As a small business owner, you no doubt have a lot on your plate. You’re responsible for keeping your customers happy, creating a top-notch product, ensuring your employees are productive, developing marketing campaigns – the list goes on! With all of these balls in the air, it’s easy to let some things slip through the cracks – like data scrubbing.

In layman’s terms, data scrubbing is the process of cleaning up your data. If this is something that you’re not already doing, don’t fret. We’re here to tell you why data scrubbing is essential for small businesses and how you can get started.

What Is Data Scrubbing?

Essentially, data scrubbing is a process that involves identifying and correcting inaccuracies in data. This can include anything from misspellings to outdated information.

For example, suppose you’re a small company selling business continuity planning software. You have a list of potential customers you’ve been working with for months. However, when you go to contact them, you realize that many of the phone numbers and email addresses are no longer valid. 

This is where data scrubbing comes in. By scrubbing your data, you can ensure that the information you have is accurate and up-to-date.

Issues That Can be Fixed With Data Scrubbing

Now that you have a better understanding of data scrubbing, let’s take a look at some common issues that can be fixed with data scrubbing.

Outdated Information

Over time, things change – people move, change jobs, and so on. As a result, it’s important to regularly scrub your data to ensure that the information you have is still accurate. 

Suppose your company offers automated localization testing software and is targeting potential customers in Europe. But, similar to the above example, you realize that their contact data is out of date. 

Data scrubbing ensures that you’re not wasting time trying to reach people who are no longer at the same company or even in the same country. And in business, time is money.

Misspellings and Typos

We’re all human, and as such, we’re prone to making mistakes. However, when it comes to data, even a small mistake can have big consequences. This is why data scrubbing is so important. Here, data scrubbing helps to ensure that all of the information is accurate.

Incorrect Data

In addition to misspellings and typos, sometimes data can just be wrong. This can happen for various reasons, but data scrubbing can be the solution. By scrubbing your data, you can ensure that the data you store is correct.

Duplicate Data

It’s easy for businesses to accidentally create duplicate data sets for the same customer. But this can be confusing for your teams when trying to contact customers. Data scrubbing can help ensure that you have a single entry for each customer. 

Why Is Data Scrubbing Important For Small Businesses?

Data scrubbing is important for small businesses because it helps to improve data quality. Inaccurate data can lead to a number of problems, such as:

• Wasted marketing efforts: If you’re using outdated data, you could be wasting your time and money on marketing efforts that will never reach their intended target.

• Frustration for customers: If you’re trying to contact a customer and your emails continue to bounce back because of an invalid email address, your customer is likely to get frustrated. The same goes for trying to contact a customer by phone only to find out the number is no longer in service. Data scrubbing can help you avoid these frustrating customer experiences.

• Missed opportunities: If you’re not keeping your data clean, you could be missing out on opportunities to reach new customers or nurture relationships with existing ones.

Small Business Data Scrubbing Tips

Incorporate Data Management Software

There are a number of data cleansing and data management software options on the market that can help you clean and manage your data quickly and easily. This can be a great option if you don’t have the time or resources to do data cleansing yourself.

Utilize Data Enrichment Tools

In addition to data cleansing software, there are also data enrichment tools that can help you improve the quality of your data. These data enrichment tools can help you add missing data such as social media profiles or contact information.

Regularly Audit Data

It’s important to regularly audit your data to ensure that it is accurate and up-to-date. You should also update your data regularly, such as when you obtain new customer information or make changes to your product offerings. 

For example, let’s say you own a cloud applications architecture company and you introduce a new product to your lineup. You’ll want to audit and inspect your customer data platforms to make sure the data is still accurate before you start marketing the new product.

Report and Fix Errors

If you find errors in your data, be sure to report and fix them as soon as possible. Ignoring data errors can lead to bigger problems down the road.

Have A Plan

Data scrubbing can be a big project, so it’s important to have a plan in place before you start. This plan should include what data you need to scrub, how you’re going to do it, and who will be responsible for each task. Having a plan will help you stay organized and on track throughout the data scrubbing process.

Ensure Your Data Is Clean and Accurate

It’s no secret that data is becoming increasingly important in today’s business world. In fact, it’s often said that data is the new currency. 

As such, it’s more important than ever for small businesses to make sure their data is accurate and up-to-date. After all, data is useless if it’s not correct. That’s why data scrubbing is a great way to ensure that your data is clean so you can contact your customers as and when needed. 

In addition, small business management software can make the data scrubbing process more efficient. These software programs can help small businesses by automating many of the tasks associated with data scrubbing, such as identifying errors in data sets, correcting errors in data sets and updating outdated information.