As a business, it’s important for you to maintain your database of customer information and credentials. This information is almost as valuable as gold for you because of the insights it provides into the customer behaviors, and it’s also a way for you to maintain a record. However, the amount of data accumulated over time can be too much to handle, and you need to do some trimming to keep it clean and useful. A cluttered database wouldn’t be of much help to you because it’ll be difficult to find the information you need when you need it. However, it can be difficult for even the experts to know how to clean up their database.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the ways in which you can keep your customer database clean and efficient. This will allow you to let go of redundant information as well as make things a whole lot easier for you. So without any further delay, let’s get to it and find out all you need to know about keeping your database lean.
1) Identify Duplicates
One of the most visibly apparent and common causes of messed-up databases is duplicates; these not only take up unnecessary space but also slow down all the processes that involve retrieving and using the data. You have to establish a procedure to detect and rectify these duplicates, as they can cause a lot of unnecessary clutter. Even though it’s inevitable that your database will accumulate duplicates- more so if your company is gaining renown, you can still conduct regular checks to spot duplicates and remove them timely.
2) Update Contacts
Another area where most databases suffer is outdated contact information. If you want to optimize your company’s database truly, then updating contacts is one of the most important tasks for you to do. How will you do it? Aside from removing inactive contacts, you can check what carrier the customer is using, remove fake contacts, double contacts, and so on. These steps will help ensure that there is no redundant data in your database, and that’s always better than just having lots of useless data.
3) Maintain Uniformity
Any database can’t actually be clean if it’s not uniform, and this is why most larger organizations have uniform standards that everyone has to adhere to. Uniformity is one of the most underrated aspects of a database, and you should aim to establish uniform standards throughout your database. Using different formats to mention the dates, time, address, or even the name of the country can lead to unnecessary cluttering of data, and this is something that has to be specifically targeted by you.
4) Regular Audits
Most businesses that audit their databases do so at set intervals because it’s easily one of the best tools to ensure its efficiency. You can either conduct the audit at regular time intervals like weekly, fortnightly or monthly. You can also set another goal that doesn’t depend on the time frame; rather, it can depend on the number of customer entries that you’ve completed. Regularity is the most important part here as it helps you to maintain consistency in your database.
5) Proper Protocols
If you want to ensure that most of the problems we’ve discussed don’t even occur, then you have to design proper protocols for doing everything. There should be a standard way of capturing data, inputting it on the system, and storing it. You can establish additional subroutines within the larger routines to ensure that all the details are double-checked and that the customer’s data is taken accurately. It all depends on the extent to which you’re willing to go and whether your employees will comply with those protocols or not.
These are some of the many ways in which you can keep your database clean and lean. A database that contains only the valid and necessary information is far better than the ones that are filled with all sorts of jumbled non-sense. Data is a really valuable commodity in today’s market, and it should be valued as such. If you can utilize the data in your database effectively, then you can get some really useful information that will help you grow your business very well. However, the key to all of that lies in properly maintaining the database as a cluttered database is usually more problematic than it is beneficial. Follow these basic tips to get started, and then you can add more steps on top of it as you go along.