How to Maintain a Clean CRM. It’s not easy to set up constituent relationship management (CRM) system, and keeping it up to date can be difficult.
How to Maintain a Clean CRM
The expression “garbage in, garbage out” is widely used to indicate how the quality of incoming data influences output. This is especially true for charities that use CRM systems.
Despite the administrative constraints, CRM tools have a lot of advantages. We discuss why it’s critical to keep your data clean in order to stay up with changes in your contributors, volunteers, and audiences.
What does CRM cleansing entail?
Is your CRM system up to snuff and allowing you to spot audience trends? Salesforce claims that the system should be able to do the following:
- improve the reporting and analysis of data
- Organizational information should be improved.
- many teams to coordinate
- to improve customer service
- automate processes
The system must contain trustworthy data to make your investment worthwhile. The system will not perform successfully if the data being entered into your CRM system is inaccurate, has duplicate records, or has an inadequate dataset. Charities with weak data may make decisions based on inaccurate information.
The process of authenticating entries in CRM is known as CRM cleansing. It’s time demanding and must be done on a regular basis, but it may help charities get the most out of their donations.
Cleaning up your CRM system is a good idea.
Keeping your data clean entails ensuring that everything that goes into and out of the system is accurate and up-to-date. The following are some of our top recommendations for keeping your system in good shape:
Related: 7 Best Free and Cheap CRM Software in 2022
ENSURE YOU HAVE A DATA ENTRY PROCESS
Returning to the adage “garbage in, trash out,” entering clean, verified data into the CRM system reduces the likelihood of errors.
Hubspot suggests that charities standardize their data entry processes. This entails creating records with all of the necessary information. Choosing which fields are required to complete the record while entering contact information keeps data clean.
Ensure that each record contains an email address at the very least, rather than a mix of email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses. In the end, the information you collect for each record should be consistent across all entries.
To help improve the quality of data entering the system, provide drop-down fields and format constraints.
REMAIN CONSISTENT IN YOUR FORMATTING
Formatting is important for detail-oriented nonprofits. Having a singular technique of putting down information is what proper formatting entails. Decide how you’ll record “Mr” and “Mister” or “M” for titles. Syntax matters because CRM systems treat each recording differently, even if the notation is the same.
CRM Dynamics provides quality-improvement suggestions. They recommend establishing guidelines for each field you want to capture and indicating any deviations in free text areas.
Pro tip: Avoid abbreviations by taking a long way around. Abbreviations that are inconsistent may not appear in broad searches.
APPLY FOR DATA SCRABBING SERVICES
It’s crucial to double-check your contact information. This entails verifying that the facts are correct – that supporters have provided accurate information. Data scrubbers verify the accuracy of the information without making physical touch.
In order to combat the problem of fraudulent information, Zoho’s CRM system contains modules that check material automatically. The modules evaluate emails, addresses, and phone numbers to ensure that they are in the correct format.
Cloudingo integrates with Salesforce’s CRM system to look for duplicate entries and erroneous data. The plug-in allows charities to search for specified criteria and identifies potentially ‘dirty’ records. Other plug-ins provide services such as phone numbers and address correction.
Free trials are available with both Zoho and Cloudingo. Before signing long-term contracts, give it a shot.
REDUCE THE NUMBER OF UNUTILIZED LANDSCAPES
Regularly examine the fields you truly need and use in your CRM system to decrease the noise. It’s possible that only a few fields in your entries are filled in. There will be less potential for data entry errors if you can eliminate those fields.
Tip: Use only as many fields as you require.
ESTABLISH A CLEANING SCHEDULE ON A REGULAR BASIS.
Apart from learning about your audience, there are numerous reasons to maintain your CRM data clean. According to the General Data Protection Regulations, charities are only allowed to hold data for a limited amount of time. At regular intervals, data must be cleansed and purged. Furthermore, Salesforce believes that 70% of CRM data collected each year becomes obsolete.
Implement a frequent and continuing cleaning routine to maintain the quality of your data. This entails double-checking contact information and record histories to ensure they are correct.
Make a note of any changes in contact information or email bounce backs during fundraising seasons. Make the necessary changes to your CRM data.
How to Maintain a Clean CRM
