Jul 11, 20217:39 AM - edited Jul 11, 20217:40 AM
HubSpot Employee
How often do you clean your contacts database?
We’re in a data-driven era, where datasets are shared between marketing, sales, and customer service teams to increase organizational effectiveness and facilitate alignment. When you have high levels of inconsistent data, it’s not just one team taking the hit. It’s everyone. The entire company. The fallout from that bad data extends to every corner of your business that the data touches. With that in mind, how often do you currently audit and clean your contacts database? Once a month? Every quarter? Once a year? What does the process look like? Share your thoughts and current schedule.
I think it depends on where the contacts are coming from. A purchased list will need to be updated more often, if it is a list of personally curated contacts it may not need to be reviewed as often. A good rule of thumb is every quarter but that may not be possible, a minimum of once a year is a must.
Cleaning and auditing a contacts database should be a regular and systematic process to ensure data quality, reliability, and efficiency. The frequency of this process depends on several factors, including the size of the database, the rate at which the data changes, and the importance of the data to business operations. Here are some guidelines to help determine the optimal frequency for cleaning your contacts database:
1. Regular Updates (Monthly or Quarterly) 2. Annual Comprehensive Audit 3. Event-Driven Updates 4. Ongoing Data Quality Monitoring
Best Practices for Database Cleaning: -Data Standardization: Ensure that all entries follow a consistent format for names, addresses, phone numbers, and other critical fields. -Duplicate Removal: Regularly check for and merge duplicate entries to avoid redundancy and confusion. -Accuracy Verification: Use verification tools and services to confirm the validity of email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses. -Incomplete Data: Identify and update incomplete records to ensure comprehensive contact information. -Opt-Out Management: Maintain accurate records of opt-out requests to comply with privacy regulations and avoid legal issues.
By adhering to these guidelines and establishing a routine schedule for data cleaning, companies can significantly reduce the costs associated with bad data and enhance the overall effectiveness of their contact management strategies.
It depends on account but I try to update the contact base before majour events. I have a client who has 400 users coming in and out every month, so if I let's say update my contacts every quarter, I risk to have 1200 guys who left and same amount who arrived but are not in my base.
For most clients, we aim to clean their databases every quarter. Some smaller clients may not need this process quarterly - every year or every six months is adequate.
We schedule a thorough database cleaning every quarter to keep our data accurate and up-to-date. Additionally, we undertake database cleaning as needed for specific campaigns to ensure our marketing efforts remain relevant and effective. By staying proactive with our data maintenance, we ensure that our messages reach the right people, maximizing the impact of our communications.
We clean our database every 3 months as part of our regular maintenance schedule to ensure data accuracy and hygiene. Additionally, we perform database cleaning as per campaign requirements to maintain relevancy and effectiveness in our marketing efforts. This proactive approach helps us maintain a high-quality contact database, ensuring that our communication reaches the right audience at the right time.
Not sure about the frequency internally but i would say that it should be cleaned at least once every six months. Regular database cleaning helps maintain the quality and accuracy of our data, which is essential for effective marketing, sales, and customer relationship management. Frequent cleanings, such as quarterly, are crucial to ensure that we are working with up-to-date and relevant contact information.
In my last job we tried to do it every year, because the process was slow and took at least a full day or two-- I think with an effective contact management tool that could do it quicker, I could see myself doing it every quarter as suggested.
We clean our contact database often. More so while we get used to using Hubspot for our needs. Once we are comfortable with our setup, we will probably clean every few months.
I am unsure about the clean out process and how frequent it happens. I think it is an extremely important task to be done at least every few months to help not loose any revenue and have accurate information for each department of a team.
