Is your CRM a mess? Your email list a mystery? These shortcuts help you clean house and make your data actually work for you.
Ever feel like this is what your CRM looks like behind the scenes?
Stacks of outdated contacts. Random fields nobody uses. Lists on lists on lists — but not a clue who’s actually engaged.
You’re not alone.
Most marketing and sales teams have some version of "data chaos" lurking in their systems. And just like that terrifying office file pile — the longer you avoid it, the worse it gets.
But cleaning up your CRM (and the rest of your martech stack) doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here are fast, practical shortcuts to clear the clutter, clean your data, and make your marketing tools way easier to work with.
1. Start With The Biggest Mess: Duplicate Contacts
Duplicates make everything messy: reporting, segmentation, even sales outreach.
Shortcut Solution:
→ Use your CRM's built-in deduplication tool (HubSpot, Salesforce, and ActiveCampaign all have them).
→ No tool? Export your list and use Excel’s "Remove Duplicates" function by email address.
→ Pro Tip: Merge, don't delete, to save valuable notes and activity history.
2. Triage Your Email List
Every unengaged contact costs you money and hurts your deliverability.
Shortcut Solution:
→ Run a re-engagement campaign:
"Still want to hear from us? Click here!"
→ Segment anyone who doesn’t respond into a "sunset" list.
→ Clean house quarterly — if they’re not opening or clicking, they’re not helping.
3. Label Contacts by Lifecycle Stage
If everyone’s labeled "Lead" — that’s a problem.
Shortcut Solution:
→ Define 3-5 simple lifecycle stages that fit your sales process (ex: Lead, MQL, SQL, Customer, Evangelist).
→ Use automation to assign new contacts based on form fills, activity, or deal status.
→ This one update can completely change your reporting game.
4. Audit Your Properties & Fields
Raise your hand if your CRM has 47 custom fields nobody uses. 🙋
Shortcut Solution:
→ Pull a list of all properties/fields.
→ Ask: Are we using this? Is it required? Can sales/marketing actually action it?
→ Archive or hide anything irrelevant to keep data collection clean moving forward.
5. Automate the Annoying Stuff
A clean CRM stays clean when automation does the heavy lifting.
Shortcut Solution:
→ Auto-assign lifecycle stages based on behavior.
→ Auto-add tags based on source or activity.
→ Auto-enroll bad emails or hard bounces into suppression lists.
Work smarter, not messier.
Ready for a Clean(er) Slate?
This is exactly the kind of thing we help with at On-Target! Marketing. CRM audits, workflow cleanups, segmentation strategies — the unsexy stuff that makes everything else run better.
Need a hand? We’re happy to get our hands dirty.
