Individuals or firms might carry a lot of information in a concise period. With the help of data cleansing, we can clean, update, and compile data in one area. Though data cleansing can include deleting information, it is focused more on updating, correcting, and consolidating to make sure your system is as productive as possible.
A business that wants to win on their market should know where to find the right data they need and for that data cleansing is essential. The following statistics from Zoominfo shows the importance of accurate records for businesses.
33% of businesses have over 100,000 records in their database
67% of industries depend on CRM data to segment and target customers
Data cleansing ensures you have the most recently updated files, so when you need any important document, you can find it with ease. It also helps to make sure that you do not have all the personal information on your computer, which can be a security risk.
Table of Contents
What is Data Cleansing?
Data cleansing summons spotting and correcting inaccurate or corrupt data from the database. The process is mostly used where incorrect, irrelevant data are present, and then they are replaced, modified, and deleted.
Since data is a significant asset of any company, inaccuracy can be dangerous. Accurate data can increase market effectiveness, thereby bringing sales and efficiency. Increased efforts and better productivity are other advantages of data cleansing.
Having the right customer information is essential for every business. It will help you to understand the audience better, and you can make the most of your marketing efforts.
What is the significance of Data Cleansing?
1. Advances decision-making process
The cornerstone of actual decision making in any industry is customer data. Yet, various firms fail to prioritize data quality management. Clean data support better analytics as well as all-round business intelligence. Accurate data is essential for the decision-making process. Moreover, having accurate data can help business enterprises to make better decisions, which will contribute to success.
2. Simplifies business practices
Eliminating duplicate data from the database can help business enterprises to streamline business practices and save a lot of money. Data cleansing, along with accurate analytics, can also help the enterprise to identify the chance to establish a new product or service in the market.
3. Increases productivity
Data cleansing is essential because it improves data quality. When you clean your data, it is free from all outdated, inaccurate information leaving you with the highest quality information. This ensures you don’t have to wade your time through unnecessary documents and allows you to make the most of your work hours.
4. Rise of Revenue
The firms which work on improving the consistency and maximizing the accuracy of their data can suddenly improve their response rates, which results in increased revenue. Clean data can help business enterprises to reduce the number of returned mails significantly. If there is any sensitive information or promotions that the enterprise wants to convey their customers directly, precise information can help in reaching the customers quickly.
5. How to cleanse data?
A database usually contains a large amount of data that may be stored in a format that is not ready to use. That’s why it is essential to make sure that data is correctly formatted and conforms to the set of rules.
Some general guidelines that all companies should follow are given below:
1. Clean your data using a separate spreadsheet
It is always advisable to keep a copy of the original and make changes in the separate spreadsheet. This will protect your information in case you make any mistake. Once your worksheet is error-free, you can copy the updated information to the original spreadsheet.
2. Usage of Functions
It can be challenging to edit all the errors manually. So make use of functions and let your program work for you. If you are using Microsoft Excel, then there are many functions to choose from that will do the cleansing for you.
3. Practice Data Cleansing Software
Google refine is a free and open-source data cleansing tool. It cleans inaccurate data and transforms it. It can also convert data from one format to another, letting you explore big data with ease.
Conclusion Note
As industries expand, they will require a large number of resources to maintain an accurate database. A clean database used for email marketing campaigns can remarkably lower bounce backs, and updated information can be transformed into a critical business asset. Henceforth data cleansing will help to achieve business goals with ease. Data cleansing not only helps in saving time and money but also it can ensure that the firm delivers operational efficiency.
