Whilst it would be great if you could just pick your data up from one CRM and drop it into another, unfortunately it’s not that simple. The truth of the matter is that overtime your data will have become polluted, and to achieve a successful migration it’s important to get it cleaned up.
CRM data cleansing is the process of identifying inaccurate or incomplete data, and replacing or modifying this to create a clean and accurate database. Essentially, it’s the act of checking that your data is correct, and changing it if it isn’t.
When it comes to cleansing your data, there is no exact process. Dependant on which industry sector you’re in, your data set will differ and what you might see as your high value data would be disregarded by another company. Keeping that in mind, below we have set out a number of steps that you can take to get you started on your data cleansing journey.
Consider the impact
Before you start any project, it’s key to consider how your actions might impact the wider organisation. Your current CRM will still be in daily use by your company, and it’s important not to cause any disruption to this. If your existing CRM has the functionality to export your data, you can carry out the cleansing process externally to the software, without the risk of causing any issues to users, and import your clean data to your new system once you have it in place. It’s important to remember that whilst your editing your data externally, new contacts will be being added to the current CRM. Make sure that these additions are added to your external data and migrated across to the new database.
Identify what data you need and delete anything you don't
It might seem obvious not to collect or keep data that doesn’t serve a purpose to your organisation, but many CRM systems are cluttered with inherited fields and legacy information that is entirely unnecessary. By taking a step back and considering what information it is that you actually need, you create a data set that is much more functional and user-friendly.
Fix your formatting
Checking that your formatting is consistent, is one of the simpler and most impactful data cleansing steps that you can take. Formatting is the one area most at risk to human error, and can have far reaching repercussions:
Making sure that all of your data follows the same formatting rules will help you to negate any contact errors or wasted time.
Check capitalisation
The proper use of case for first and last names may seem inconsequential, but when it comes to automation it can hurt your conversion rates. If you are using automated, personalised emails, receiving an email addressed to ‘sophie’ instead of ‘Sophie’ highlights this to your contact and can make the email feel impersonal, as well as making your company look unprofessional. This type of error can damage your reputation and impact your sales.
Standardise fields
Inconsistent job title or industry sector descriptors can wreak havoc when it comes to filtering or searching your database. Imagine that you want to filter your database for a list of companies in the ‘Food & Beverage’ sector, but a number of your key clients/targets have their industry listed as ‘Catering’. These contacts will not show up in the list that you have pulled and could potentially miss out on important information or offers. It’s important to make sure that these fields are standardised, and to avoid future problems, perhaps it’s an idea to introduce set drop-down menus to negate the need for manual input.
Delete inactive contacts
It might seem risky deleting someone from your database, but if a contact is not a client, prospect or key connection, then holding onto their data serves no purpose other than to bog down your system. If a contact has been unresponsive for an extended period of time, to any form of communication, continuing to attempt to contact them is simply a wasted effort. Decide within your team what qualifies as an unengaged contact, and remove them from your database once they’ve reached this threshold.
Now that you know the importance of clean data and the steps you can to take to start your CRM data cleansing journey, the prospect of dedicating so much time and resource to the project might be daunting. Here at Quattro, we understand the demands of running a company, and that it’s not always possible to devote one of your team to a time-consuming project. To help alleviate the pressure, we work with our clients to make sure that their data cleansing and CRM migration is as seamless as possible. We’ve worked with countless clients on their successful migrations, and introduced them to the vast functionality and user friendly interface of the HubSpot CRM Software. Why not book in for a call with one of the team, to see exactly how we can help you achieve your data goals?