Seventy-five per cent of UK organisations are losing potential revenue of nearly £200 million due to poor quality data wasting time and resources, according to new research undertaken by Experian Data Quality.
Ninety-four per cent of respondents said they have poor quality data within their databases. A quarter of companies still rely entirely on manual processes, such as visually checking spreadsheets, to manage contact data held on customers.
The study also shows that there has been an increase in the channels companies are using to communicate with their customers over the last 12 months, with an average of 3.4 channels being utilised. This increase in channel adoption increases the potential for incorrect or duplicate data entering a company, which is an obstacle to organisations attempting to drive a cross-channel customer experience. A whopping 83 per cent are experiencing issues in this area and 42 per cent of respondents stated that inaccurate data is the cause.
There has an estimated five per cent increase in the inaccuracy of contact data since 2013 (growing from 17 per cent to 22 per cent in the last 12 months). This could be down to entry sources. Fifty-four per cent of respondents said they use manual entry sources, such as call centres, to collect contact information. However, call centres are not only one of the most popular ways to collect information (54 per cent), but also described by 52 per cent as the ‘dirtiest’. Fifty-nine per cent of respondents said human error was the biggest contributor to poor quality contact data.
Meanwhile, contact data topped the list of data businesses deem essential to marketing success (54 per cent), followed by transactional data at 44 per cent. As a result, 94 per cent of UK brands see value in enriching this data with additional insight gained from third party sources.
Joel Curry, MD at Experian Data Quality, commented on the findings: “The need for measured data quality controls is not diminishing, and, if anything it is becoming increasingly imperative.
“More and more channels are becoming available for organisations to communicate with their customers and being able to link these interactions together sits at the heart of delivering a quality customer experience.”
