Top 5 Salesforce Data “Don’t’s”

Jenna Trott

5 min read | May 18th, 2022

Data Hoarding

Where did this information come from? What is it trying to tell you? If you can’t answer these questions, it’s possible that you’ve become a data hoarder. According to Salesforce, 20% of records contain dead data that is better off being removed. Data is important, but being selective about the information you hold on to is critical. Having relevant and up to date data allows for accurate insight and forecasting into your organization, but overcrowding your database with information that isn’t valuable can add to projection inaccuracies.

Try this trailhead: Discover strategies for assessing and improving the quality of your data in Salesforce with the Data Quality Trailhead.

Incomplete Data

The flip side of having too much information? Too little! Not staying on top of information input can be a detriment to your org and can be an impediment to overall growth. It’s important to make sure that the data you’re entering is not only up to date but doesn’t gloss over anything that could potentially be useful, like additional points of contact or business addresses. Thus importing and exporting data onto your instance with data management tools can help ensure that you’re getting the full picture. Salesforce’s Data Import Wizard offers an easy and accurate way to import data for many standard Salesforce objects. This includes accounts, contacts, leads, solutions, campaign members, and person accounts as well as the ability to import data for custom objects. Did we mention that you can also import up to 50,000 records at a time?

Try this Trailhead: To learn more about the ins and outs of data imports/exports, try the Import and Export with Data Management Tools Trailhead.

Duplicates

Standard upkeep of data, or periodic housekeeping often gets overlooked in comparison to the demand of everyday business processes. However, it’s an important component to ensure that the data you’re dealing with is in its most accurate form. Oftentimes, duplicate information can go undetected and result in costly errors for your business; there’s nothing worse than reaching out to a potential customer who’s already been in contact with your colleague! According to Salesforce, 15% of sales and service records contain duplicates. To combat this, Salesforce has a deduplication feature built in, called: Matching Rules and Duplicate Rules, to help ensure that your data is clean and to avoid costly or embarrassing mishaps.

Try this Trailhead: To resolve and prevent duplicate records and increase user confidence in data, try the Duplicate Management Trailhead.

Sharing the Data Responsibility

Because data is vital to all members within your organization, its responsibility should be shared in order to maintain accurate information. It’s important to educate your employees on the importance of data maintenance to ensure that best data practices are far reaching within your org. Improving data quality for your entire teams’ tracking and reporting will help you uncover the factors impacting the quality of your data and help you understand how to set your team up for long-term success.

Try this Trailhead: Data Management Module for Marketing Cloud, and Customer Data Management Across Clouds

Not Having a Plan (or a backup plan)

To maximize the benefits of your data, it’s important to have a clear data plan to help keep your organization on track. This not only helps to align your team on how data will be collected but unifies members on how data will be reviewed and used to drive your business goals. However, If there’s anything that 2020 taught us, it’s that things don’t always go according to plan. Data loss is every company’s worst nightmare, which is why understanding data backups and recovery is essential. Salesforce is hosting two upcoming expert coaching sessions on why it is important to have a data backup and recovery plan. Sessions will take place on May 26, 2022 and June 23, 2022. Alternatively, check out this guide for third-party Salesforce Backup Solutions.

For more information on how you can scrub your dirty data, speak to one of Access Global Group’s Salesforce Summit Partner professionals here.