The Cost of Bad Data & What You Can Do About It
Data decays!
That’s one fact that businesses who profess to be “data-driven” cannot avoid. The state of current CRM data sincerely is something to be worried about. According to a recent study, as much as 27% of B2B marketers admit that insufficient data has cost them 10% or, in some cases, even more in annual revenue losses. This builds a compelling argument in favor of discussing “the cost of bad data” that modern businesses are paying, why you must invest in data, and what you can do to fix your bad data problems.
Cost of Bad Data – You Do the Math?
To quantify the exact loss that businesses face each year due to bad data would be outlandish. And there’s a pretty significant fact behind that statement. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the amount of data in the world will rise from 33 ZB in 2019 to 175ZB by 2025. As much as 30% of all that data will need real-time processing to make it suitable for any business use. Thus making quantifying the business loss due to bat data outlandish. We, however, can highlight some of the most affected areas due to bad data; you do the math.
Disengaged Customer Base
According to a recent study, almost 93% of modern consumers get marketing communication that has absolutely no relevance to them regularly. Furthermore, 90% of those consumers are annoyed by irrelevant marketing communication. Now, we all know how detrimental annoying a potential customer can be. From unsubscribing to a possible blacklisting of the entire domain, the harms are just unmeasurable. And consequently lowering your sales. So, based on your marketing & sales operations revolve around data, you can estimate the losses. It’s always recommended to use a clean and updated B2B database to deliver personalized and relevant communication to your customer. Our B2B custom data & account profiling service empowers sales & marketing professionals in optimizing their reach and grow their prospects.
Loss of Reputation
The internet remembers. Even before the GDPR came into play, a minor slip-up caused due to bad data was enough to put a business’ reputation to slumber. Even a more superficial mistake of addressing the prospect with improper title could be a PR disaster for your brand. Not to mention the social media backlash. It could take you years to build your reputation back. So, please don’t be the business with the bad data.
The Loss of Productivity
Insufficient data isn’t bad for your brand or your customers; it has a spiraling effect on the slump of your employees’ productivity. Equip your B2B sales and marketing professionals with insufficient data, and you already have set them up for failure.
Why Must You Invest in B2B Data?
According to Gartner, ‘the average financial effect of bad data on organizations is $9.7 million per year.’ That number itself is compelling enough for businesses to invest in good data. And with the growing demand of B2B data and emergence of technology such as 5G, enabling the availability of information more manageable, the risk that bad data possess will grow further & graver.
While on the technology side, bad data problems such as missing data, data duplication Etc. Possess various technology-driven issues; on the human front, though, bad data could cause issues like prioritization of inaccurate data, low data responsiveness leads, poor data maintenance Etc.
According to Sirius Decisions, it will cost businesses $1 to avoid data duplication, which, if left unattended, could build up to a $100 expense. We think that a pretty straightforward statement in favor of investing in B2B data. Some others that we can think of include –
- Increased Churn Rate
- Higher Resource Consumption
- Increased Data Maintenance Costs
- Mail/Product Delivery errors
- Slanted Campaign Strategy Success Metrics
There are many more, which we can think of as per the nature of business, the target audience, the region, Etc.
And that brings us to the final section.
How Do You Fix the Bad Data Problems?
Simply put, invest in B2B Data! Connect Now.
But we all know, it’s easier said than done. There is no one solution to fix all the problems when it comes to issues with bad data. Each business has a unique run-in with bad data and thus requires special treatment. However, some of the industry best practices that can help you include –
Formulate A Database Maintenance Strategy
Every solution needs a process in place. The answer to bad data is no different. First and foremost, you need to acknowledge that you have data problems. Afterward, you need to look at the data that you expose to stakeholders, the sales team, the marketing team, and even the folks outside the organization. Ensure your data collection and data accessibility channels are independent and that every data that goes to the CRM is up-to-snuff. Your data strategy will depend on having checks and balances in place and ensuring that those are being used.
Leverage Mast Data Management (MDM) Services
Master Data Management (MDM) is the answer to businesses’ bad data problem. It provides you a single firm view of customer information and eradicates any issues caused by data silos. You can sign up with external partners for a proficient MDM service.
Accountability
Somehow, this is one of the critical elements of eradicating the bad data. If there is no specific accountability, nothing will get done the way it should be done. If you don’t have a CDO (Chief Data Officer) or similar role accountable for following, updating, and data cleansing, we suggest you get one. You even can have the sales team or marketing team be responsible for any data they gather or own. Make sure that the database is updated each week, though.
There you have it—a good enough database management strategy to get you started. We can help you get started with a free data audit straightway. Reach out now to know more.
