Best practices for CRM data hygiene

A CRM is only as useful as the data in it. Regular maintenance ensures your contact information stays accurate, complete, and actionable.

Weekly Habits

• Log activities — After every call, meeting, or email, add a note or log the activity. Do it immediately while details are fresh.
• Update lead stages — Move contacts through the pipeline as conversations progress. A stale pipeline gives false visibility.
• Act on reminders — Complete or reschedule every reminder that comes due. Do not let them pile up.

Monthly Reviews

• Merge duplicates — Check the CRM → Settings → Duplicates page and resolve any flagged pairs.
• Review dormant contacts — Filter for contacts with no activity in 60+ days. Decide whether to re-engage or archive.
• Clean up tags — Remove or merge tags that are no longer used or that overlap with others.
• Verify contact details — Bounce-back emails or disconnected phone numbers indicate stale data.

Quarterly Actions

• Archive cold leads — Contacts that have been in "New" or "Contacted" stage for 90+ days with no response should be archived.
• Review team assignments — Ensure workload is balanced and no contacts are unassigned.
• Export a backup — Download a full CSV export for safekeeping.

Good data hygiene is a team effort. Set expectations during onboarding and reinforce them in regular team meetings.