You're probably aware of how critical it is to back-up your marketing decisions with data. However, you may be unaware that the quality of the data can make or break the success of your decisions — and that the quality of location data, in particular, can vary greatly between providers. In this blog, we will go through the reasons why data quality is important in the location data world. So, let’s get into the post.
What is Location Data?
Location data is information that a network or service collects about where a user's phone or other device is physically located at a specific point in time. For example, base stations on a mobile phone network collect data that can be used to track the location of a mobile phone. Similarly, apps on mobile devices are able to collect location data when users opt-in and enable location services on their device.
The Importance of Data Quality in Location Data
Quality data is essential for making sound decisions related to locations and how people move around regions. And, while all data has some level of "quality", the degree of data quality is determined by a number of characteristics and factors (high-quality versus low-quality). Also, different stakeholders in an organization will probably care more about different aspects of data quality.
Because data accuracy is a key characteristic of high-quality data, a single incorrect data point can devastate the entire system. Executives cannot trust the data or make informed decisions unless it is accurate and reliable. Leveraging inaccurate or unreliable data can raise operational costs and cause problems for downstream users within the organization and even clients. When this happens, analysts end up relying on flawed reports and in turn, they draw incorrect conclusions based on their findings. End-user productivity will suffer as a result of the flawed guidelines and practices in place.
Poorly maintained data can also cause a slew of other issues. For example, out-of-date customer information may result in missed opportunities for up-selling or cross-selling products and services.
Low-quality data can also cause a company to send products to the wrong addresses, which can lead to lower customer satisfaction ratings, fewer repeat sales, and higher costs due to reshipments.
In more highly regulated industries, inaccurate data can lead to fines for improper financial or regulatory compliance reporting.
Determining the Quality of Location Data
So, how can you determine the quality of the data if you want to evaluate a location data provider yourself? We've put together four key factors that will help you gauge how good various location data output is.
