Four Reasons Why Bad Data Management Hurts
For many businesses, data is a great addition to a marketer’s toolbox. Equipped with data, businesses can collect, store, analyze and interpret their customers’ information. This helps marketers develop the best sales messages and strategies for each individual customer.
However, if used incorrectly, data can be more of a hindrance than an asset for a company’s performance. Bad data management hurts businesses that base their marketing strategies off of data. Bad data management can include disorganized, underdeveloped, or irrelevant data. These problems are responsible for time wasted, unsuccessful marketing, and a weak ROI.
Time Concerns
When data is not managed well, retrieving relevant customer data can be a time-consuming pain. Businesses using data to drive sales may find themselves spending hours sifting through data.
This puts businesses at a disadvantage against competitors with good data management. By the time a business finds meaningful information with poorly managed data, its competitor that properly manages data will have already developed a marketing strategy that has generated dozens of sales.
Reporting and Forecasting Limitations
Data disorganization can also affect a business’s ability to report conclusions from the data. Data analysis may be construed with flawed, incomplete or inaccurate data. This tainted analysis can ruin marketing strategies.
Predicting customer behavior is impossible without an accurate customer data analysis. In a worst-case scenario, a poor analysis may actually prevent a business from developing any marketing strategy. A bad analysis does not give businesses the necessary material to create an accurate forecast for consumer preferences. This accurate forecast is key in marketing effectively.
Unable to market effectively
The ability to personalize marketing is extremely important to the successful modern-day marketer. Marketing personalization is the premier tool for marketers because it can be used in a variety of ways. Personalization reduces stress for businesses, brings back the disconnected customer, and improves email metrics. Personalization is no longer a choice for businesses, as marketers say it is the most important capability to marketing in the future.
When data clouds a business’s ability to personalize marketing, sales are sure to suffer. Businesses currently personalizing web experiences see a 19% increase in sales on average, according to Econsultancy. The reason for sales increase? Customers like the custom, tailored messages they receive from businesses. If unable to offer personalization, businesses will lose customers to their competitors providing a tailored, 1:1 marketing approach.
The snowball effect
Bad data management is one of those problems that are susceptible to the snowball effect. If not fixed quickly, poor data management can grow into a larger problem and, eventually, spiral out of control.
Unorganized data management system is much easier to fix in its early stages of development. For example, a data management system that catches a problem early on should not require much effort to make a quick fix. In contrast, businesses that have ignored a necessary data cleanup for years would need to take several steps back to fix problems. In a worst-case scenario, the business might need to create a new customer database from scratch.
If you’re curious or concerned about the state of your data management, take a close look your material. Reexamine any data already collected, and extract any dirty data from the data pool. Review your data management platform and ensure that it is reliable, working as an effective, helpful tool. Reevaluate any good data you have, and use that to create tailored messages for your consumers. Lastly, remind your marketers and data analysts the importance of good data, and encourage proper data management practices across your company.
