Customer List Best Practices #
Guidelines for maintaining a clean, useful customer database.
Data Quality #
Keep Emails Accurate #
- Update when customers change email
- Fix typos immediately
- Merge duplicates
Use Consistent Naming #
- “John Smith” not “john smith” or “JOHN SMITH”
- Company names: “ACME Corp” consistently
Add Company Info for B2B #
For business customers:
- Always add company name
- Helps with segmentation
- Useful for B2B reporting
Regular Maintenance #
Weekly Tasks #
- Review newest customers (verify legitimate)
- Check for duplicates
- Update any flagged records
Monthly Tasks #
- Review inactive customers (no licenses, no purchases)
- Clean up test accounts
- Verify high-value customer data accuracy
Quarterly Tasks #
- Audit duplicate records
- Review and merge similar entries
- Update outdated company information
Handling Duplicates #
How Duplicates Happen #
- Customer uses different emails
- Guest checkout then registers
- Manual entry mistakes
Finding Duplicates #
Search for:
- Same name, different email
- Same company, different people
- Similar email variations (john@ vs john.smith@)
Merging Duplicates #
- Identify the “primary” record (most complete)
- Note licenses on secondary record
- Transfer licenses to primary (edit license, change customer)
- Delete secondary record
- Add note to primary: “Merged from john2@example.com“
Security Practices #
Verify Before Changes #
Always verify customer identity before:
- Changing email address
- Transferring licenses
- Providing license keys
- Resetting passwords
Document Everything #
Add internal notes for:
- Email changes
- License transfers
- Special arrangements
- Support interactions
Limit Access #
Only give customer management access to staff who need it.
Support Efficiency #
Use Customer Overview First #
Before responding to any ticket:
- Open customer overview
- Review all sections
- Understand full context
- Then respond
Create Response Templates #
For common scenarios:
- Email change confirmation
- License information summary
- Subscription status explanation
- Support access verification