Subscribe in a readerWhat you know about your customers is changing even as you read this. Do you have a clear practice to clean, enhance, and collect new information about your customers? Simon & Schuster was losing tens of thousands in lost labor and shipping fees on this very same challenge.
For every package returned, delayed, or lost you lose money. Even worse, when a customer moves but doesn't tell you, you lose a portion of their lifetime value. Like holes in a boat, bad contact records can sink your sales and marketing.
Each leak adds burden to your cash flow, sapping away your hard earned capital. But, how do you stop these leaks in your cash flow?
Start validating and monitoring data quality. Plan to perform these activities early in your customer relationship management implementation. Performing data validation as records are received at customer interaction points catches errors before they enter your system.
Select tools that reduce common data errors first. Look for solutions that improve address standardization, reduce duplication, and support data import. The ideal tool will connect directly with your CRM system -- one that minimizes the number of data extractions and loads.
Bring all data together in a single location. While today's data quality tools are easy to use, the biggest problem international companies face is getting all data to one location. By collecting data in a single location, you can make one investment in validation and create a common picture of your entire customer base.
If you aren't making an investment in improving what you know about your customers, keeping business insights clean and accurate, you're throwing away money. After all, how can you make educated business decisions if what you know about your customers is wrong.
/ interaction-points | bi-crm /
By Justin Hitt at August 19, 2004 8:08 PM
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