The State of

CRM Data
Management
2020
Insights to Improve CRM Data Quality for
Marketing and Sales Organizations

KEY FINDINGS

I N PA R TN E R S H I P W ITH
Table of Contents

03 Introduction

05 The State of CRM Data Management

15 How High-Performing Companies Operate

20 Action Plan

30 Appendix
Introduction
Validity and Demand Metric partnered to measure
the impact CRM data quality has on sales team
effectiveness, revenue generation, and the success
of business initiatives.

This report shares the results of the research study,

providing insights and data useful for benchmarking,
managing, and improving CRM data quality.
■ INTRODUCTION 4

Companies with higher quality CRM data

have these three traits:
1 2 3
Leadership is aware of An ongoing data CRM data management
CRM data quality importance governance process is is the full-time responsibility
and makes it priority. in place that is effective. of a cross-functional team.

It’s no stretch of the imagination that these characteristics are powerful drivers of higher quality CRM data.
Yet, just 8% of study participants check all of these boxes when it comes to their CRM data management strategy.

This report will explore the key findings of our research effort before looking
more closely at how high-performing companies operate.
The State of CRM
Data Management

This section of the report will explore

the key findings of our research effort.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 6

CRM data quality impacts an organization’s ability

to achieve its revenue targets.

How important is your CRM system and data in helping

the sales team achieve its revenue objectives?

61% Very Important

31% Important

8% Neutral or Unimportant

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 1.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 7

Despite the importance of CRM data, almost half

of the study participants rate the quality of their
CRM data between very poor and neutral.

How do you rate the overall quality, accuracy, and

usefulness of the data in your CRM system?

9% Very Good

46% Good

35% Neutral

9% Poor

1% Very Poor

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 2.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 8

The majority of companies are taking a manual

approach to maintain their CRM data.

What steps have you taken to achieve optimal CRM data quality?

Manually identify and correct data quality issues 63%

Clean data before importing 40%

Supplement CRM data with 3rd party data 30%

3rd party data management solutions 26%

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 14.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 9

Companies have better quality CRM data when

leadership makes it a priority.

How would you rate the C-Suite’s level of awareness and buy-in for
maintaining CRM data quality?

CRM Data Quality: Very Poor to Neutral

CRM Data Quality: Good to Very Good

It is a high priority initiative

It is a medium priority initiative

It is a low priority initiative

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 12.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 10

Companies that have an ongoing data governance

process report higher quality CRM data.
How would you rate the C-Suite’s level of awareness and buy-in for maintaining CRM data quality?

CRM Data Quality: Very Poor to Neutral CRM Data Quality: Good to Very Good

Ongoing and effective

Ongoing but ineffective

Ad-hoc, reactive: effective

Ad-hoc, reactive: ineffective

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 13.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 11

Companies report higher quality CRM data when

they have a full-time person or department, or a
cross-functional team managing it.

Which response best describes how your

organization manages its CRM data?

CRM Data Quality: Very Poor to Neutral

CRM Data Quality: Good to Very Good

Part-time job of a cross-functional team or single person/dept.

Full-time job of a cross-functional team or single person/dept.

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 11.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 12

Poor CRM data quality interferes with getting work done.

How many business initiatives have

not been completed as planned due to
poor quality CRM data?

5% More than five

10% Four or five

31% Two or three

6% One

12% None

36% I don’t know

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 9.
■ T H E S TAT E O F C R M DATA M A N AG E M E N T 13

Better quality CRM data can improve business outcomes.

What results could you expect from having better quality data in your CRM system?

We could make better decisions 67%

Marketing campaigns would perform better 44%

Sales team would have more success engaging prospect 44%

We could realize higher marketing ROI 44%

We would see an increase in revenue 40%

Forecasts would be more accurate 24%

for more detail on the survey and the participants, please refer to figure 15.
 John Follett
Co-founder & CCO at Demand Metric

“Higher quality CRM data is not the ultimate goal

for organizations: instead, the end game is better
decisions.
Those better decisions translate into real business
advantage, and in competitive industries, more
effective decisions are often what separates market
leaders from the rest of the pack.”
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