bad CRM data will have them feel like you are a broken record that asks the same questions with every purchase.
Do not fall into the trap of bad data. Help your salespeople not only do their job but do it well. Make sure that your CRM system is the most effective it can be through integrating it with sales enablement partners like Hey DAN.
Hey DAN can do everything from meeting notes, data entry, clean up, and mining; Hey DAN can even do the follow-ups for you so that you never miss out on purchasing milestones. Let Hey DAN worry about the last mile of the meeting and give your salespeople space and time to shine to do what they do best – close deals.
Bad / inconsistent data is the ax that will keep any great CRM system from bearing fruit. They sap not only your time, energy, and resources but your ability to grow as a company. An inaccurate view of the past and present state of your business will almost guarantee an uncertain future.
Useful pipelines and better forecasts need clean data. CRM systems need to know why CRM Data becomes dirty before they can avoid them.
Bad Forms
It’s not enough to set up a form that integrates with existing CRM systems. Companies have to make sure that not only do their customer forms have all the necessary fields we need but that it also has the right capabilities to weed out dirty data.
Prospective leads who either don’t complete the form or don’t do it correctly are regular sources of dirty data. Proper form-field validation capabilities lessen probable errors of customer information.
Data Entry Errors
Besides meeting prospective customers and closing deals, many sales teams struggle to fulfill the many administrative tasks assigned to them. The rush of things to do sometimes means missing out on acquiring important information during meetings. Before it gets integrated into the company CRM system, there are very few opportunities to validate data.
Obsolete Data
Due to their packed schedules, many salespeople take a long time to input information into the company CRM system. Should the lag time between their initial touchpoint and the succeeding follow-ups be too long, there is a chance that their lead becomes cold before it even begins.
Companies should avoid loss of leads because of improperly designed forms, late and wrong data entry at all costs. Dirty data creates inefficiencies, diminishes customer relationships, and can be a source of frustration from your sales teams who can’t rely on the company for important information. CRM systems populated with dirty data can cost companies thousands or even millions of dollars a year.
Customer data will inevitably change with time. However, there are still many ways to make sure the initial data integration process is flawless. Companies need to make sure their forms are unstructured, their data validated and logged into the CRM system promptly.
It may sound easy, but it’s not. Generally, the nature of their roles already stretches sales teams. From prospecting and meeting clients to the hassle of administrative duties that come with it, salespeople have limited time and energy.
However, these issues still need to be addressed for everyone’s benefit. One way to make sure that companies stay on track with their CRM Hygiene is to work with professionals who can do it for them. Using specialized sales enablement technology, companies like Hey DAN can help companies maximize their CRM efforts with just a call.
Hey DAN’s Voice to CRM technology that combines machine learning and human intelligence makes form validation, data entry, and management a fuss-free, convenient experience.
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