Data accuracy is an ongoing problem for any database. On average 2-3% of contact data changes every month. That becomes 24%-36% change in a year if not updated regularly. Email addresses that were valid last month could bounce this month because an employee left the company, changed positions, or any number of other reasons.

Postal addresses and phone numbers change as well because companies sell, rent, or otherwise move offices. When you are using incorrect data your ROI goes down and your frustration goes up, which is why data management is such a key component to effective marketing and sales.

Data management is an umbrella term that encompasses data appending, validation, segmentation, and de-duping all of which deal with verifying data accuracy, updating contact information, removing bad data and duplicate entries, and standardizing the database.

What are the most common elements in a customer database?

Name

Physical address

Email address

Phone numbers

Fax numbers

These are just some of the basic pieces of information you might have collected but others could include the contacts job position in the company, industry, revenue, employee size, install base of technologies etc. The goal of data appending is to fill in any missing pieces of information. By filling in social media profiles, updated email addresses, and phone numbers your marketing and salespeople will have up-to-date contact info for your prospects. Similarly appending job titles, industry, revenue, employee size or install base information allows you to do a very segmented marketing.

Data verification goes hand in hand with data appending. Adding a missing email address is only helpful if the new email address is deliverable. Verification can be done both manually, by making phone calls to the contacts and verbally confirming the data, or automatically using email validation technologies. Right email validation technology can validate large amount of email data very quickly without even sending out a single email.

Data appending is not a one-time job, however. After you’ve gone through a full course of data cleansing and verification, your data will still continue to decay. A long-term data management plan needs to be in place.

Article From:  www.salesinsideinc.com