Your CRM is only as good as the data in it. Practicing good data hygiene and proactively cleansing your CRM is key for successful marketing and sales efforts. Bad data is costly – it can directly impact productivity and revenue as sales and marketing teams waste time sifting through errors, duplicates, and outdated information.
The success of your Backstory-Salesforce integration, as well as other automation processes and integrations, depends on good CRM data hygiene. Data-driven insights are only as powerful as the data on which they are based. To help maximize the value of People Insights and Sync, we have compiled a list of best practices and recommendations to maintain pristine data integrity, including our CRM Scan feature.
CRM Scan
Not sure about your organization’s current CRM data hygiene? CRM Scan provides a clear breakdown of exactly which areas need attention. CRM Scan is also equipped with an export feature that provides visibility into Salesforce objects with duplicate or missing information.
Data Cleansing Recommendations
Check that your Accounts have the right website domains. Website domains are key to understanding the relationship between your Contacts and Accounts.
Remove duplicate records. Review Contacts and Leads with duplicate emails to get a quick start on your de-duplication efforts.
Prioritize fixing data that is highly visible and frequently used, like email addresses. Continue with business-specific information, including Opportunity types and stages.
Invest in data cleansing software to give your efforts a strong start. The return on investment from clean data is well worth the dollar value of software solutions.
Best Practices for Maintaining Good Data Hygiene
Ensure that you limit missing information on your Contacts and Leads. The system of record must include accurate phone numbers and email addresses for your customers and prospects.
Only allow System Admin privileges to those in your organization who really need it. Having only a handful of cooks in the kitchen will help maintain healthy CRM data.
Declare a data-quality standard across all CRM objects. Implement tools to standardize data entry and utilize CRM validation rules to alert users when data records are incomplete.
Schedule periodic CRM data reviews to ensure that your data remains up-to-date and doesn't become stale as contacts update their information and change job functions.
To learn more about CRM scanning in Backstory, click here.
Questions about CRM data hygiene? Let us know at support@backstory.ai.