What are CRM hygiene best practices for outreach leads?

Clean CRM data supports effective outreach and compliance.

Lead segmentation:

Clear distinction between cold prospects and engaged leads

Lead source tracking (cold list, inbound, referral)

Consent status field with defined values

Stage tracking for pipeline progression

Engagement tracking:

Log all outreach attempts with dates

Record responses and their nature

Update status based on outcomes

Track negative signals (unsubscribes, complaints)

Suppression management:

Dedicated fields for suppression status and reason

Integration with sending tools for real-time sync

Regular audit for suppression compliance

Preserve suppression through data migrations

Data decay management:

Flag data by age

Re-verify before outreach to stale contacts

Archive or delete contacts past useful age

Comply with data retention policies

Quality maintenance:

Deduplicate regularly

Standardize data formats

Update job changes and company information

Remove bounced addresses permanently

Clean data enables effective outreach and protects compliance.