Retailers Struggle With Multichannel Contact Data Accuracy

Shoppers are demanding more from retailers as a shift is taking place in terms of how consumers want to interact with their favorite brands. Retailers must worry about brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce sites, but also mobile apps and social media developments.

Recent Experian QAS research was conducted to review this multichannel strategy and how it's affecting overall contact data quality. Contact data affects many retail practices, from product shipment to segmentation and marketing. To keep operations streamlined and customer service high, retailers need to consider maintaining contact data accuracy throughout their business channels.

Retailers are using a variety of different channels, with 55 percent of retail respondents capturing customer contact data through mobile applications and 84 percent utilizing social media for customer communications. But the current level of accuracy is low, with 96 percent of retailers stating that they waste budget on inaccurate contact data.

The types of errors seem to be consistent. Incomplete information was the most prevalent issue, with 75 percent of respondents citing this error. After that, outdated information and spelling mistakes were most common.

These types of errors are, in part, the result of the large amount of manual processes being used to clean contact data. Retailers rely on staff measurement, manual review and staff training for data cleansing. Seven percent of the retailers surveyed didn't have a strategy in place to manage inaccurate contact data.

With so much contact data coming from many different sources and with information so critical to a variety of operations, retailers should put processes in place to cleanse data as it is being entered. This will streamline practices and ensure that data is accurate before it enters business processes.

Since each channel has its own set of challenges and headaches. It's important to determine the best way to collect clean data for each touch point. Key areas for review include point of sale, e-commerce sites, call centers and mobile applications.

In addition, retailers need to balance the goal of transaction speed with the desire for information they want to collect. While the goal is typically to collect as much information as quickly as possible, the information is useless if it's not accurate. To better achieve the collection of useful data, retailers should review what types of contact data are most critical for a given request and then prompt only for those details, keeping requests streamlined.

Overall, retailers are working on contact data quality, but are struggling to achieve it due to their reliance on manual processes. Data quality strategies should eliminate the possibility for human error.

By improving incoming contact data, organizations can ensure that these new channels provide new methods for revenue and positive interaction with consumers, rather than additional business headaches from a mountain of poor customer information.

David Northridge is vice presidnet of client retention at Experian QAS. Reach David at david.northridge@qas.com.