It’s all around us every day, information about Corona Virus, COVID19. Marketers are switching to engagement strategies and information to help navigate this world pandemic. While it can be a great time to connect with customers, you may want to step back and make sure that your data is clean first!
I know you may be sick of hearing about cleaning, but this kind of cleaning won’t make your skin dry out but it will help with your communication effectiveness.
Marketing, Sales and Service data may be disjointed. The data is only as good as what is entered. Systems processes and people can cause issues with your data. Anytime there is a manual entry, lack of understanding of the ‘why,’ or importance of the data, siloed systems, or time – data can become impacted by quality issues.
Whether from market research, experimental research, or sales and service feedback, your data is should be sanitized. Yes, I said it, prevention is the best medicine. Clean data helps to increase efficiency, cut costs, reduce risk, enhance customer relationships and make the most of your information.
A great prevention program involves seven steps. You can think of this process as DUCT tape on your HVAC; good quality air Helps feed the health of your business.
The seven steps (that are helpful) include:
Data Quality Dimensions
Uniqueness – your data must be updated regularly
Consistent; if your data is stored in multiple places, it should be identical. Meaning, sales and customer service, and marketing should all see the same data.
Timely. Your data must be updated regularly, editing for unsubscribes, duplicates, misspellings, errors, missing information, bounces
Helpful. This isn’t part of the seven steps but transitions nicely so you can remember.
Valid. Your information needs to be in the right place in your database
Accurate. The data needs to be correct. Again, make sure that if the field calls for numbers, there aren’t letters and vice versa.
Complete. Lastly, make sure there is no missing data or holes in the data fields for your records.
Effective market research has many benefits, and a well-designed market research survey can help you gain valuable insights into your brand, industry, and customer needs and wants. And while effective research starts with designing the end in mind, and COVID-19 prevention flattens the curve with preventative measures, it’s important to note that both require clean surfaces. It’s already the natural time of year for Spring Cleaning, so make 2020 the blending of motivation for cleaning – COVID-19 prevention, and inspiration for cleaning so you can effectively reach your customers with the right message, at the right time through the right channel.