Before starting any data cleaning project, it’s important to perform a data audit to get a complete picture of the state of your CRM or marketing automation tool. This process may reveal issues such as a high volume of problematic leads, duplicate records between leads and contacts, or the absence of a proper parent-child hierarchy. StrategicDB provides data audits prior to doing data cleaning projects as well as part of tech stack audit and prior to migrating ecommerce platforms.
Data Audit Consulting Services
Contact us for a Data Audit
What is included in a Data Audit Service?
Duplicates in a CRM can make your system inefficient, lead to inaccurate reporting, and, at worst, make your company appear unprofessional to leads and customers. StrategicDB’s data audit estimates the number of duplicates in your system, identifies whether it is a problem, and reviews how the duplicates occurred to help prevent or at least reduce them in the future.
Inconsistent data can make reporting, marketing, and sales insights difficult. For example, if state or country fields are not standardized, it becomes impossible to segment leads or analyze performance by geography. A data audit identifies fields that should be standardized or normalized and provides guidance on how to maintain consistent data in the future.
Historical data is important for compliance and reporting purposes. However, if your CRM has been in use for over 10 years or your eCommerce store has hundreds of outdated records, it may be time for a data cleanup. A data audit can reveal what percentage of your records are no longer viable.
Every CRM contains some bogus records these could be test accounts that were never deleted, spam entries, or outdated and incomplete records. It is estimated that 1 to 5% of your database may consist of records that should be removed. While bogus records can be difficult to identify, it is not impossible. StrategicDB can flag accounts, contacts, leads, and other data types for review as potential bogus records, ensuring that no legitimate data is deleted.
Incomplete data can create challenges, making analysis difficult, segmentation unreliable, and sales less efficient. During a data audit, key fields are identified, and incomplete records are flagged. StrategicDB not only provides data audit services but also offers data appending solutions to efficiently and accurately acquire missing information, ensuring the most effective outcome.
Other data issues often emerge that are specific to the organization being audited. For example, we have found that an eCommerce store lacked proper product categorization, causing some products to be hard to find. Another retailer had data issues with filters due to missing information. A B2B organization had five separate fields for State/Region, which, when combined, provided a complete and accurate view. These are just a few examples of the types of data issues uncovered during a data audit.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Data Audit Services
We offer free data audits for any client who chooses to proceed with data cleaning or migration through us. We do not perform data cleansing or migration without first conducting an audit because we believe that understanding the state of your data is essential to ensure the process is as efficient and effective as possible.
There are many advantages to performing a data audit by a data cleansing company. Here are just a few:
Uncover Issues with Your Data: When working with CRMs and marketing automation tools day in and day out, it can be difficult to identify problems or areas for improvement. Having a third party review your data provides a fresh perspective, helping you understand what is working, what isn’t, and how to improve processes to get the most out of your data.
Saves You Time: Conducting your own data audit can take weeks or even months, especially when balancing other responsibilities. It can also be challenging to know where to start or how to prioritize cleanup efforts. StrategicDB brings the expertise and knowledge to recommend the most efficient approach to cleaning, normalizing, de-duplicating, and capturing data for maximum impact.
Uncovers Opportunities: A third-party review of your data structure and a sample of your records can reveal new opportunities. This may include identifying valuable fields to collect, processes that could be automated or improved, and ways to enhance overall data quality.
I can also create a more concise, marketing-friendly version for your website or brochure that keeps it punchy and client-focused. Do you want me to do that?
Data audits are often included in with other services such as data cleansing services or data migration services. However, if you are looking to just do a data audit to understand your current data, we can provide a quote based on your data.
The process of a data audit is pretty straight forward. All we need is access to your data, a quick 15-30 minute meeting to understand your data and its usage as well as address any specific issues you are looking to solve or have seen any data issues with. Then StrategicDB being a data cleaning agency, will provide the audit and its results as well as recommendations to you in typically an hour long meeting. This is it, to schedule your data audit, contact StrategicDB.
A typical data audit includes a report that outlines major issues, quantifies their impact, and provides recommendations for data cleansing strategies and process improvements. After all, there is little value in performing a data audit or data cleansing without implementing the proper tools and processes to prevent the issues from recurring in the first place.
Once we have access to the raw data, a full data audit typically takes 3 to 5 business days. However, if the data is complex or contains many interconnected elements, the audit can take up to 3 weeks. If you would like an estimate for your data audit, we would be happy to provide a quote and timeline.
StrategicDB supports almost all data types, CRMs, marketing automation tools, and eCommerce platforms.
Some of the platforms we have worked with include, but are not limited to:
CRMs: Salesforce, Oracle, SQL, MS Dynamics, Zoho, HubSpot, MongoDB, and Monday.com
Marketing Automation Tools: Eloqua, Marketo, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Mailchimp
eCommerce Platforms: BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, and Wix
If your platform isn’t listed, reach out—chances are we’ve worked with it!
A data audit should be performed every 3 to 5 years, before launching a new product, or when merging or migrating data. However, it’s time to conduct a data audit if you notice any of the following issues:
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Bounce rates are increasing
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Sales are becoming less efficient
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The number of disqualified leads is rising
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Overall sales are declining
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Marketing efforts are less effective
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Reporting is unreliable
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, it’s time for a data audit.