Why CRM data keeps degrading

The short answerCleanup without governance buys you about one quarter. The rules that created the mess are still running the morning after every merge: forms matching on email rather than domain, imports with no matching rule, enrichment with create permission, and reps creating rather than searching. Fix the entry points and the backlog stops refilling.

The four entry points that create most of it

Forms matching on emailOne person, two addresses, two records. The most common single source.Fix first

Imports with no ruleA spreadsheet uploaded once a quarter with no matching logic.Spikes the rate

Enrichment with create rightsProviders that create rather than update when no match is found.Runs daily

Reps creating, not searchingFaster than looking, and nothing stops them.Behaviour and config

Merges that lose historyWorse than the duplicate, because the evidence goes with it.Test on ten first

No owner for the rulesRules drift as the business changes and nobody notices.Why it comes back

What this looked like in practice

148,000 records corrected

One health technology company had run three cleanups in two years. Each held for about a quarter. The fourth pass corrected 148,000 records and merged 15,000 duplicate companies, but the part that made it stick was blocking creation on domain rather than on company name. The duplicate rate has not climbed back.

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Questions

Why does our CRM data keep degrading?

Because cleanup is a point in time and the rules that created the problem keep running. Forms, imports, enrichment and rep behaviour are the four usual entry points.

How often should we clean CRM data?

Once properly, then never again as a project. Prevention at creation plus a scheduled deduplication job replaces the quarterly cleanup.

What is an acceptable duplicate rate?

Under about five percent on accounts. Above ten percent, any report built on account counts stops being reliable.

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Why does our CRM data keep degrading no matter what we do?