Keeping CRM Data Up-to-Date and Accurate

The importance of keeping CRM data up-to-date and accurate

As we established a moment ago, inaccurate data can hurt your sales. Why is that? You use your data to make decisions about your sales and marketing strategies and determine what’s working well and what needs to change. Essentially, your customer data is the driving force behind your sales and marketing.

So, when you’re using accurate customer data, that means your marketing will be improved. The opposite is true, though, if your customer data is faulty somehow. You’ll look at inaccurate data, draw incorrect conclusions, and build ineffective campaigns.

The same is true of data that was once accurate but is now outdated. However, you can mitigate that problem by working to maintain data accuracy.

3 tips for maintaining customer data quality

There are a few different ways of keeping CRM data up-to-date and accurate. Here are three of the best methods.

Maintaining customer data quality

• Regularly clean and validate your data
• Automate data transfers
• Train your team on data management

1. Regularly clean and validate your data

The best way to ensure customer data quality is to regularly clean and validate that data. But what does that mean?

Data cleaning is a process where you comb through your data and remove any quality issues you find. Those issues include:

• • Inaccuracies

• • Inconsistencies

• • Formatting issues

• • Redundancies

• • And more

Datasets will often contain at least one of the issues listed above, and data cleaning allows you to discover and eliminate those issues. You should try to perform data cleaning before transferring the data into your CRM.

Customer data validation comes after data cleaning. It’s basically a final check before the data enters the CRM, intended to verify that nothing was missed in the data cleaning. You should also continue to perform customer data validation checks after the data is in the CRM.

2. Automate data transfers

Another way to improve your customer data quality is to automate the process of transferring your data into your CRM. When you manually move data from one platform to another, there’s a decent probability of human error. However, most CRMs are capable of automatically pulling in data.

When you automate the process, you eliminate that human error element. A piece of software won’t misremember or mistype data points because it’s pulling in the data directly. Plus, you can sometimes automate the customer data validation process, too.

As an added bonus, automating the process frees up your team to spend time on other, more pressing things. Plus, it’s just a faster way to import your data—manually copying it over can be time-consuming, but when you automate the process, it happens far more quickly.

Let’s Talk

Have a question? Need a volume discount? Send us a message or book a meeting with a Sales rep to start the conversation.

Contact Sales

3. Train your team on data management

The third major step to keeping CRM data up-to-date and accurate is to train your team on data management. The data is there for your team to use, but how do they handle that data? That’s for you to decide, but whatever it is, make sure it’s clear to your team.

Take the time to train your team on any data-related processes they’ll need to know. If you want them to import data manually, teach them how to do that efficiently. For team members who will work on data segmentation, outline what that process should look like.

With an effective training process for your team members, you can minimize their chances of generating inaccurate data. For example, you can prevent two team members from inputting the same data twice, creating duplicate data that could skew your analytics.

Frequently asked questions

1. What are the hidden costs of inaccurate CRM data for my business?

Inaccurate CRM data isn’t just a minor annoyance; it’s a silent drain on your resources and a roadblock to growth. Beyond the obvious frustration, bad data leads to significant hidden costs. Think about wasted marketing spend on outdated contacts, sales teams chasing unqualified leads, and customer service reps struggling with incomplete histories. Studies show that poor data quality can cost businesses millions annually in missed opportunities and inefficient processes. It erosion trust, damages customer relationships, and ultimately hinders your ability to make informed strategic decisions. At Nutshell, we believe your CRM should be a growth engine, not a money pit. Keeping your data pristine ensures every dollar and every minute invested yields maximum returns.

2. How often should I clean my CRM data, and what’s the most effective approach for ongoing maintenance?

Think of CRM data cleaning like maintaining your car – it needs regular tune-ups, not just emergency repairs! While a comprehensive annual or bi-annual audit is crucial, ongoing maintenance is key. We recommend a multi-layered approach:

1. Monthly Spot Checks: Dedicate a few hours each month to review specific segments of your data for inconsistencies or outdated information.
2. Automated Cleansing: Leverage CRM features (like Nutshell’s duplicate detection) and third-party tools for automated data validation and deduplication. This is your first line of defense!
3. Real-time Validation: Implement rules at the point of entry to ensure data is accurate from the start. For example, require specific formats for phone numbers or email addresses.
4. User Accountability: Empower and train your team to update records as soon as they notice changes. Make data hygiene a shared responsibility, not just an IT task.

