Every day executives all over the world are making decisions based on bad data. Reporting accurate data is one the most important aspects of your business. You cannot effectively market your brand or increase revenues if you are reporting the wrong information yet companies do not prioritize accurate reporting. This blog post will look at the value of reporting accurately within your organization and help you spread this message internally.

35% of marketing budgets are wasted annually

In April 2012, Experian released a report titled  „The data revolution – liberating lost budget“ that analyzed wasted spend to cost companies as much as £1 million in additional profits compared to those who accurately reported data.

Of the 900 companies surveyed, 55 per cent cited revenue generation as a driver for better data quality. Inaccurate data is forcing you to waste budgets and costing you profits. Further insight by Experian into inaccurate data reports:

• Globally, businesses estimate a loss of 6% of annual revenue due to bad data
• 89% of companies believe their budgets are being wasted due to inaccurate data
• 96% of organization view data accuracy as essential yet nearly one-third don’t enforce it
• 92% of business believe that some aspect of their data is flawed
• 77% of companies confess shortcomings in data quality have an effect on their bottom line
• 63% of respondents believe that up to 35% of marketing budget is wasted due to bad data
• In the US, businesses admit to losing 7% of revenue due to poorly managed customer data

Accurate data is a competitive advantage

With many brands struggling to report accurately, being able to analyze accurate data is now a competitive advantage. In 2012, only 15% of companies have set a target of 100% accurate data as a goal.

By generating timely and accurate data about your business, you can identify and prioritize existing problems. With more than £1 million in additional profits potentially being missed out on, your business can no longer afford to report inaccurate data.  Viva la data revolution!

Have you improved your bottom line by reporting accurate data? Feel free to add your comments in the box below.

Source material:

1. How to Stop Bad Data from Wrecking your Marketing Budget [November 2010]
2. 20% of budget wasted by poor data [April 2012]
3. The Impact of Contact Data Quality [August 2010]
4. The Data Revolution: Liberating lost budgets [April 2012]

This post was written by Steven Macdonald. You can find more about Steven in the About Tribes section.