Why List Hygiene Matters
Phone numbers are constantly changing:
- ~15% annual churn — Numbers disconnect, port, or reassign
- 35+ million reassignments/year — Same number, different person
- Porting activity — Carrier changes affect routing
Without regular hygiene, your contact database becomes increasingly inaccurate.
Types of Data Issues
Disconnected Numbers
- Number no longer in service
- Wastes dialing attempts
- Easy to identify and remove
Ported Numbers
- Number moved to different carrier
- Affects routing and cost
- LRN lookup reveals current carrier
Reassigned Numbers
- Same number, different owner
- Compliance risk (calling wrong person)
- LRN Activation Date helps detect
Line Type Changes
- Landline ported to mobile (or vice versa)
- Affects communication strategy
- May affect SMS capability
Clean your database. Batch validation with preview before payment.
Try Bulk UploadList Hygiene Process
1. Export Contacts
# Export from CRM with phone and metadata
contacts_export.csv:
id,phone,last_contact_date,source
1001,5551234567,2024-06-15,website
1002,5559876543,2023-11-20,tradeshow
...2. Batch Validate
- Upload CSV to VeriRoute Intel
- Preview results before paying
- Confirm processing
- Download enriched results
3. Review Results
# Enriched results with validation data
id,phone,is_valid,line_type,carrier,activation_date
1001,5551234567,true,wireless,Verizon,2022-03-10
1002,5559876543,false,disconnected,,4. Take Action
- Invalid/disconnected → Remove from active lists
- Recently activated (after last contact) → Flag for verification
- Ported → Update carrier in records
- Valid → Keep with updated metadata
Recommended Schedule
| Trigger | Action |
|---|---|
| New list import | Validate before adding to CRM |
| Before campaign | Validate campaign list |
| Every 90 days | Re-validate active contacts |
| Every 180 days | Re-validate dormant contacts |
| Before year-end | Full database hygiene |
Prioritizing Validation
If budget is limited, prioritize:
- Active campaign lists — Immediate ROI
- Recently acquired leads — Validate at entry
- High-value contacts — VIP customers, enterprise leads
- Oldest records — Most likely to be stale
- Dormant records — Before reactivation campaigns
Tracking Hygiene Metrics
# Track data quality over time
Hygiene Report - Q4 2024
Total records validated: 50,000
Results:
- Valid: 42,500 (85%)
- Disconnected: 5,000 (10%)
- Potentially reassigned: 2,500 (5%)
Actions taken:
- Removed from dialer: 5,000
- Flagged for verification: 2,500
- Updated carrier data: 8,000
- Updated line type: 3,500Best Practices
- Validate at entry — Prevent bad data from entering
- Store validation date — Track data freshness
- Don't delete, flag — Keep history for compliance
- Segment by quality — High-confidence vs. needs-verification
- Track source quality — Know which lead sources have best data
- Regular schedule — Don't wait for problems to appear