The People You Should Care About Most

Melissa Team | Address Quality, Analyzing Data, Analyzing Data Quality, Data Quality | , , , , ,

By Elliot King

This goal should be a no-brainer. When a customer interacts with your organization, your point-of-contact personnel should have accurate information about your products and services and about the person especially in the case of a repeat customer. When front-line personal provide incorrect or incomplete information, or don’t have access to information they should have, the customer experience suffers.

Ironically, the impact of poor data quality on customer satisfaction is often
overlooked. According to a survey of members of the Association of Business
Process Management Professionals (ABPMP), of the 45 percent who reported that
they are working on improving CRM processes, only 38 percent have evaluated the
impact that poor-quality data has on the effectiveness of these processes. That
statistic is a little frightening.

Poor data quality coupled with the inability to deliver the right data to the
customer at the right time damages overall customer satisfaction in a variety of
ways. Consider this scenario. Many retailers run multiple promotions at the same
time. Each promotion has different rules and restrictions and run for different
time periods.

When customers go to pay, if the final price does not reflect the discounts they
anticipated, they will not be real happy. The flip side of the coin is true as
well. If a sales process does not include a discount where one is due, an
opportunity to build goodwill or perhaps close a deal will be lost.

But misunderstandings and the failure to provide the appropriate product are the
tip of the iceberg. If point-of-contact personnel do not have confidence in the
information they receive, the process for which the data is needed will be
slowed and their productivity diminished.

And there is the annoyance factor. Think about your interactions with your
telephone or cable provider. You call with a problem. The computer confirms the
number you are calling about. If you are lucky and you finally find a human to
talk to, how many times do they have to reconfirm all your information–telephone
number, address, and so on–especially when you are passed from one person to
another? Okay, part of the problem is most likely the lack of overall system
integration, but part of the problem is a fear of faulty information.

Poor data quality is not a theoretical issue. It can hurt you in the place that
may hurt most–your relationship with your customers.