What impact is outdated data having on your revenue?

Every well-timed decision relies on quality data, but when inaccuracies creep in, we’re faced with ‘dirty data’, which can carry significant consequences for businesses. ‘Data Decay’ is another formidable foe, marking the gradual deterioration of data quality over time.

With Gartner revealing that data decays globally at a rate of 70% per year and 3% per month, the urgency to tackle this issue is clear.

In this blog, we dissect the impact of outdated data on your business, explore why you should be concerned about data decay, and outline its tangible consequences—from damaged domain reputation to lost productivity. 

Organisations spend between 10-30% of revenue on handling data quality issues.

Why Should I Care About Data Decay?

Today’s buyers are constantly on the go, leading to a staggering 70% of your CRM data becoming outdated each year.

Every time an employee either gains a promotion or transitions to a completely new organisation, your data is incorrect. A recent study from the ONS found that 10.9% of people change their jobs each year, that’s a 32.7% workforce shift over 3 years.

For a CRM with 100,000 contact records, 32,700 of those are redundant after 3 years. That’s a lot of out of date data you’re holding in your CRM. How could you smash your targets when almost ⅓ of your database is redundant?

The Real Impact Of Data Decay

When you’re working with a database with data well beyond its sell by date, results will be impacted.

• Damaged Domain Reputation:

  Attempting to send emails to decayed data can have a serious impact on your domain reputation and health score. Imagine you have a pool of decayed data in your automated email sequence and are repeatedly hammering them with email sends. You’re only asking for trouble.

• High Bounce Rate:

  This leads us nicely to bounce rates. The number all marketers hate to see cropping up in their send metrics. But unfortunately, if you have a damaged domain, it is inevitable that this metric will creep up.  And to scare you a notch more, this can mean that future sends to legitimate emails could end up in their spam folders.

• Poor Lead Generation:

  The cycle continues. With a combination of high bounce rates and emails going to legitimate contacts spam folders it will be no shock that quantities of leads generated will be poor. Yes, you will have sales knocking at your door asking where the leads are at. All of the above are the after effects of decayed data, stemming from your damaged domain reputation, and it’s not a quick fix!

• Outdated Contact Details:

  Let’s set the scene with an example: X amount of leads that sales were in conversation with ask to be followed up in 6 months, when their contract with competitors is nearing an end.  It’s a response sales are all too well familiar with! But with a recent study showing that 18% of all telephone numbers change every year and a combination of your poor domain reputation hitting their spam folder, you’re running out of outreach methods. Conversion rates are going to be hit hard. It’s a vicious cycle.

• Lost Productivity:

  Research shows that sales people waste over 27.3% of their time chasing bad data. Imagine the success your organisation could see if there was another 27.3% of successful outreach? This spend on resources that amounts to nothing but frustration, disappointment and annoyance could be spent in other areas to drive business and revenue growth, assuming the data wasn’t past its sell by date. 44% indicated bad B2B data affected their sales people’s ability to communicate with existing clients and prospects.

Effectively Using Zymplify’s Integrated Data Tools to Keep Your Data Current 

CDP Cleanse Tool

Our Data Cleansing tool can help you maintain data accuracy by addressing various data properties. In this guide we’ll walk you through how to use our Data Cleansing Tool to cleanse your data based on specific properties.

CDP Verify Tool

The Verify Tool is a Data Verification tool which combs through your individual Contact Database, flagging incorrect or outdated contact information and replacing it with fresh accurate data. The tool validates Email Addresses, Phone Numbers and Addresses in real-time, ensuring that you always have the latest information for your Contacts.

The Zymplify Approach to Keeping Your Data Current 

Now let’s take a look at  Zymplify’s approach to maintaining current data – an active stance towards maximising your operational efficiency. To stay ahead, it’s important to adopt a proactive approach. One of the best ways to do this is by implementing a Data Hygiene Strategy.

What is a Data Hygiene Strategy?

Consider it your data’s regular health check. It’s a rigorous process that ensures your CDP data remains error-free, updated, and accurate. A good data hygiene strategy isn’t just about cleaning up; it’s about preventing the build-up of ‘dirty data’ in the first place.

While data decay is a fact of life, your data hygiene strategy can help mitigate its impacts. By regularly checking and cleaning your data, you can catch issues before they become significant problems, keeping decay at bay and your data at its best.

How can you implement a Data Hygiene Strategy?

Start by establishing a regular schedule for data cleansing and verifying. This could be monthly, quarterly, or whatever frequency makes sense for your business. Next, identify the common sources of errors in your data and develop processes to minimise these. This might involve training for staff inputting data, or using tools like our CDP Cleanse and Verify tools to automatically flag and correct errors.

By implementing a Data Hygiene Strategy, you’re not just reacting to issues – you’re anticipating and preventing them. This proactive approach can save you time, improve efficiency, and ultimately, drive the performance of your B2B data. It’s all part of the Zymplify approach to keeping your data current.

Teaming up with a trusted data provider is the cornerstone of successful data management – remember, Rubish in.  Rubish Out!  

Also ensure you have a good data provider.  We’re dropping no hints but with Zymplify you gain access to the most comprehensive data solution for sales and marketing.

We are the only intent data platform to provide 1st, 2nd and 3rd party intent data from 20 sources in a single platform, with a cross-channel view of your hottest leads.

In conclusion, business growth demands strong data management strategies, and Zymplify’s Data Tools are at the forefront of this necessity. As illustrated in our blog, clean and verified data isn’t just valuable—it’s a crucial lever for informed decision-making and a catalyst for substantial revenue growth.

Now is the ideal time to refine your approaches to data management. Delve into the world of Zymplify’s data solutions to kickstart a strategic enhancement of your data processes. We invite you to experience the transformative power of our tools by signing up for a 14-day free trial. Take this step to bolster your organisation’s capabilities and secure a competitive edge in your industry. Start your trial today, and enable your business to thrive on the foundation of high-quality, accurate data.