The efficiency of your business depends on the accuracy of your data. If the data you depend on is even slightly incorrect, corrupt, or unusable, your processes won’t produce the results you want.
While this may sound obvious, it’s something that many corporate teams and leaders take for granted. But make no mistake: The health of your company and its performance is tied into the health of your data.
How can you reduce the friction and costs related to obsolete data? First, learn to identify the most common places that outdated data occurs within organizations. Then, use your knowledge to close any data reliability gaps.
To get started, consider the following four ways that old or questionable data can negatively impact the major areas of an organization. (After each challenge is noted, you’ll find out about techniques to improve the situation.)
1. Older data can impede lead generation and sales efforts.
It doesn’t matter if you’re working in a B2C, B2B, or D2C ecosystem: You need up-to-date customer information to keep your sales as strong as possible. Otherwise, you could wind up seeing poor returns and low conversions.
For instance, let’s say you want to re-engage buyers who have made purchases over the past two years. To achieve your goal, you construct a drip campaign that’s a mixture of text and email messaging. However, if the historical customer data you’re using hasn’t been consistently scrubbed and updated, you may not experience an impressive response.
One solution to avoid allowing your customer data to get stale is to invest in software that automatically syncs your global address list (GAL) information. As explained by GAL sync leader CiraHub, having all your customer information in one accessible place resolves data inaccuracies. Whenever a user edits or inputs GAL data in one location, the data updates in all other locations right away.
You want your customer data to be a source of truth and trust. By synchronizing your customer contact database across all your programs and users, you can make sure your messaging reaches your target audiences. You can also cut down on time-consuming manual data entry.
2. Older data can hamper your customer support and service.
What happens when a customer calls your support team or uses your self-serve options? Chances are high that internally existing data will be used to resolve the customer’s problems. But if the data isn’t right, the problem can’t be fixed — and that’s not what customers want.
For example, if an unsatisfied customer calls your help desk, the agent will likely pull up the customer’s file. The agent is assuming that all the data is complete and current. If it’s not, the customer may begin to wonder about the competency of both the agent and your company. And that’s not great for business, especially in an era of online reviews.
There are a couple of strategies to keep customer data updated. Number one, strive to keep your customers’ transactional records in a centralized system. This will lower the odds of the data being “invisible” in one system and “visible” in another. Two, provide customers with access to their accounts, if possible. That way, they can update their personal and purchasing information as needed.
Three, train your support representatives to ensure the accuracy of customers’ information when they make contact with your business. Consistently confirming data may take time upfront but can streamline and shorten future calls. Plus, customers will feel like they’re being taken care of.
3. Older data can tarnish your content and perceived expertise.
Outdated data doesn’t just exist in your customer data pools. It can exist within the content on your website as well. From your blogs and product links to your “about us” and other web pages, your site probably relies on data points. And those data points can become outmoded very quickly.
For instance, maybe your marketing team regularly publishes articles, case studies, whitepapers, and videos. That’s a terrific tactic to keep your SEO moving along so you don’t lose keyword ranking positions. There’s just one snag: If you’re citing “ancient” sources or promoting old information (e.g., dates, times, percentages,) your content could start to look dated.
This happens more frequently than you might imagine because it’s hard to keep content fresh. That’s why all outside-facing content should be reviewed for accuracy several times a year depending upon the sector you’re in.
Certainly, you don’t want your marketing employees to spend all their time refreshing older content; that wouldn’t be efficient. Nevertheless, having them systematically review non-evergreen content ensures that the data you’re publishing is still relevant. Remember: Your website is meant to showcase your industry expertise. The best way to highlight your leadership is with content that doesn’t include defunct data.
4. Older data can cause financial reporting errors.
You’re probably running financial reports all the time. After all, you want to make sure that you have your finger on the pulse of your company’s fiscal performance. But if your financial data isn’t correct, your reports will be filled with errors. And if you make decisions based on erroneous financial information, you could put yourself and your organization in a difficult situation.
To improve your financial data, you may want to take several steps. Initially, make sure that all financial information is being clearly and regularly inputted in the correct places. For instance, both direct and indirect costs need to be appropriately attributed to determine if you’re making a profit on a specific product or service.
If you’ve been running a small business, you may not have a CFO on staff. However, you might want to consider hiring a fractional CFO to review your financial workflows and data. Having a second set of eyes on your processes can shine a light on roadblocks and concerns.
Purchasing a subscription to a reputable corporate accounting software can be another method of eliminating errors caused by outdated data. The best software on the market tends to use AI to add a layer of checks and balances by spotting anomalies.
You need to have confidence in your data to confidently run your business. Therefore, put measures in place this year to reduce the incidents of outmoded data within your company. When you do, you should see an increase in your operational efficiencies.