TL;DR – Your SaaS solutions manage your data. It’s up to you to make the right decisions around processes and tools that increase its quality.

Surveys. Questionnaires. Paper. PDFs. Applications. They’re all in play when it comes to onboarding a client. Most advisors are using a hodgepodge of all of these as they bring on a new client and most of the time clients are wondering where they’re at in the process. When will the DocuSigns stop arriving in her inbox? When can she move on to the easy part? 

The truth is, gathering data from your clients remains a difficult task. Integrating the information you gather adds another degree of difficulty. Keeping all of the data clean in an ongoing process? That feels almost impossible. In our now almost completely digital world, your data has taken center stage. 

A key factor in every aspect of a business, from sales, marketing and customer service to product design, finances and so much more, your data is what will unlock your future success. Processed data becomes information, which is the most valuable commodity for any firm.

In order for you to make informed, data-driven decisions, you have to have access to your own data. It’s not enough just to own it. Maintaining your data quality and being able to understand what it’s telling you are vitally important.

The days of giant binders full of information should be far behind your clients, but you helping them get and stay organized will never be gone. Ensuring data quality means that your databases are up to date, secure and consistent throughout the data lifecycle of your clients. Clean, high-quality data translates into efficiency, transparency and consistency throughout your client engagements.  Every moment where their data informs your outreach adds value to your relationship with them.

Use Your High-Quality Data Intelligently

There is a lot of talk about providing experiences to your clients that feel similar to their retail processes – while everyone mentions Tesla, Amazon and Netflix, there are just as many smaller companies delivering personalized offers. From Spotify playlists to Instagram ads, we have become accustomed to relevance.

high angle photo of person holding turned on smartphone with tall buildings backgroundOne of the most common requests among our clients is a way to provide personalization through data quality. According to research, 85% of organizations globally experienced more timely and personalized customer communications as a result of improving their data quality. Similarly, 75% of organizations believe that inaccurate data is undermining their ability to provide a good customer experience.

The quality of your data can determine operational efficiency, which directly feeds customer satisfaction. Of course, informed marketing decisions are what allow your firm to unlock digital growth strategies. 52% of organizations maintain high-quality data to increase efficiency and improve cost savings. Companies that invest in the maintenance of their databases see direct benefits:

 

  1. Email Marketing cost savings. Increasing open rates and deliverability while decreasing cost on your email marketing platform saves you money and provides insight into what your clients care about most. Your marketing increases in effectiveness and you get cost savings.
  2. Joint marketing with COIs. When you have detailed information about a customers’ pain points, behaviors and preferences, this data can open doors for your relationships to offer additional value through other COI services to an existing customer.
  3. Personalized digital experiences and services. Data integrity provides a major value add to the customer. When used correctly, data provides invaluable insights for your firm to communicate how you are serving your clients and what they expect from you and your team.

Companies who use quality data combined with advanced analytics capabilities have gained a significant lead over their competitors. These companies are twice as likely to be in the top quartile of financial performance for their industries. As consolidation continues to grow, your firm’s value depends on your data’s integrity,  not to mention, your C-Suite can also make and execute decisions faster.

Maintaining High-Quality Databases

Your SaaS solutions manage your data. It’s up to you to make the right decisions around processes and tools that increase its quality. First, you must recognize that data and analytics will provide a key source of opportunity in the coming years. The most urgent services that you need for your data management are:

  • Deduplication. Data comes from multiple sources via web forms, emails, marketing leads, intake questionnaires and your team hand-keying information. Households and contacts are being added and updated by multiple people across your firm. All of the tools and people contribute to the possibility of having duplicated contacts, which can create difficulty far beyond just inefficiently emailing your clients. The information in your CRM or help desk can easily become inaccurate at best or highly confusing leading to errors or omissions.
  • Minimizing human effort. Human effort leads to human error. It is one of the most common ways to lose or corrupt information. A bad phone number, a spelling error or simple typo can lead to not closing prospects, or worse, losing a client. You can minimize the chances of human error by automating essential data management tasks.
  • Real-time data updates. Staying on top of data updates takes skill. Automatically updating data across SaaS tools means that all teams get the latest, most accurate data in the applications they use, without any need for manual updates.

An integration tool like Milemarker’s API Platform can help you stay on top of your data management by syncing your software stack two ways and in real time. If you’re ready to move toward accurate, consistent and up-to-date data throughout your business, it’s time to talk with us.

 

 

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