Why email automation fails without clean and verified data

Did you know that click rates for automated emails are more than 300% higher than regular emails? Open rates are 52% higher and one out of three people clicking on automated messages buy too. Evidently, email automation drives greater engagement and rakes in more revenue than manual campaigns. 

However, if you are struggling to make the most of your automation program, don't blame the tool right away. Usually, the real reason is poor-quality data. Incomplete, incorrect, or outdated data can mess up automation workflows easily, which means you don't see the results you expect. 

Let's dig deeper into why unclean data is an issue for email automation and what to do about it. 

Email automation is promising but depends on data

Marketers can do much with email automation – from segmenting audiences dynamically and triggering emails based on user behavior to personalizing messages at scale and nurturing leads along the buyer journey. It's no wonder that over 60% of marketers are automating email over other channels. 

However, every single capability mentioned above relies on the data's accuracy. Automation itself cannot generate value. Rather, it carries out actions and decisions based on the incoming data. So, if the data isn't clean, automation amplifies the issue.  

Impact of unclean data

No matter how advanced your automation systems, if the email data quality is subpar, outcomes will be poor. Here's why: 

Reduced Deliverability 

If email addresses are obsolete or invalid, messages you send are likely to bounce. High bounce rates can negatively affect your business reputation since email providers will deem you as unreliable and your messages will mostly land in spam. 

There are long-term consequences as well. Your reputation score as a sender might be low for months, which can render future campaigns ineffective. While automation makes it possible to send emails in large numbers, it cannot resolve the deliverability problem caused by bad data. 

Meaningless Segmentation 

Email automation facilitates segmentation, which is a major marketing advantage. However, the accuracy of customer data decides the effectiveness of segmentation. In case the data isn't complete or up-to-date, several problems occur. 

Customers might get assigned to the wrong segments, messages might lose relevance, and personalization might not work the way you want. Users might receive incorrect or generic messages rather than tailored content, leading to low engagement. 

Ineffective Personalization 

Sure, marketers can personalize emails through automation, using names, purchase history, locations, and behavioral triggers. But it can backfire when the data isn't accurate. For instance, you might end up using wrong names or job titles, triggering emails at the wrong time, or sending messages that don't align with the user's behavior. This can reduce trust and hurt brand image.  

Unreliable Analytics 

Your marketing team depends on metrics like open, click-through, and conversion rates to derive valuable insights and hone strategies. However, these metrics have no meaning when data is flawed. For example, open rates might get skewed if emails are sent to invalid or inactive addresses. Or campaign results might be distorted due to duplicate records. 

This means, teams might bank on misleading insights to optimize campaigns. In other words, bad data translates to poor insights, which leads to subpar decisions.  

Increased Costs without Results 

Poor-quality data affects cost too and not just performance. How? Say, changes in contact details and user behavior cause customer relationship management (CRM) data to degrade. Hence, you waste marketing budget on sending emails that will never be received or opened. 

Why you cannot stop data decay

Even if a database is clean in the beginning, it doesn't remain that way. Data inevitably decays over time owing to entry errors, changes in email addresses or jobs, and inactivity of users. Hence, maintaining data quality is something you must do continuously. 

Reason behind marketer's frustration: garbage in, garbage out

When the data entering automation workflows is poor or dirty, messaging is irrelevant, targeting is inaccurate, and performance metrics are misleading. And no matter how advanced a workflow, it cannot compensate for such data. 

This is why marketers often experience frustration. They keep investing in smarter tools, creating more sophisticated workflows, and optimizing email copies. But the desired results don't show up since poor data quality (the underlying problem) often goes unnoticed and unresolved. 

Clean data: what it looks like

Focusing on the fundamentals of data quality is essential for email automation to be truly effective. So, remember what clean data generally includes: 

Valid Email Addresses

Email addresses are verified, capable of receiving messages, and devoid of errors in formatting or spellings. 

Updated Contact Information 

All email accounts are active and job roles mentioned are current and accompanied by relevant company details. 

Accurate Segmentation Data

Data on demographics, lifecycle stage, and behavior (like activity, clicks, and purchases) is complete and correct. 

De-Duplicated Records

Customer profiles are unified and there are no duplicate contacts. 

Permission-Based Data

The data complies with opt-in consent and privacy rules. 

Practical steps for improving email automation performance

Instead of rebuilding workflows, consider strengthening their data foundation. Here's what to do: 

Audit Comprehensively 

Check your database for inactive email addresses, risky or invalid contacts, records without important fields, and duplicate contacts. 

Validate in Real Time and at Entry

Don't allow unclean data to enter the system at all. Conducting validation at entry points like newsletter sign-ups, website forms, CRM entries, and event registrations can especially help. Leverage real-time tools too, to verify domain validity, spot typos, and flag temporary or disposable email addresses.

Clean Regularly 

Set up a monthly or quarterly process to revalidate old records, eliminate invalid emails, suppress users who are consistently inactive, and update obsolete contact details. 

De-Duplicate and Unify

Leverage de-duplication tools to spot duplicate contacts and merge them. Unify data across systems for a single customer view. And establish proper rules for ownership and update of records. 

Strengthen Segmentation 

Take another look at your segmentation strategy once the database is clean. To target more accurately and boost campaign performance, focus on segments that reflect actual user behavior. 

Align Across Systems  

Your data most likely flows across eCommerce, CRM, and many other platforms. Hence, to prevent inconsistencies, ensure these systems are aligned. Synchronize data regularly, standardize field formats, and define a single truth source for every data type. 

Monitor Key Metrics 

Issues with data quality often become evident through metrics like bounce, spam complaint, open, and click-through rates. So, track them and watch out for sudden spikes in bounce or drops in engagement. 

Enrich 

Besides cleaning, consider enriching data. The apt tools can fill in missing fields, update outdated contact details, and add behavioral insights. You can segment and personalize more precisely and successfully this way.  

Keep data clean to win with email automation

Automated systems have been churning out 87% of the emails in recent times. Hence, to stand out in crowded inboxes, your messages must be timely, relevant, and personalized. That's only possible when the underlying data is clean. 

So, invest in cutting-edge tools, including an advanced email checker tool, along with solutions for auditing, cleaning, de-duplicating, and enriching your data. Also, focus on aligning systems and monitoring critical performance metrics. By prioritizing data quality, you can unlock the full prowess of email automation. From greater engagement and better deliverability to more accurate insights and higher ROI, the benefits to reap are many.