Data Quality
What Makes a Marketing Database Valuable?
Accuracy, completeness, currency, consistency, uniqueness, provenance and usability: seven qualities that decide whether a marketing database is an asset, plus a quick self-audit.
AVS Leads · · 3 min read
A customer or prospect database is one of the most valuable assets a business has, and one of the most neglected. Its value doesn't come from size. It comes from whether you can trust it and use it.
Seven qualities of a valuable database
Accurate. Names and addresses are correct and deliverable. CASS processing is the baseline for postal addresses.
Current. People and businesses move. Records are updated for moves (NCOA) and old records are reviewed regularly.
Complete. Records carry the fields you need to segment and personalize. Missing fields can often be filled with a data append.
Consistent. The same kind of information is stored the same way: one format for states, phone numbers and names. Consistency is what makes matching and reporting work.
Unique. Each person, household or company appears once. Duplicates distort counts, response rates and budgets.
Well-sourced. You know where each record came from and what you are allowed to do with it. Records without provenance are a risk, not an asset.
Usable. The data can get out of your system in a form your mail house, CRM or analyst can work with.
A quick self-audit
- When was the file last run through CASS and NCOA?
- How many records are missing a postal address, a ZIP+4 or a name?
- Do you know how many duplicates it contains?
- Can you tell which source each record came from?
- Can you separate customers from prospects, and active from lapsed?
- Could you export it today in a format a mail house would accept?
If more than one answer is "not sure," the database is probably costing more than it should. See how we improve data.
General information only. Postal standards and legal requirements change; confirm current rules before each campaign. Questions? Talk to a data expert.