If you intend to implement a Marketing Automation system, you need to know what data to collect and what to do with it. Paradoxically, having too much data is not an advantage, because it is difficult to draw conclusions from it, and in addition you incur unnecessary costs of system licenses, the price of which depends on the amount of data processed.
In this article, you will learn how marketing automation systems facilitate the acquisition and processing of valuable data and what data is worth acquiring and processing in marketing automation campaigns.
Why collect data?
Let's start with the simplest question - what do you need data for? Why are you collecting it? The answer - "because it's there" is not scored. Data is like fresh flowers - it costs a lot, spoils quickly, and causes a lot of trouble when stored. That's why it's not worth collecting it in advance. Keeping data up to date costs a lot, and using outdated data is worse than not having it at all, because it gives you the illusion that everything is fine. And when a campaign doesn't work, it's hard to find the source of the problem, because data currency is the last element we verify when looking for the causes of unsuccessful marketing and sales activities.
So before you start collecting data, make sure you know what to do with it. If you're not sure whether you need the information, you'll probably never use it.
Data overview
Implementing new systems, such as Marketing Automation or CRM , is a good opportunity to take a look at the data we have and decide whether it is worth migrating or integrating with a new system. Pay special attention to the following elements:
Date of last update – For example, if the last update to the contact dominica business email list details in a record was made more than 2 years ago, there is a good chance that the person has changed position, telephone number or employer.
Legal status of data – are we sure that the data was obtained in accordance with the current law? Do we have the right to process this data? Are we sure that its owner has not requested its deletion?
Consents to communication – if we enter data into the marketing automation system, we will probably use it for communication. Make sure you have this option. Hint – data in the CRM system is usually entered by salespeople based on data they have obtained during meetings, conferences or phone calls. They can contact such people, but without additional consent you cannot send such people collective communication – e.g. from e-mail or marketing automation systems.
Completeness of data in the database – if, for example, only a few percent of records in your entire database contain information on dietary preferences – consider whether to enter this data into the system at all. Using it on a mass scale will be unprofitable, and supplementing it will cost a lot.
Data format – here it is worth cooperating with the IT department or database specialist. Sometimes before importing data or connecting databases it is worth making sure that the data is saved in a similar way. For example, a postal code often appears in the form without xx-xxx or simply xxxxx. If we overlook this, we risk database inconsistency and, for example, serious errors in segmentation or reporting.
This stage usually doesn’t cause much enthusiasm among marketers, but if you want to generate high-quality leads , you need to ensure high-quality data.
Remember that this is also a preliminary stage – it only provides certainty that the data is of appropriate quality on the day it is loaded into the system. Here you can read more about how to prepare for the implementation of a marketing automation system . After all, marketing automation systems “feed” on data, i.e. they facilitate its acquisition, processing and use in communication – e.g. for segmentation or personalization of content. This means that you also have to ensure that the quality of the data does not decrease during its processing.
How to maintain data quality in marketing systems?
I have collected some best practices for using data in marketing automation systems that work regardless of the system you choose.
Reduce the number of forms – forms on websites are the most popular method of acquiring data, so-called early leads. Data for an e-book, a newsletter subscription, a webinar registration – all of these are handled by forms. I know from experience that it is worth having as few forms as possible, because then we reduce the risk of error. Once, when creating a new form, we accidentally mapped the fields incorrectly and the information about the location ended up in the “Name” column. It is not hard to imagine the mess that this caused. Since then, I have been very rigorous about the quality and consistency of forms.
Limit the amount of data you collect . Forms with five fields are already at the limit of our clients' endurance, so there is no point in risking losing a potential lead because we asked for too much data. Another argument is the efficiency of such a database - the less data, the faster the database will work. If you establish a standard for collecting data, it will be easier for you to limit the number of forms. For the record, I will mention that in marketing automation systems, one form can be used multiple times on multiple websites.
Don't force your customers to provide their data . For example, if you force someone to provide their phone number who simply wants to download your PDF, you'll get a response like +11 111 11 11 11. What will you do with this information? Especially in the first stages of contact with your potential customer, limit the amount of data to an absolute minimum, e.g. name (to greet the recipient) and email address. If you overdo it, your database will be flooded with creative, vulgar or random strings of characters.
Don’t collect data too early in the customer journey. The so-called top of the funnel are the leads with the lowest probability of buying. By converting them to qualified leads, you reduce their number – in this way, you narrow the funnel. So there’s no point in collecting data from everyone who appears on your website. Most people who visit it won’t become your customers. Even if they agree to sign up for a newsletter or provide an email address in exchange for an e-book, you don’t have enough knowledge about their needs at this stage to collect their data. Fortunately, marketing automation systems make it easy to determine when it’s worth asking a visitor for data. Maybe after their third visit to our website in a week? Maybe after being redirected to our website from a precisely targeted campaign? You have many options for determining the right moment, but in my experience, the first visit to the website is not the time to collect data. Let me return to financial issues once again – in most marketing automation systems, the price depends on the number of records. So if you collect a large number of low-quality records (e.g. people who downloaded your e-book but are not in your target group), you will incur high licensing costs for virtually no benefits.
