Data quality is the topic of this post. I have had the fortune (or misfortune, depending on who you ask) of working extensively with data for well over 10 years. I have seen all kinds of data files, good ones, bad ones, ones on 3.5 inch floppy disks, data on zip disks (remember zip disks? They looked like this), lists written down on paper, the lot. From all of these, there is one thing that is always true: Data Changes.
It has been said that within a 365 day period, the data of a town or city can change up to 20%. People move, change their phone number, get rid of their home phone, switch jobs, get too much spam and get a new email address. There are a number of reasons as to why data changes, but we know it does.
If you run a business, your data should always be top notch, but sadly, that isn’t the case with many businesses out there. The same came be said for many political parties where their work and voter ID efforts are centered around the data they keep. It’s an on-going task, which can become incredibly tedious if ignored for too long.
Garbage In, Garbage Out
There is a saying when some speak about data, “garbage in, garbage out”, which basically means, if you have poor data, you’re going to see poor results. While a lot of companies or small businesses out there just don’t have the time to dedicate to data management and upkeep, there are other solutions and tools out there that can be used to help improve the quality of your data.
While here at Picea Partners we offer lead generation services for both b2b sales and consumer sales, we can also work with your existing database, to help improve the overall data quality of it. Two of the easiest steps you can take to help improve your data quality are, run your data through our NCOA program. NCOA stand for National Change Of Address, and this will tell you who in your data file no longer lives at the address you have for them, and we try our very best to get you the new address for that individual.
The second step is phone number appendages. What happens here, is we take your data file and run it against the master phone records. If you have data records where a phone number is missing, we will add it to the record (providing we have the number), or if a phone number has changed, we will make the change to your file. Our data experts continually update date files to ensure our data quality is the most accurate and up-to-date that it can be, so that you can grow your business, and continue to work with clients or customers you already have.
Get in touch with us today to learn more.