Quality CRM Data the Key to Improved Sales, Customer Retention

Measuring business success has always come down to revenue. Although customer relationship management (CRM) data hasn’t always been a large part of the conversation around what drives those numbers, the fact is it can have one of the most profound and positive impacts on business success. I’m able to confidently say this because CRMs hold the primary data points businesses turn to every day — customer data — and I’ve seen firsthand how a company’s transformation to accurate data can change how it operates, drives revenue, and forms relationships with customers.

Think back to 2018’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Months ahead of those high-volume sales days, your inbox was probably filled with emails from local and national retailers about new products, gift suggestions and limited-time sales. Most of us receive promotional emails like that every day without giving a thought to how effective they are at prompting us to take action. However, the fact is we’re more likely to visit the websites of companies that send us promotions than ones that don’t, which may lead to a sale or expose us to products we didn’t know existed (but somehow need to have right now!). And those brands or companies that regularly stay in contact with us tend to be the ones that stay top of mind.

Today, digital campaigns are huge drivers of revenue, particularly for retailers. Businesses of all types, sizes and industries rely on accurate CRM data to send those campaigns. If bad data exists in the CRM — incorrect, missing or otherwise — it can keep brands from engaging with existing customers or reaching new ones, and that can have a profound effect on end-of-year revenue.

Marketers are often very savvy at figuring out the right cadence of messages to send to ensure that when it’s time to make a purchase, the consumer will think of their brand over the competition. For example, if I’ve been thinking about ordering a new set of dishes and happen to receive a targeted email from Bed Bath & Beyond featuring details about a new dishware line with a promotion included, it’s likely that I’ll check it out or browse the site in the future when I’m ready to shop. It’s these well-timed and well-targeted communications that can have a big impact on revenue. The key to making these profitable connections with consumers is having accurate CRM data so you can reach them in the first place.

Additionally, a clean and robust CRM database also supports an organization’s ability to deliver positive customer experiences, which are increasingly overtaking price and product as key brand differentiators. By leveraging the information in their CRM, such as an up-to-date purchase history, companies can get to know the types of products their customers are interested in and what pain points they’re trying to solve. With important details collected and added to the CRM over time, they can build meaningful relationships with customers and improve retention. Furthermore, they can develop products that will have the most appeal, increasing customer engagement and boosting sales. Lastly, they can ensure consistency in service, as individuals within the company leverage and share historical customer data to provide personalized experiences.

How can organizations achieve such a high-quality CRM database? They can start by getting their existing CRM data as clean as possible, and then implement a data quality strategy companywide to keep it that way. One of the best ways to do this is to leverage third-party software that provides functionality beyond the native tools associated with their CRM. They can leverage a proven email verification solution that ensures the email addresses in their database or the ones they capture at the point of sale or on web lead forms are valid. Doing so will also help ensure campaigns reach target audiences and their sender reputation is protected. Additionally, they can use solutions that clean and standardize data, automate data cleansing processes, and optimize the data their teams use for sales, marketing, customer communications and more.

Ashley Sierant is client services operations manager for Validity, a global leader in data quality with solutions such as BriteVerify for email verification and DemandTools for data cleansing and optimization.