What is Data Hygiene?
The ongoing practice of maintaining clean, accurate, and up-to-date data in your CRM and databases.
Definition
Data hygiene encompasses deduplication (merging duplicate records), standardization (normalizing formats for phone numbers, addresses, titles), validation (verifying emails and phone numbers are still active), decay management (identifying and updating stale records), and enrichment (filling in missing fields). It's not a one-time project. B2B data decays at roughly 30% per year as people change jobs, companies merge, and contact details change.
Why It Matters
Dirty data cascades through every downstream process. Bad emails increase bounce rates (hurting deliverability). Duplicate records create confusing customer experiences. Stale data wastes sales time on prospects who've already left the company. The cost of bad data compounds over time.
Example
A quarterly data hygiene audit reveals 15% duplicate accounts, 22% of email addresses bouncing, and 8% of contacts listing a company they no longer work for. A cleanup project using DemandTools and a verification service fixes these issues.