Five Simple Measures to Avoid Data Decay

Data changes rapidly, therefore marketers and sales reps need to work together to ensure data is constantly updated. Data decay affects B2B records at a higher rate because of economic factors and the mobility of the workforce.

As the digital future of B2B sales continues to evolve, there is greater demand for data-driven decisions. Businesses rely on data when making key business decisions hence B2B companies must continuously refresh and properly maintain data assets to prevent data decay.

A vast number of companies do not have the capacity to secure their data hygiene, causing serious damage to their businesses such as losing credibility and clients, closing fewer deals, and generating lower revenue. To keep up with the massive amount of information available out there, businesses need to maintain data quality and stop rapid data decay.

What Is Data Decay?

Data decay is a process when the quality of your B2B database weakens with time.  This could be due to inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information that is stored and not updated on time. Sadly, data decay is unavoidable, hence to keep your data up to the mark, it needs constant nurturing and cleansing by your team.

What Causes Data Decay?

The cause of data decay could be because of various reasons like software malfunctions, human errors, the location where you operate, or if you are unable to keep up with the flow of constantly growing information.

Another reason can be because company addresses and phone numbers change, employees leave or change their jobs, and a number of new start-ups get launched. Therefore, it is challenging to manually change this every few minutes of your workday.

Data such as changed name, job title, phone number, email addresses, etc. is affecting the quality of your database daily. While it is impossible to track all the changes and secure the quality of your data, there is a lot you can do to avoid data decay.

5 Simple Measures to Avoid Data Decay in B2B Sales

Data decay is a continuous process however, there are ways to reduce its speed. Here are 5 Simple Measures to Avoid Data Decay to help you keep your data optimized and updated for B2B Sales.

#1 Engage with your target audience regularly

Marketers need to be consistently in touch with their target audience to keep themselves updated about their contact information to prevent data decay. By using permission passed data from feedback forms, polls, whitepapers, etc. from customers and prospects you can your CRM data up-to-date. You can even send business relevant and meaningful content to entice your existing and potential customers on a regular basis making them more likely to engage with your brand on a deeper level.

#2 Ask customers to update data

Customers’ contact information changes from time to time, while some customers will update their contact information on their own, others need a reminder to update it. There are various ways such as a pop-up reminder for visitors to complete their profile or to customize their account in an email preference centre that allows the customer to choose what type of communications they want to receive from brands and at what frequency.

#3 Use Data Hygiene Strategy

Your database needs regular cleaning to keep it accurate and updated for your marketing campaigns. By using a data hygiene strategy, you can maintain data accuracy. You can include real-time email verification in your web registration forms and implement a double opt-in process that allows a new subscriber to click on the confirmation email sent to their inbox. This way they are giving permission to you to send messages and are joining your mailing program ensuring that their email is active and accurate. You can also verify the email or physical addresses before sending an email campaign. You need to even run your subscriber list through an email verification tool to ensure accuracy.

#4 Invest in Third-Party Data

When it comes to filling in the gaps in a company’s CRM data third-party data is crucial. Third-party data providers, gather data from various channels, business directories, government records, apps, seminars, feedback forms, websites, etc. that provide information about business prospects and customers.

At Email Data Group we make sure our data undergoes a rigorous process for data hygiene and verification to keep data accurate before it reached customers.

 

#5 Invest in the right software to keep your CRM data accurate

Good software with an in-built data platform that takes clean data directly you’re your CRM system is a great way to avoid data decay. Integrating B2B lead data from a third-party data provider directly into your CRM can save time and prevent incorrect or missing data.

 

Conclusion

One cannot stop data decay however; you can overcome it by constantly engaging with your audience. B2B companies rely on accurate databases to optimize sales and marketing performance and hence require high-quality data.

By avoiding data decay and keeping it up-to-date you can connect with your current and potential clients. It allows your sales teams to create accurate sales leads to reach their target audience and build stronger B2B connections with prospects.

Data decay can cause huge damage to your business if not prevented in time. So, make sure your team is using only high-quality datasets from Email Data Group, for your marketing events.

Automation

Amy John is a marketing executive with over 12 years of experience in the execution of marketing and lead generation strategies.