The Impact of Database Decay and Why You Should Care

Data decay, also known as data degradation or data rot, is a computing phrase for the gradual decay of database. Over time, decay becomes worse and worse, leading to rotted databases that cannot be further modified.

According to a recently published study on marketing databases by HubSpot, business databases naturally degrade by 22.5% per annum. In another study, NetProspex reported that data decay occurs at a rate of around 2% per month. Its president, Michael Bird, calls this issue a “huge potential nightmare” for B2B marketers.

UK businesses reportedly spend $346 million a year sending out promotional mail to incorrect addresses.In other words, more than one in five contact records in a marketing database is lost to data decay every year.

Clearly, this is an exceptionally undesirable situation.

Potential Causes of Database Decay

Marketing technology has developed immensely within the last ten to fifteen years, and we have been so preoccupied with getting up to speed that the administration process has taken a back seat.

Despite this update in marketing technology, human error is still one of the main factors that affects data quality. In addition, data migration and manipulation (when information from one system or application is moved to another) require time, which can lead to data decay by the time the long chain of events complete the move.

Business contacts change emails every time they move companies and people change names, commonly due to changes in marital status.

Data implied for one reason may, for all intents and purposes, not suit another target, and utilizing it for new purposes may lead to incorrect interpretations and assumptions in the new area.

A system upgrade that is ineffectively tried can prompt to irreversible information quality harms.

Manual cleansing of database can be the potential risk of wrongly affecting thousands of records. Moreover, the software used may have bugs that results in making absolutely valid data, invalid.

The Cost of Customer Data Decay

It is difficult to evaluate the exact cost of data decay in organizations. However, decayed data sucks out profit in different ways, like lost sales time and email blacklisting. Throw in the time wasted trying to correct the problem manually, and the customer experiences that can impact loyalty and customer lifetime value, and you can see the urgent need to fix this problem.

What Is TheSolution?

Sadly, there is no magical solution to eliminate stale data. There are a few preventive measures businesses can take to extend its value. Mitigate the risks of database decay with these tips:

• Manual data entry is archaic and tends to have human errors. So leveraging technology is vital in buying you time. It develops the life of your data from start to finish.
• Re-evaluate your data. For example, if your business only sends promotional materials through email, you may not need all your clients’ physical addresses. It may save some time when it comes to the final clean-up.
• Check the health of your data by periodically reviewing your data. Your business will gain the competitive edge that healthy data quality provides.
• If your data has decayed badly, hire a data cleansing firm to verify and eliminateinformation.
• Have a deep understanding of the contacts and in your database and how they engage with your marketing to stop further decay.

Joseph Strauss, the Bridge Engineer (California)’s lead engineer, was once asked, “How long will the bridge last?” Strauss replied “Forever! If cared for, it should have life without end.” So it applies to our database too.

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