The five most frequent issues with client data?

Analysing a clients’ customer data can be one of the most exciting things we do as a data services bureau. It can reveal untold nuggets of intelligence about buying behaviours and trends. This is the starting point to help us pinpoint the best possible prospect data to source for acquisition campaigns. However, it can also be a frustrating experience with the data quality varying tremendously.

As a bureau we are used to dealing with different levels of quality when it comes to prospect data, When sourced from experienced suppliers we can request a particular format which is great, but we also have straightforward procedures to clean it up to required standards and to exclude poor quality or data that doesn’t meet criteria such as recency.. However, with client data we don’t want to lose anything and so it can be quite a challenge to get it in the right format to reveal the innate knowledge locked within.

Many marketers know their customer data is frankly in a bit of a state – but often they have had little or no influence on how and what information is captured. This is not surprising, since by and large companies don’t capture customer data with future marketing purposes in mind. There may well be inconsistencies within call centres because different people have their ’own way’ of recording customer details; they may not complete all the necessary fields, or simply may not fully appreciate the true value of the data they are collecting.

Larger companies may well have numerous systems that capture data from a wide variety of channels. Sometimes, you find that the field entry formats aren’t the same, so when you try to pull this data together for marketing purposes, ‘gaps’ appear.

Here are the biggest issues with data quality and the steps to optimising performance of your customer data..

Step 1 - Standardisation

By far the biggest challenge we face is on formatting. The more prescriptive the data capture process the better the results.

Solutions include: quick fixes like adding compulsory fields, and using quick address entry formats. In the longer term, companies need structure and order to their data capturing processes. Continual staff training and motivation is a must – and should be company led. In larger companies, group wide motivation is required to change the situation. Call centres need to re-focus on the quality rather than the quantity of calls they take. The good news is that once formatting issues have been addressed then subsequent ‘problems’ are pretty straight forward to solve.

Step 2 – Duplication

The second most common issue found with customer data is duplication. A classic example is where the same person has been captured under a slightly different name/ address and the records are seen as different. This is critical because there may be two data items that together create significant insight into buyer behaviour. Perhaps a call centre has misheard a contact? It’s up to the bureau to consider the client’s needs and marketing priorities first and foremost, so they need to address the issue of keeping both records – but perhaps just contacting one of them? And in this case, which should it be? ‘White characters ‘ - or where customers or call centres accidentally press a space bar when they are imputing contact details – can also cause problems. If we are hosting the database we can merge the records to create a single customer view but we need the clients input in which data to carry over and which to over-write. We have created a series of business rules to help with this process, but some questions only the client can answer.

Step 3 – ‘Salacious words’

This comes third in the most commonly found issues with customer data. This is a particular problem when customers are imputing their own contact details, for example, consumer led data entry online via a website. The biggest reason behind this is that these ‘customers’ aren’t being ‘policed’ - they can add any name or words they want, and there isn’t anyone acting in ‘real time’ to question these entries. The solution? A good bureau should have ‘stop’ files which weed out any salacious words, silly names etc. This is a fairly straightforward process.

Step 4 – Goneaways and opt-outs

Mailing goneaways is a waste of money – particularly with postal campaigns where pack costs can be very expensive. Plus there are also environmental implications and associated reputational risks. It is in every marketer’s interests to take a responsible approach here – before the regulator steps in and imposes legislation.

How important it is to use suppressions with a customer file is dependent on the quality and age of the data. We would advise their use on a case by case basis. We screen data against a number of carefully selected suppression files as a matter of course and advise the client accordingly.

Interestingly, faced with the results, some clients still choose to ignore the feedback. Some are adamant that they wish to mail a set volume regardless of the presence of goneaways or deceased. Others simply ignore the cost savings of not mailing these contacts.

Step 5 – Deceased

Mailing dead people causes distress and is bad for the company’s reputation. If it continues to happen after the recipient’s family has complained it can turn into a PR disaster. Again suppression files are available and these should be used for best practice.

Summary

Your customer data really is the key to future success. Efforts to standardise format and capture additional information will reap dividends when planning future acquisition campaigns.

Indeed, in all the areas listed above, it just takes a little bit of advanced planning to produce significant results. Not only will you save because you have screened out dormant customer records or avoided obvious duplication, but by planning in advance you can avoid these costs right from the start. Not only that, but by addressing formatting issues you can almost certainly avoid many of the other areas which need to be ‘fixed’. Get the formatting right and many of those other ‘issues’ simply don’t emerge at all.

To find out more about how we can help you, call our data bureau and management team on (add number) now. We have the tools and techniques – and most importantly the experience – to help you get your data right from the start and avoid the expense of having to fix it later.

Simon Wood and Lindsey Sandom Brown – Data Bureau and Data Management Services