How to Handle Bad Data in Your Venue Booking Software

What is ‘Bad Data’ in Your CRM?

What exactly is "bad data" when it comes to information in your venue booking software and CRM system? Defining it can feel complicated, so let's break it down. Typically, bad data shows up in one of these ways:

• Contact has an incorrect email address and/or phone number
• Contact is missing key pieces of information
• Contact has left the business
• CRM contact input information is inconsistent - some may use correct capitalisation, while others are input with lowercase or uppercase
• Contacts are duplicated in the system
• Contacts have filled out forms with incorrect details 

CRM Data Statistics You Need to Know

• 91% of data in CRM systems is predicted to be incomplete, stale, or duplicated each year.
• Sales teams spend around 18% of their time in a CRM system
• 17% of businesses say manual data entry is their biggest challenge in using their current CRM.
• Garner estimates that poor data quality costs the average business $13.5 million
• Insights from Salesforce reveal, up to 70% of data in a CRM system goes bad every year
• In 2008, 12% of businesses used cloud-based CRM systems - in 2022, the figure had increased to 87%

How Can I Fix Bad Data in My Venue Software?

Fixing bad CRM data is essential for maintaining accurate and reliable information about your customers and prospects. To help you clean and improve CRM data in your venue booking software, consider the following:

Assessing Your Current CRM Status

Figure out where the bad data is coming from, whether from typos, integration hiccups, or something else. This way, you can tackle the root causes and set up measures to prevent them in the future.

Standardising Data Entry Procedures

Set some consistent, easy-to-follow guidelines for entering data, like addresses and phone numbers, so everything stays neat and consistent.

Finding and Merging Duplicate Contacts

Look for duplicate records by checking fields like names, email addresses, and phone numbers. Combine any duplicates you find to keep things tidy and avoid confusion, inefficiency, and extra costs.

Validating and Verifying Data

Use data validation tools to double-check email addresses, phone numbers, and other important details. Set up rules during data entry to make sure everything meets the right criteria, like having a valid email format or a complete phone number.

Regular Data Cleansing

Regular data cleansing helps prevent the accumulation of bad data in your venue booking software over time. Schedule routine processes to clean your data at regular intervals. This could involve using software tools to identify and correct errors. 

Staff Training and Education

When your venue team gets why data quality matters, they're more likely to stick to best practices. Offer training on why accurate data entry is important and the specific standards you've set in your venue management software.

Segmentation and Categorisation

Group customers and prospects into segments based on common attributes, such as industry, location, or behaviour. This allows for more targeted marketing and sales efforts, as you can tailor your approach to each segment's needs.

Data Governance

Create data governance policies that outline who is responsible for data quality, what the standards are, and how issues should be addressed. Regularly audit and review the data to ensure compliance with these policies.

Integration and Automation

Integrate venue booking software with other systems used throughout your venue like property management systems to ensure data remains consistent across platforms. Integration reduces the likelihood of manual errors during updates and synchronisation.

Backup and Recovery

Regularly backing up your data ensures you can recover your data if anything goes wrong during the cleaning process. Cloud-based venue management software like iVvy hosts data in multiple locations to better safeguard personal information. 

Continuous Monitoring and Improvement

Continuously monitor data quality metrics to identify areas for improvement and track progress over time. Stay up-to-date with best practices and emerging technologies in data management to ensure your processes remain effective.