Lack of information quality

Today, every company stores and uses the data of its own customers and prospective customers: Goods are sent, invoices are written, consultation logs are kept in the call center, marketing campaigns are set up and much more. This CRM data is becoming increasingly extensive and complex over time. But without a data strategy, the overview is quickly lost.

Data quickly becomes obsolete. For example, they are entered incorrectly, are no longer up to date or are duplicated. Such data errors reduce data quality and have direct economic consequences. This is also known as the “garbage in garbage out” principle: errors in data cause errors in analyses and forecasts. To illustrate, if you put water in the tank of your car, you won’t be able to drive far. So it is with data quality. Poor data leads to a lack of information quality – wrong decisions are made and opportunities are missed.

Avoidable costs

But a lack of information quality also causes high, in many cases avoidable, costs. A simple example is not reaching a customer or sending out expensive catalogs twice. Unrecognized risks are also problematic, such as when a customer bundles large merchandise credits under different identities. Even if customers are contacted despite an advertising ban and there is a threat of legal disputes, costly inconveniences can quickly arise. This makes it clear that strengthening the database reduces risks and costs. Where are the biggest challenges in data quality?

How to strengthen data quality

Poor quality data contains data errors, duplicates, missing values, incorrect formatting, inconsistencies, and more. The subject matter is very complex and requires experience. That’s why the Schober Information Group Germany offers a data quality check that quickly provides certainty about your own data quality and optimization potential. Briefly, the most important three aspects:

Duplicate addresses – this happens when several contact persons are entered for one company or several people from one household. In this case, Schober offers to identify and mark multiple existing data via a duplicate comparison. Subsequently, the entries can be merged or even deleted upon explicit request.

Outdated information on companies – this happens when companies move, go bankrupt, change their name or similar. It is estimated that around 30% of addresses need to be updated within a year. Here, Schober offers to identify addresses in the CRM data that are unsuitable for advertising, relocations, insolvent or defunct companies for processing or to confirm them positively.

Outdated personal details – this happens when people move, marry or die. Here, Schober offers reconciliation and updating based on negative data – such as people who have moved house, deceased persons or poor payers.

By the way: In principle, database entries are only made at the express request of the customer and only by the client himself.

More insight thanks to data enrichment

Data quality is the suitability of data for a particular purpose. And that doesn’t end with being coherent. You also need to provide the necessary information! If you want to convince people of the benefits of a pool in the garden with an elaborate marketing campaign in spring, for example, you need information on the residential structure and purchasing power. Because in an urban residential area without gardens, of course, you can not create a pool. If advertising companies do not have this information, targeted enrichment with the Schober data universe can help.

Whether geodata, identification data, potential analyses, industry keys, decision-maker data or company size – the Schober data universe provides the required data and significantly increases the depth of information. This ensures targeted customer contact and the ability to create detailed analyses based on facts.

The advantages of information quality and depth

A strong database with high quality and depth of information strengthens sales, support, product development and marketing. This is undeniable. In our experience, the concrete benefits are, for example, better deliverability of marketing and sales campaigns. This starts with the correct postal address and goes on to socio-demographic characteristics and the correct form of address. The result is efficient CRM processes that save more than just costs. After all, a strong database is an important asset and a central component of value creation for companies.

Data is silver, good data is gold

Data is silver, but good data is gold, because only from it can companies gain the information that determines market success. The analyses become more accurate, leads can be assessed more precisely and customer interaction becomes more precise overall. “Get the basics right” is what we say at Schober and with the “Brahm’s staircase” we have developed a method to generate added value from data. This has also resulted in a cloud-based out-of-the-box platform. We call the solution udo and think you should get to know udo.

We will be happy to show you how to increase data quality. You are always safe and DSGVO-compliant with us, because Schober attaches great importance to data protection and security. Simply contact michaela.weisse[at]schober.de and she will help you to carry out a free data quality check and increase your sales thanks to the depth of information. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her.

Good luck and long live your sales!

Your Schober Team

Office Depot Germany/Viking: International shipper of office supplies

Scissors, stamps, furniture or cleaning supplies – if you’re looking for office supplies, you’re in good hands at Viking in Germany. The office supplies retail brand, which is part of the European Office Depot group, is now successful in eight European countries and employs over 1,500 people in Europe. Viking’s recipe for success: one stop store for your workplace, innovative and data-driven marketing, and great customer service.

Challenge: New acquisition channels for efficient B2B growth in Europe

In order to grow across Europe, acquire new customers and expand existing customers, Viking relies on the Schober data universe in combination with the analysis and marketing expertise of the Schober Information Group. In addition to tried-and-true marketing – SEO, SEM, catalog mailings and field sales, Viking has developed new ways with Schober: 1. data quality assurance 2. market potential analyses & target group clustering as well as 3. international B2B e-mail marketing.

