Unclean data stinks up your system. It can travel through your business, slowing you down, causing confusion and costing you money. Don’t believe us? Between 2019-2021, over 40% of sales reps did not have enough information about leads and accounts to make effective sales, and there are plenty more stats around data cleansing coming up.
This is the first in our three-part series taking you through the importance of data cleansing and some top tips for practising clean data habits… so make sure to stick around!
An introduction to data cleansing
Bad data… Does it really matter? How do I clean it? And what can I do about it in the future?
Don’t worry we have you covered with the ‘whats’, ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of dirty data throughout this series. First off a few definitions…
Clean data: Data that is without error and in its entirety so it can be used effectively by everyone.
Data cleansing: The process of identifying incomplete, incorrect, inaccurate or irrelevant data and modifying, validating, deleting or replacing it.
So how does unclean data actually affect me?
Over the past 6 years Salesforce and Salesforce bloggers have noted the persistent and holistic impact that bad data has on companies of all sizes. Let’s take a look at some numbers:
- Salesforce believes that 70% of incomplete recorded data quickly becomes obsolete and within a year not useful to anyone.
- Blogs between 2015 and 2019 see Salesforce mention that over 90% of data recorded in CRMs is incomplete.
The fact that this figure has remained at a high level should be ringing alarm bells!
As we’ve already discussed, between 2019-2021, over 40% of sales reps did not have enough information about leads and accounts to make effective sales, and therefore struggled to achieve monthly and annual sales targets. This inevitably affects generated revenue.
Why is data cleansing important?
- Ensure consistency, validity and confidence in your data by cleansing it regularly. This foundation can yield better results and help reach goals quicker.
- Reduce the time employees spend sorting through bad data and let users be more productive on the tasks that matter – like growing your business or organization!
- Eradicate data privacy worries for customers and clients. It’s outright good practice; you wouldn’t want your private mail sent to an incorrect address!
- Protect your company’s reputation. Saving bad or incomplete information affects all areas of your company, from sales and marketing to the senior management, stopping everyone from carrying out their job well and making beneficial decisions, which directly affects the reputation of your business and its revenue.
The good news
Not all is lost! The University of Texas has estimated that even if the data entered is 10% more accurate, then your revenue would be considerably boosted not only for bigger enterprises but also for B2B and B2C firms.
So now you know what data cleansing is, how do you practice it?
Watch out for the next post in Data Cleaning 101 for our five best tips for cleansing your Salesforce org. You don’t want to miss that one!
Want to learn more about the impact of poor data?
Check out our blog: What is the impact of poor quality data?
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