In business, data holds a lot of power, which is why the companies that have realised this invest immensely in their data collection and utilisation strategies. While this sounds like the ultimate cheat code to success, the data you collect can only be useful if it’s high in quality.
So, then, what solutions should you implement to make that possible? One of the most reliable is data enhancement.
But What’s Data Enhancement?
Data enhancement is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the process of improving business data so it’s more accurate and comprehensive. This process may vary slightly from one business to the other, but it typically involves the following inputs:
- Correcting inaccuracies
- Supplementing datasets with information (makes the data more complete)
- Standardising formats to promote consistency
While some companies overlook it, bulk phone number validation with tools from reliable providers like Trestle should be a central part of the data enhancement process. Don’t understand why? Simply because phone numbers are, in most cases, the unique identifiers in databases. Getting one digit wrong means you are referring to an entirely different entry, maybe one that doesn’t even exist.
Why Is Data Enhancement Important?
Before creating and implementing a data enhancement strategy, you more than likely will be wondering if it’s worth the effort. Well, it is! Data quality is one of the crucial factors in any business that you never want to compromise on. In truth, 91% of businesses believe that data quality issues affect their performance. That’s not something you want to experience. That said, here’s why data enhancement is a must-have input for your business:
1. It Facilitates Better Decision-Making
Data-based decisions increase your chances of success in business by a notable margin, but not all data you use will be ideal. When you leverage high-quality data, you won’t have to worry about analytical errors. That’s because such data comes with amazing benefits like accurate forecasts and comprehensive insights.
For instance, relying on highly accurate customer trend data makes it much easier to take the guesswork out of optimising your stock levels.
2. It Helps Improve Customer Experiences
High-quality data is pretty handy in making it possible for businesses to deliver personalised experiences for their customers.
Such data makes it possible to understand your customers’ preferences so you can easily achieve goals like offering proactive service or creating targeted marketing campaigns.
Data enhancement is, therefore, a crucial input if you are aiming to serve your customers better.
3. Can Give You a Competitive Advantage
No matter the industry you are in, the reality is that there will always be competition, thus you need to find ways to differentiate yourself. But how does data enhancement support this goal? It makes it easier to identify trends so you can create strategies to help you stay in command of market shifts.
What’s more, the more detailed your data is, the deeper the insights you can infer. That makes it easier to spot opportunities that you otherwise wouldn’t have.
4. It Makes Regulatory Compliance Easier
Very few industries aren’t regulated at the moment. With almost every industry facing stringent compliance and reporting requirements, data enhancement becomes a crucial input since it promotes accuracy and streamlines audits.
Some of the businesses that need data enhancement the most include those that are in the financial and health sectors. Remember that failure to ensure compliance typically results in serious penalties and loss of credibility at times.
How Can You Facilitate Data Enhancement?
If you’re thinking of implementing data enhancement strategies for your business, it’s highly advisable to adopt a comprehensive approach. Here are some of the tips that will be useful:
1. Train Your Team
If you ask us, the best tip for facilitating data enhancement would be to train your team about the importance of data accuracy and the practices they should adopt to promote accuracy. In most cases, human error is among the leading factors that contribute to data quality issues, thus eliminating it or reducing its occurrence would be a major achievement.
2. Validate Customer Contact Data Often
Effective communication is paramount for businesses that want to build trust with their customers. You need accurate contact information to promote communication success in your business, which will consequently improve your chances of success.
Some of the contact data you want to validate frequently include phone numbers, postal addresses, and email addresses. Automated validation tools are a powerful acquisition for such tasks.
3. Clean Your Data
Data accuracy doesn’t only matter when adding new data to your databases. You need to keep your data clean, and the best way to do that is to use automated data-cleaning tools. Such software makes it easier to detect incomplete fields, formatting inconsistencies, and duplicate entries.
That way, you’re not only assured of the accuracy of your customer databases and other databases but also their quality.
4. Utilise External Data Sources
Integrating external data sources into your existing database network is a clever move that will bring additional invaluable insight. If, for instance, your current datasets lack fields like geographic, demographic, or behavioural data, you can use external sources to introduce such information hence improving data completeness.
So if you want to create highly targeted marketing campaigns or make strategic business decisions, this is something you want to consider.
Make Data Enhancement a Reality With Trestle
Data enhancement may not seem all that important especially if your business is doing well at the moment, but remember that times keep changing. So if you want to remain successful in your field, data enhancement is a business solution you don’t want to leave out.
Trestle provides data validation and enrichment tools that are crucial for any data enhancement campaign. So if you’re just getting started, make sure to visit trestleiq.com to check out the solution and insight they have for you.
