Unfortunately, a lot of B2B data housed in company databases has not been properly managed and maintained. Many marketing managers know they have issues, but either dont have the time, know-how or budget to do a major clean-up. However, the focus should not be on only periodically cleaning up your data. You also want to clean up the processes involved in how you manage your data.
The fallout from bad B2B data can be significant. Without good data, companies will be wasting money on campaigns that dont reach viable targets. And the end result is fewer closed opportunities.
The Cost of Bad Lead Data
According to industry analysts, prospect and customer
B2B data typically doubles every year to 18 months. Good data inputted wont stay that way. Over time, data breaks down and must be properly managed to maintain its integrity.
Its not unrealistic to assume 10 to 25 percent of customer and prospect records in an organizations database contain incorrect information. This bad B2B data can range from having the wrong demographic information to not knowing a leads disposition.
As time passes, the incorrect information costs more to correct. Data managers often talk about the 1-10-100 rule. This rule says it can cost $1 to verify a record as it is being entered. It takes $10 to manage duplicates and clean existing data. However, if you do nothing to correct bad B2B data, it can cost you $100 per record.
Bad data that never gets cleaned keeps adding costs every time you use it. When you put the fallout from just one record into these monetary terms, you can easily see how expensive it is to maintain bad B2B data.
So what can you do to ensure quality data ends up in your databases? First, companies need to develop and formalize their strategies. Then, they need to fine-tune all the processes associated with data integrity. The focus needs to shift from only periodic data cleansing to also include data management and maintenance.
As you can expect, the downside of relying on data cleaning as a strategy is quality over time. When your cleansing project is complete, youll have quality data. But what happens next week, month or year as new contacts are added? You have to coordinatethe project over again and in between data cleanings, you are again using data with questionable integrity.
How to Improve Data Quality with Better Processes
To ensure the best quality data, you can develop internal processes from the start. With good procedures in place, you can rely on better data and less cleansing projects. And, its far more economical to build these data quality processes into your entire marketing programs.
The following guidelines can help businesses maintain B2B data integrity.
If you collect lead information from web forms and registration pages, you should avoid dumping it directly into a database. Filling out forms is not a favorite task of most web visitors, so the data may not be accurate. This may also be the case with lists, spreadsheets, and other data collection tools used.
By validating the data before you put it into your database, you can avoid having major issues from bad data down the road. This process can be accomplished through automation. If good B2B data goes into your system, the results that come out will be much more viable.
When sales and marketing use different databases, data can be put at risk. In this case, you have integration and compatibility issues that must be resolved. Finding a way to unify this data is critical to handing off valid leads.
In addition, sales and marketing must both comply with established procedures for data management. If either team falls short, future opportunities can be impacted.
Throughout the sales cycle, bad B2B data can have a profound impact on closing opportunities. Poor quality data can result in low or lost responses, redundant marketing, incorrect lead routing, frustrated sales reps, higher marketing costs and lower sales revenues. To avoid these things happening in your company, you need to focus on lead quality from start to finish. And the cost of better lead data management is well worth it.