By integrating these practices, you’ll move from reactive data cleaning to proactive data hygiene, keeping your Nutshell CRM a reliable source of truth.

3. Beyond manual entry errors, what are the most common sources of CRM data inaccuracy, and how can I prevent them?

While manual typos are a classic culprit, several other sneaky sources can corrupt your CRM data:

• Data Decay: People change jobs, companies merge, and contact info goes stale. This is natural, with up to 25% of business contacts becoming obsolete annually. Prevention: Regular data enrichment services and scheduled data audits help combat this.
• Integration Gaps: When your CRM isn’t seamlessly connected with other tools (marketing automation, support, etc.), data can become siloed or inconsistently updated. Prevention: Ensure robust, two-way integrations that keep all systems synchronized.
• Lack of Standardization: Different team members using different naming conventions or inputting data in varied formats leads to chaos. Prevention: Establish clear data entry guidelines and use mandatory fields within your CRM to enforce consistency.
• Duplicate Records: Multiple entries for the same contact or company create confusion and inflate your database. Prevention: Utilize your CRM’s built-in duplicate detection and merging tools, like those in Nutshell, and perform regular deduplication efforts.

By understanding these sources, you can build a more resilient data strategy within Nutshell.

4. Can CRM automation truly solve my data accuracy problems, or is human oversight still critical?

Automation is a powerful ally in the fight for data accuracy, but it’s not a magic bullet that eliminates the need for human involvement entirely. Think of it as a highly efficient co-pilot, not an autonomous driver.

What automation excels at:

• Reducing manual errors: Automating data entry from forms, email signatures, or integrations minimizes typos.
• Real-time updates: Automatically syncing information across connected platforms.
• Duplicate detection & merging: Identifying and consolidating redundant records.
• Data validation: Enforcing rules for data formats and completeness.

Where human oversight remains critical:

• Strategic decision-making: Interpreting data trends and making judgment calls that automation can’t.
• Complex data cleansing: Resolving nuanced discrepancies that automated rules might miss.
• Defining and refining rules: Humans set the parameters for what automation should do.
• Training and adoption: Ensuring your team understands and utilizes the automated tools effectively.

At Nutshell, we empower you with smart automation to handle the heavy lifting, freeing up your team to focus on the strategic human elements that truly drive sales and customer relationships.

5. What is data enrichment, and how can it proactively improve my CRM data quality and sales efforts?

Data enrichment is like giving your CRM data a powerful upgrade! It’s the process of enhancing your existing customer and prospect records with additional, valuable information from external sources. Instead of just having a name and email, enrichment can add details like:

• Company size and industry
• Job titles and seniority
• Social media profiles
• Geographic location
• Technographics (what software they use)

How it helps proactively:

• Fills in the gaps: Automatically completes missing fields, reducing incomplete records.
• Keeps data fresh: Updates outdated information as it changes in external databases.
• Enhances segmentation: Allows for more precise targeting in marketing and sales campaigns.
• Improves personalization: Provides deeper insights for tailored outreach and better customer experiences.
• Boosts lead scoring: More data points lead to more accurate qualification of leads.

By integrating data enrichment services with your Nutshell CRM, you transform basic contact information into a rich, actionable profile, giving your sales and marketing teams a significant edge.

Nutshell is the perfect CRM to help you maintain accurate customer data

If you want a CRM that makes data entry and validation easy, look no further than Nutshell. Nutshell comes equipped with a variety of features, including sales automation and extensive data reporting, as well as access to our stellar customer service team, which can help you with any questions you may have.

Still not sure if Nutshell is the right CRM for you? Just check out our 14-day free trial today!