Truth Decay: How accurate is your data?

Brush your teeth twice a day. Simple advice that can prevent a multitude of health problems. I’m sure 99.9% of those reading would do it without thinking. Easy. Sensible.

Check your car’s oil and tyres regularly. Not difficult, but probably not something we all do – even though we know it could prevent a breakdown or expensive repairs. Maybe half of you are still with me.

OK, let’s try this one:

Check the health and accuracy of your prospecting and customer data regularly. Who’s still with me?

Maybe not.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of UK business births in 2016 (the most recent statistics available) was 414,000, a birth rate of 14.6%. Businesses that ceased trading numbered 328,000, a rate of 11.6%.

In London these figures were highest – with a birth rate of 17.5% and a ‘death’ rate of 14%. So for many of our clients who target prospects within the M25, this could represent a huge amount of inaccurate or missing data – which could result in wasted calls, emails resource as well as missing out entirely on start-ups which could be growing rapidly.

Aside from the birth and death rate, a huge number of other changes – addresses, prospects moving jobs, telephone numbers, emails – can contribute anywhere up to a further 15% variance.

Data is the oil in the marketing engine – can you keep running an engine on old oil? Of course – but over time the performance of that engine will suffer. It could even break down entirely – similarly marketing performance can tail off, conversions drop, and before long you’re investing additional time and money to fix a crisis – when it could be prevented.

 Not really.

One of the key problems with inaccurate data is that it undermines confidence – the confidence of your prospectors that there will be someone at the other end of the phone, the confidence of your sales people that a lead really will be a qualified opportunity, confidence that your marketing spend is generating the best bang for buck.

According to KPMG’s “2016 Global CEO Outlook”, 84% of CEOs are concerned about the quality of the data they’re basing decisions on. When there’s a lack of trust in data quality, confidence in the results can quickly erode.

Much like an oil change – we would always recommend our clients audit their data at least once a year. That will mean comparing your data file to the data ‘universe’ and ensuring it’s up to date, complete, and accurate.

Our Data Health Check compares your data to live records that are updated weekly. We can tell you which records are inaccurate or gone away. We can identify, based on the profile of your data, what companies you might be missing and make recommendations for fields or companies you can append to your database. We can also give you an up to date view on how compliant your records are against TPS and CTPS – information that is crucial to get right with the current industry focus on GDPR and beyond.

 

Looking for an expert to kick the tyres on your data? Check out our data services here or contact us today for a free consultation.

 

Tags: blog, data, Data Services