The big no-brainer: data cleansing

Richard questions why any business wouldn’t put their data through the wringer

Indulge me for a moment and let me ask you a simple question.

Would you keep employing someone who lied to you again and again at work? 

No? Didn’t think so.

So why would you put up with data that lies to you day after day? 

Because that’s the reality that every business owner is faced with, if they don’t handle their data safely and sensibly.

In 2019 data forms the cornerstone of pretty much every business around the world. Knowing who your customers are and what they’re looking for is invaluable to sales and production teams across the globe. 

But if the data’s not right, it’s going to get you nowhere.

Not only does inaccurate data lead to time wasting, but potential lawbreaking too

Here’s an example:

Say you’ve got a load of incorrect addresses among your data, you might be forgiven for thinking that all that’ll go wrong is that a few postcards or products go to the wrong place.

But there’s more to it than that.

Yes, for starters, your product/info/communication doesn’t arrive. But the more serious consequences? 

Serious damage to your reputation, money lost sending replacements and a potential breach of GDPR. 

Customers don’t like it when their purchases arrive late. Even less so when they don’t come at all.

That’s not the only problem with dodgy data though.

Duplicate entries in your data can result in information about a given customer being stored in two (or more) places. That means that when customer interactions, purchases or feedback get recorded, it happens sporadically across the duplicates.

And that leads to errors, miscommunication and grumpy customers.

Not only will that one simple oversight potentially lead to lost customers, but your sales performance could easily dip too. See, if it looks as though you have more customers in your CRM than you actually have in real life, your conversion rate will be lower and inaccurate.

And there’s more. When it comes to mailing, it’s now more important than ever to keep accurate data, and to do so the right way. 

Surprise surprise, we have GDPR to thank for that.

The regulation requires you to not only keep an accurate database but also to record all activity and preferences related to the individuals whose data you hold.

So it’s not just the wrath of an unhappy customer that you could face if your data isn’t up to date and accurate, but the ICO’s too. And by wrath, I mean fines that are enforceable by law.

But doing data cleansing isn’t just about avoiding penalties and unhappy customers. It’ll do your business a whole lot of good too. 

Because you can save time, resources and money, thanks to data cleansing. 

With no duplicates and gone-aways to contend with, your print, enclosure and postal costs will go down. You’ll also give yourself a better shot at qualifying for the cheapest tariffs on postage.

This is the part where Flow comes in. 

The high in-house standards we set for all of our clients’ campaigns mean that your data will go through our rigorous cleansing processes before we send anything out. 

What’s more, we’ll supply the returns service you need to meet Whistl’s requirements for their “greenPost” service for lower postage prices.

So basically, what I’m trying to say is that data cleansing is a bit of a no brainer.

A complete no brainer, actually.

And I’m just scratching the surface here, because everything I’ve mentioned will have a knock-on effect elsewhere in your campaigns and your business as a whole.

No matter what industry or service you’re in, accurate data will make all the difference to your future prosperity. Thankfully, data cleansing isn’t a waste of money or a painful, time-consuming experience.

Instead, it’s what you’ll have to thank for better profits. It’s your retained customer. It’s increased sales conversions. It’s better product and service planning. It’s clear information.

Have a read on our step-by-step guide to data cleansing here in order to gain more insight.

And with Flow, it’s easy.

Drop me a line if you’d like to talk some more about your own data or fill in our contact form here.