4 Data Quality Measures Proven to Enhance Campaign Performance

Data is foundational to everything marketing does, from customer and competitive insights gleaned and executive decisions made, to the development of more informed segmentation strategies, the discovery of new markets, the successful personalization of messages, the selection of the right channels, and on, and on. If you think of your marketing campaign as a house, all of your efforts can be broken down into building blocks comprised solely of data. This begs the question: Is your data of a high enough quality that you are confident of the results you are projecting for your marketing endeavors? Or, are all your marketing efforts resting on a faulty foundation of poor-quality data that could cause the whole house to crumble?

In today’s blog, we’re covering four simple steps you can take now to dramatically improve the quality of your data and experience all of the amazing results great data is proven to deliver. What’s more, because we’re marketers, too, each of these clever measures begins with a C, so you can easily recall them as needed.

Step 1: CONNECT

In order to ensure the integrity of data throughout your enterprise, it is vitally important that you connect all of your data sources within your marketing technology stack. If a tool receives data, processes data, holds data, or sends data — it needs to be connected. Tech-savvy marketers may choose to purchase plug-and-play integrations, or built-in integrations that come with major martech brands. For those who loathe the idea of DIY integrations or having to get on IT’s waitlist, it will be well worth your time and money to hire an expert to come in and integrate all of your data sources for you. Hiring an expert also carries the advantage of being able to customize your integrations so that they do precisely what you need them to do.

Motivation: According to research from Gartner, 40% of business initiatives fail due to difficulty integrating different data sets.

Data Integrations To-Do List

A. Take inventory of all data-using tech — Survey all tech in marketing, as well as tech in departments like sales, customer service and accounting to ensure you are prepared to bring uniformity to all.  

B. Highlight outliers — Note any tech that is not integrated or has poor integrations that impede work.

C. Eliminate silos — Make a list of areas where siloed data exists and talk to owners about integrating.

D. Prioritize integrations — Systematically tackle each integration on your list according to your needs.

Step 2: CONTROL

Once all data sources are connected, you will need to control how data is received, processed, used and stored if you intend to maintain high-quality data. This step is critical to your ability to act quickly when “data informed” opportunities come along or an apt response to a competitor is needed. It’s also vital to the ongoing security of your data and has the potential to be a true saving grace in the unfortunate, but inevitable event of a data breach.

Controlling how data moves about your enterprise is a quest best fulfilled by a centralized source like a data dashboard. A dashboard offers instant visibility into—as well as access to—the current condition of your data. It also makes it easier to uphold data regulations and protect sensitive data, since you can control who in your organization has access to different types and levels of data.

Motivation: According to Zipdo, poor data management reduces operational efficiency by 21%.

Data Management To-Do List

1. Select a data dashboard — Look for one that centralizes your view of integrated data sources.
2. Automate everything — Make it a mission to automate as many data workflows and processes as possible.
3. Establish protocols — Determine who you want to have access to various levels of data.

Step 3: CLEAN

Now that all your data is connected and under your control, it’s time to give it a good scrubbing. This means you are going to get rid of all of the old and dirty data and replace it with fresh, accurate data. We live in an age when information changes daily, which is how often we recommend cleaning your data. In short, your data needs to be systematically reviewed in real-time before being used, so that you can engage in marketing tasks with confidence, knowing you have the most current data backing your decisions, campaigns and efforts. Cleaning your data is a comprehensive task that involves ensuring that your data is accurate, current, complete, standardized and normalized.

Motivation: According to ZoomInfo, 94% of businesses suspect that their customer and prospect data is inaccurate. What’s more, Twilio Segment reports that B2B data decays at a rate of about 30% each year.

Data Cleansing To-Do List

1. Automate ALL data processes — Eliminate as many manual tasks as possible that are involved in making sure your data is clean and accurate. You want your data to be continuously cleaned in real-time so that it’s always ready to be used.
2. Complete data records — Locate and fill in missing data sets and empty fields so that your data delivers a complete picture.
3. Demand data conformance — Establish data standards enterprise-wide and make sure all data complies with those standards.
4. Establish data consistency — Normalize your data by eliminating redundant and inconsistent data that leads to duplicate records. Experian states that duplicate records account for up to 20% of all data in an organization.

Step 4: COMPREHENSIVE

When we say your data needs to be comprehensive, we mean it needs to be enriched with high-quality data from highly regarded third-party sources. According to Acumen Research and Consulting, the Data Enrichment Solutions Market is projected to reach a whopping $3.5 Billion by 2030. Companies are quickly realizing that supplementing their first-party data with high-quality third-party data is a wise investment because it empowers you to do several things, including, but not limited to:

• Better understand current customers and cater to their preferences
• See new patterns and commonalities in your Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)
• View and pursue new markets, different approaches and opportunities
• Segment lists in more productive, efficient and profitable ways
• Personalize content according to each customer’s unique desires and needs

Motivation: According to Hubspot, enriched data is the key to creating targeted, personalized customer experiences — and the lack thereof can turn customers away. In fact, 52% of customers want all offers that come from a brand to be personalized.

Data Enrichment To-Do List

1. Determine data needs — List the type of data you need in order to better personalize messages and campaigns for your most promising prospects.
2. Compare third-party data sources — Seek data from experts that specialize in the type of information you want.
3. Talk to Sureshot — Learn how we can connect you to multiple top-tier, third-party data sources that can help you discover new markets, smarter segments and greater customer insights.

Get Your Data Ducks in a Row With a Little Expert Help From Sureshot

At Sureshot, we have a team of experts ready to implement data, messaging and customer experience solutions, as well as the automated processes needed to allow you to make marketing magic happen. If you’re ready to realize a greater ROI on your marketing initiatives, ask us how we can help you go from setting revenue goals to achieving them, or start by taking our FREE Martech Assessment.