Your CRM system will offer you useful information on prospects, paying customers, vendors, and employees. CRM data decay is a significant issue that may lead to a reduction in sales and customer satisfaction, higher personnel turnover, and dissatisfaction amongst management and employees.

According to a study, CRM data quality issues have hampered 95% of survey respondents’ ability to utilize their CRM system successfully, and 44% of those polled said their organization lost more than 10% of yearly sales due to CRM data decay. Respondents expect their CRM data to degrade by 34% yearly unless major enhancements are made.

The quality and freshness of data are critical to the efficiency of a company’s CRM system. We’ll discuss data decay, its consequences, and solutions for reducing CRM data decay and prioritizing data quality.

What Is Data Decay?

Data decay is the process through which the quality of your B2B database deteriorates over time at varied pace due to incorrect, incomplete, or obsolete information. Unfortunately, data deterioration cannot be avoided at scale. 

What Causes Data Decay?

Bad data usually cause data decay. Any old, inaccurate, duplicated, improperly structured or missing information is considered bad data. There are several ways to end up with bad data in your CRM database, some of which are listed below. 

1. Outdated Data

When you first collect information about a customer, future customer, or vendor it might be accurate. However, after a while, the data may become incorrect. For example, people change jobs, phone numbers, and addresses. The demographic details of a company may change because of M&A, going out of business, change in location, etc. Here are a few statistics that can help you understand how common it is:

• Every two years, 40% of email users change their email addresses.
• Every year, 20% of postal addresses change.
• Every year, 18% of phone numbers change.
• Every year, 60% of employees change jobs inside their organization.

2. Incorrect Formatting

Firmographic and demographic details like addresses, names, email addresses, and phone numbers can be captured in different ways. When data is captured online or offline, unfortunately, it is not entered the same way, which inevitably leads to inaccurate information being stored.

3. Data Is Entered Inaccurately

Users who fill out online forms may mistakenly enter incorrect information or provide incorrect details. Manual data entering might result in the same outcomes. For example, if a name is misspelled, it will be used in all marketing and sales communications.

4. Duplicate Data

It is possible to wind up with duplicates when combining lists. You might also have the same individual added to various lead-generating, newsletters or any form of nurturing program, resulting in their email being added to your list a number of times.

The Repercussions of Data Decay On Your Business

Data decay can severely hinder the growth of your business. Here are some of the most common consequences of data decay in your CRM.

• Loss of Customers: Data decay often leads to duplicated sales and marketing efforts. These unproductive efforts can cost the company customers.
• Miss Out On New Sales: Sales teams lose new sales due to poor quality CRM data. Degraded data reduces your capacity to convert leads successfully.
• Lost Revenue: Poor-quality CRM data can cost up to 10% or more of your annual revenue due to miscommunication and wasted time and resources.
• Increased Employee Turnover: Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service teams can only accomplish their tasks if CRM data is good, which leads to dissatisfaction and demotivation. As a result, if you do not invest in a CRM data-quality plan, you may lose talented people.
• Friction Between Teams:  Poor-quality CRM data can harm employee relationships. For example, CRM data decay causes friction between marketing and sales departments.

How To Get Rid of Data Decay

As marketing and sales initiatives are data-driven, boosting your database’s quality will enhance your marketing and sales efforts’ success. Clean CRM data will help your teams spend more time connecting with the right audience rather than designing emails that bounce back, contacting potential customers by the incorrect name, or sending mailings to the incorrect address. Here’s how you can get rid of data decay.

1. Create A Strong Data Hygiene Strategy

Adding frequent data hygiene checks as a part of a routine is the most evident technique to keep your database fresh and updated. This procedure entails the following steps:

• Checking for changes to existing data
• Getting rid of duplicate contacts
• Validating new contacts
• Completing any missing information

All of this can be done automatically using dynamic data tools that can update your information in real-time, eliminating the need for human inspections.

Despite the fact that data hygiene inspections are typically delegated to a certain department (sales, marketing, or IT), ensure that everyone in the business is aware of data hygiene policies. Collaboration among teams substantially contributes to combating data deterioration and fostering a data-driven culture inside the firm.

2. Get Confirmed Opt-Ins

Opt-in confirmation is another method of combating data decay. It is used to check that your subscribers completed the registration process by providing the right email address. When new users enter their information, they will receive a confirmation email to complete the signing up with valid information.

3. Consider Backing Up Your Data

Data decay can also occur as a result of hardware failure. The repercussions of a severely corrupted dataset are dire. A startling 94% of businesses that suffer a catastrophic data loss never return to normal operations.

To limit the chance of lost input and assure disaster recovery, save your data in the cloud securely, just as you would with essential information on your phone or laptop. Cloud storage is the safest and most effective method of data backup, and you may select from several forms of cloud storage based on your needs and requirements. However, keep in mind to safeguard your data access and protect it from external cyberattacks.

4. Let The Professionals Handle Data Cleansing

Outsourcing to a third party can save you time and allow you to focus on what is most important to your business! As part of our data decay management services, we offer multiple features, including:

• Getting rid of duplicate records and incorrect details
• Removing outdated data entries – both at the contact and the company level
• Ensuring that you connect with the right people and the accounts
• Owing correct data for your marketing and sales, customer service, and hiring strategies

Conclusion

Historically, data decay has proved to be an expensive proposition. To combat it, businesses must regularly connect with their audiences, maintain data hygiene, and invest in technologies to keep their data up to date.