Why Should I Clean My Database Regularly?
Think of contact data like a fresh banana—it’s perfect and intact when you first buy it, but over time, it can start to go downhill. Your database stores invaluable information about customers, leads and prospects, so doesn’t it deserve some love?
We’ve narrowed down 5 reasons why databases should be cleaned on a regular basis, for your peace of mind and for your business’s continued growth and success.
1. Your contacts are constantly moving
Did you know that the rate of address changes is 1 in 5 families a year? That means that on average, we stay in one house for 5 years, before packing up and moving to the next place. Now think about how large your database is. If you have 10,000 contacts, 2,000 of those contacts will have a change of address each year.
Whether you are contacting your database via direct mail or e-mail, this information will change frequently. According to a recent article by Indeed, people change their jobs on average 12.9 times in their career from 18-52 years old. If your database is filled with work email addresses, your information could become outdated rather quickly.
2. You may have someone on your list that is deceased
There are several reasons why you should be removing deceased people from your contact list. The most important factor is brand reputation. Sending communications to people who have passed may be looked at as disrespectful and/or insensitive. Additionally, unengaged contacts contribute to data inaccuracies that often skew analytics reports, leading to inaccurate insights and wasting of company resources.
3. Your reference data may have also changed
Your reference data is supposed to be static and provide context to your other fluid data that is changing frequently. However, your reference data can change as well. Whether it be a code, classification, description, etc., reference data defines relationships between many different elements in your database. By refreshing your data, you can get the value of the most recent innovations available.
4. You save money over time (and every business wants to save money!)
When you have a bloated database, it will cost you. Many of today’s SaaS data applications are priced based on the number of contacts you require. If you consider the amount of storage space you need for a lengthy list of contacts in your database, regularly cleaning irrelevant or redundant data can save you marketing expenses and help you optimize your resources to their fullest extent.
5. Your engagement and conversions will increase
Whether you are sending out direct mail or e-mail, engagement and conversions matter. If you are looking to increase sales, improve brand awareness, or continue to develop positive customer relationships, a streamlined database is crucial to your success. Make sure you are targeting the right audience by regularly eliminating obsolete contacts and refining your segmentation.
Regular database cleaning should be a top priority for any business if you want to avoid inefficiencies and missed opportunities. It’s not just good practice, it’s a necessary strategy for any business. An organized and regularly cleansed database gives you the power to transform your business for the better, offering numerous rewards for both your employees and your customers.
What Are the Next Steps?
Cleanlist offers free data assessments to qualified organizations. An assessment will show you the opportunity that data cleaning and enrichment offers for your database. Once the assessment is complete, the Cleanlist team will present a data maintenance proposal.
Cleanlist is Canada’s largest customer data company. We clean, enrich, and validate business and consumer data. We’re also experts in data-driven document composition and Canada’s largest provider of data for digital and offline marketing. To learn more, visit us at Cleanlist.ca
