The success of your organization’s email marketing is heavily reliant on reliable and clean data. Duplicate, incomplete, dirty, and outdated data are the most common data problems we see when we troubleshoot client systems.
Sorting and filtering through duplicate leads wastes time and resources. Missing information makes it very challenging to prioritize follow-ups, and can lead to lost opportunities. Dirty data, and data that has not been normalized, can affect segmentation—which can easily lead to spending marketing dollars in the wrong direction.
Making a few changes in your process can reap big improvements, though! Here are a few suggestions:
Deduplicate
Even with good processes established–like searching for existing leads and contacts before creating new ones, or checking for existing contacts during the lead conversion process–duplication is bound to happen. Turn to some of the available tools to help with duplication issues.
- DemandTools is a great tool for deduplication because it allows customization to identify what is considered duplicate. This tool can dedupe on a single object or across Lead and Contact objects.
- Cloudingo is a cloud-based deduplication tool. This tool can regularly scan for duplicates and can perform auto merging.
- DupeCatcher is a more proactive way to prevent duplicates. This tool prevents duplicates as they are created in Salesforce. Rules and filters can also be customized to define what duplicates should be blocked.
Normalize Data
- Utilize a picklist for pre-defined values instead of open text.
- Use Workflow/Process Builder to replace dirty values with acceptable values.
- Utilize an available normalization app in the AppExchange or develop your own.
- DemandTools or Dataloader will enable mass update.
Correct Missing Data
- Require population of important fields that end users can answer, by making fields required on the Page Layout or on the field-level property.
- Utilize a data append service to fill in missing data that is critical for Sales and Marketing. Sometimes the end user may not immediately know some information, or may be reluctant to share it. And you can’t ask everything when you create your forms, as forms that are too long will discourage completion.
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Augusto Bisda is a DemandGen Solutions Architect with extensive knowledge of application development and best-in-class solutions. As an expert Salesforce developer, Augusto sets a high quality for excellence and continues to exceed that bar on a day-by-day basis.
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