Dirty Data – A Problem for Businesses

Aug. 30, 2011 - PRLog -- Whilst the term dirty data might get you questioning your cleanliness, what it actually means is the accuracy of information held on your database or website about your customers.  It is a subject that is often overlooked but as a business it is imperative you have the right address and postcode details for your clients.  The impact on a business using dirty data can often result in thousands of pounds, from wasted marketing campaigns to unhappy customers who won’t be back for more!

Many businesses actually underestimate the size of the problem thinking their customer data is accurate and up-to-date. Whilst the reality is that by ignoring dirty data everything from marketing your company to delivering a service or product can be affected by simply not having the correct information.

As a responsible and committed business, you might well ask yourself how the data got dirty in the first place. There are several answers to this question, firstly when customers submit their address details they may have input addresses incorrectly or mistyped postcodes and therefore the original data captured is wrong.   Secondly, there could also be duplicate addresses or data entered into the wrong field.  In today’s technology driven world businesses cannot become complacent regarding accurate data capture. As so much of our daily life revolves around being online to source services and purchase products through websites.

As users we are constantly required to fill in forms with our personal information. It only takes a slip of the finger to input incorrect details, therefore making this information of no use to the user or the company.

Having said all of that, there is probably not a company on earth that has perfectly cleansed customer data but there are ways of managing content to ensure the important data is as up-to-date as possible.  This in turn ensures happy customers who receive the service or product they desire and more importantly will return to purchase more from you in the future.
An easy and effective way to ensure the correct address and post code details are given by clients is to have drop down menus that can be clicked on. This avoids any typing mistakes and gives your customer a faster and better shopping experience.  

If you would like to sample how this can be done with a simple software package take a look at Simply Postcode Look Up (http://www.simply-postcode-lookup.com/) who supply software which fills the appropriate full address once you enter a postcode and avoid dirty data on your CRM system or website.