Solution: Data Quality, Analysis & Scoring, B2B Emailing

Success in data-driven marketing depends on data quality. Therefore, Viking and Schober start with a data quality check including data enrichment. Now we have enough data for analyses: What addressable market potential is there in Europe, in Germany, in the UK? Which types of companies predominate? What are the portfolio synergies? These are examples of questions from the potential and customer value analyses that lead to target group clustering. Company potentials targeted by Viking via email campaigns to specific groups.

E-mail convinces and activates thousands of new customers

What comes out? Viking and Schober initially carry out analyses and e-mail marketing in Germany with great success. Thousands of new customers are convinced, so that the positive experience is also transferred to other European markets: After Austria and the UK, the next market on the agenda is Belgium. With international data partners and his data know-how, Schober manages the international roll-out of B2B marketing campaigns.

Outlook: Constant dripping wears the stone instead of mayflies

Viking is so pleased with the success that they have scaled up: Data quality and data enrichment run monthly – as do analytics and scoring. The return on marketing investment is particularly interesting when compared to search engine marketing. Why? “We usually only see contacts that we acquire via search engines once. We can turn customers from Schober email campaigns into loyal existing customers. This is exactly in line with our positioning: one-stop store for your workplace, innovative and data-driven marketing and great customer service,” says Sandy Kirchhoff, Senior Manager Commercial Marketing Europe.

Of course, priority one: existing customers

While for new customers it’s all about gaining and maintaining attention, for existing customers the focus is on building on the existing relationship and increasing loyalty. The energy industry shows this very vividly: The willingness to switch electricity, gas and water is constantly increasing and is further fueled by sales and comparison portals (more on this in our white paper: “Marketing and sales in liberalized energy markets“). Of course, if you lose existing customers, you need at least the same number of new customers to maintain the status quo alone. Assuming that new customers cost around five times more than retaining an existing customer, priority one is clear: nurture existing customers – and develop new customers into existing customers.

1. customer life cycle – it’s the data that counts

Sales professionals and marketers in industries such as energy, as well as telecom or insurance, need more than others to gain deep customer insights and actively engage with their customers’ needs in order to make enticing offers. To do this, they need the right technical foundation and data, because the key to long-term customer loyalty is ongoing data-driven evaluation of customer needs at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Only those who know the life cycle of their customers can expand the customer relationship with valuable offers and increase loyalty. This is where udo helps.

2. customer value and potential analyses

Because udo von Schober offers detailed analyses of customer data, for example as a customer value analysis. Existing business partners and customers are systematized according to their previous contribution to sales. The respective customer value then shows which existing customers are particularly attractive in terms of sales and how their shopping cart can be increased. In the case of utilities, for example, the e-charging station can be an attractive addition to the electricity contract. In addition to analyzing the inventory, this also makes it possible to forecast the future potential for sales.

3. data quality and data networking – are the data up-to-date?

4. personalized interaction with value or “off to the bathroom

Image source: ThisIsEngineering, Pexels

Customers only buy products or services if they promise benefits and added value. The same is true for customer interaction. If you want to retain customers and develop them into loyal existing customers, you also have to make customer interactions personally useful and of value. Purchase history, age and housing conditions offer initial clues for action. Truly personalized interaction, however, requires more: Can a new electricity customer be targeted with an annual ticket for the municipal swimming pools? To estimate this, one needs additional data. Those who have the necessary insights can also send marketing and sales to the right communication channels in a targeted manner with value-added interaction.

5. termination prevention through segmentation and personas

Deciding on the optimal product and communication strategy, the loyalty programs or the appropriate channels succeeds by first segmenting customers. Segments as bundles of characteristics can additionally be condensed into personas. Similar to a short biography, personas describe relevant customer characteristics in detail. These help to respond to customer wishes with maximum precision and to implement target group-appropriate measures.

But patterns can also be seen where terminations are expected soon. The “soon-to-be-terminated” persona can be won back – if it is recognized – before the termination even occurs. The attractive product combination of electricity, public transport and Internet or the new eco-electricity offer do wonders for customers. The company saves the cost of acquiring new customers.

Marketing and sales can actively influence the switching needs of end customers in a targeted manner by using existing customer information. But some fluctuation is inevitable – fortunately, even among competitors.

Develop new customers into existing customers? Who knows the set screws and has udo …

If you’re thinking “Sure, that’s great, we’ve tried that, but customer lifecycle management is very challenging,” you’re right. Yes, it is challenging. But we at Schober have been shaping the future of sales and marketing for over 75 years. And so a cloud-based out-of-the-box platform for managing customer data (Customer Data Platform – CDP) has emerged from the method presented. We call the solution udo and think you should get to know udo. We’ll be happy to show you how easy udo makes customer lifecycle management.

Good luck and long live your sales!

Your Schober Team