Having difficulty effectively reaching and communicating with customers is not unusual. The reason? Poor contact data like incorrect phone numbers, addresses, and emails can hinder your ability to reach the right voicemail, inbox, or mailbox, slowing down your operation, increasing costs, and negatively impacting the customer experience. In fact, our latest research shows that 94% of organizations say the quality of contact data has become more important over the last year.
Knowing that it is necessary to effectively reach customers, organizations are increasing their focus on investing in data quality solutions. In this article, we will answer the most frequently asked questions on contact data and how Experian can help.
1. What are quality data solutions?
Contact data solutions are tools used to detect, recognize, and correct errors in data, which support an organization’s operational processes and decision-making across the business.
These solutions will verify primary contact channels like email, phone numbers, and mailing addresses:
- Email validation
- Phone validation
- Address validation
Basically, the way this works is by validating aspects of the email, phone, and address against reliable databases to ensure the contact exists, then verifying the format and spelling is accurate. Furthermore, there are ways to append missing data points—like emails or phone numbers—so you can always work with a complete database of consumer records.
Integrating data validation into your daily operation—whether it is embedded into online applications, CRM systems, or scheduled for bulk cleanses—can help you control the quality of your contact data.
2. Why is quality contact data important?
There are several reasons why quality contact data is important. Firstly, reliable customer contact data can put you in touch with your customers—a critical tactic for business operations, sales outreach, marketing campaigns, and more. Quality contact data can bring more to the table. Our research shows us that investing in data solutions can enable better decision-making, customer experience, operational efficiency, cost savings, innovation, and way more.
Accurate data allows an organization to remain engaged and regularly connected to its consumers through multiple channels. When a company’s database is complete with customer emails, phone numbers, and addresses, there’s business-wide confidence that you know who your customers are, and you can reach them through preferred channels. This way, you are more likely to see ROI on marketing campaigns knowing they are reaching the right places and you can accurately report on consumer trends and analysis.
3. What are the biggest challenges that these organizations face today?
Today, organizations are ramping up their digital strategies with plans of modernizing their business and operation. In this, companies are faced with challenges in the following areas: inconsistent consumer buying behaviors, weakened operational processes, and innovating the customer experience.
For example, poor address data can result in delayed deliveries, delivering to the wrong location, and resulting in a negative customer experience. Additionally, inaccurate emails can lead to missed opportunities to gain new business, engage with current prospects, and ultimately build effective relationships. Lastly, valid phone numbers can help streamline operational costs and reduce quality time spent on failed attempts as employees work to reach consumers due to inaccurate phone numbers in their database.
With digital acceleration, comes more chances to collect verified contact data at various points of the customer journey. Our research tells us that 85% of business leaders say that leveraging data and data insights has been essential to successful digital transformation. Collecting, managing, and using quality data will enable you to minimize the risk and frustrations that may come with everyday challenges.
4. How can contact data solutions help address these challenges?
Our research shows that 88% of organizations believe that being data-driven helps them stay on top of customer needs and market trends. Organizations can address the challenges they face by implementing data solutions into their processes across the business. Since contact data is a key component for an organization to be data-driven, it is important they can maintain accurate data to reap the benefits.
The benefits of validating consumer contact data allow you to have fruitful customer engagement, increased deliverability of goods and contact attempts, and improved sender reputation. Having success in these areas will reflect an increase in the business’s ROI for marketing campaign efforts, reduce costs to fix errors, and effective operational processes resulting in a positive customer experience and improved customer retention rates.
How can Experian help?
Now that you are aware of what contact data is and how to ensure you are supported by high-quality solutions, let’s discuss the steps to implement the right solution for your organization. Experian is ready to help you improve your current processes and assist in minimizing your organization's challenges. Sign up for a free trial today.
