The importance of accurate and up-to-date CRM data
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The last thing your business wants is inaccurate data. Customer data can teach you a lot about your audience, giving you a better sense of who they are and what they want. That, in turn, will enable you to significantly improve your sales and marketing efforts.
But all that is a moot point if the data in your customer relationship management (CRM) platform isn’t accurate. Inaccurate or out-of-date data can have the opposite effect, causing you to build your campaigns on faulty information and making them less effective at driving sales.
That’s why keeping CRM data up-to-date and accurate is important. But the question is, how can you do that? Keep reading for the answer.
Accurate CRM data drives better decision-making and campaign performance: Clean, up-to-date data ensures your sales and marketing strategies are targeting the right leads at the right time, preventing wasted effort on outdated or duplicate records.
Automation and validation reduce human error and improve data quality: Automating data transfers and validating inputs during import helps maintain consistent, error-free CRM records, freeing your team from manual data entry and cleanup.
Teamwide data hygiene practices are essential for long-term CRM success: Training staff on consistent data-entry standards and conducting regular audits are critical for minimizing duplication, ensuring accuracy, and building trust in your CRM system.
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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The same is true of data that was once accurate but is now outdated.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.
There are a few different ways of keeping CRM data up-to-date and accurate. Here are three of the best methods.
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:
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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:
By integrating these practices, you’ll move from reactive data cleaning to proactive data hygiene, keeping your Nutshell CRM a reliable source of truth.
While manual typos are a classic culprit, several other sneaky sources can corrupt your CRM data:
By understanding these sources, you can build a more resilient data strategy within Nutshell.
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:
Where human oversight remains critical:
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.
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:
How it helps proactively:
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.
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!
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