May 2, 2014
You may be the savviest salesman in the world but, at the end of the day, you’re only as good as your data. And for many companies, data could be a lot better.
In a recent State of Salesforce report by Bluewolf, 25% of companies cited data as their No. 1 business challenge. And as many as one in four B2B databases are inaccurate, according to research by SiriusDecisions. Marketers are clearly having trouble with their data quality.
What’s more, this “data problem” is costing marketers serious money. SiriusDecisions Senior Research Director Jonathan Block points to the 1-10-100 rule: It takes $1 to verify a record as it’s entered, $10 to cleanse and re-duplicate it and $100 if nothing is done. And these costs multiply exponentially as databases grow.
Ultimately, bad data can creep into your database for a variety of reasons, but you can eradicate most of it with a proactive approach. Below are four ways to improve your data quality ASAP.
Ask for More with Less
To effectively target customers, you need more than a name and email address; you just don’t need it all at once. Just as you wouldn’t reveal everything about yourself on a first date, your customers don’t want to feel pressured to share too much too soon. Make it easier for them with smarter, simpler forms.
