CRM Data Quality
CRM Data Quality Statistics 2026
Data and analytics leaders say 26% of their data is untrustworthy. The latest public statistics on CRM data quality, from primary sources only.
Olivier Toledano
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Data and analytics leaders estimate that 26% of their organization's data is untrustworthy, according to Salesforce. In CRM, that gap is expensive: bad data breaks decisions, wastes rep time, and feeds AI agents the wrong inputs.
This page compiles the latest public statistics on CRM data quality, from primary sources only. We update it every year.
Key numbers at a glance
Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
26% | of their organization's data is considered untrustworthy by data and analytics leaders | Salesforce, State of Data and Analytics, 2025 |
24% | of CRM admins say less than half of their CRM data is accurate and complete | Validity, 2024 |
31% | of CRM admins say poor-quality data costs them at least 20% of annual revenue | Validity, 2024 |
40% | of the workweek is all sales reps actually spend selling | Salesforce, State of Sales, 2026 |
89% | of data and analytics leaders with AI have experienced inaccurate or misleading outputs | Salesforce, 2025 |
60% | of AI projects unsupported by AI-ready data will be abandoned through 2026, Gartner predicts | Gartner, 2025 |
How much CRM data can you trust?
Not much. Admins report that CRM data quality is getting worse, not better.
Statistic | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|
Data and analytics leaders estimate 26% of their organization's data is untrustworthy | Salesforce, State of Data and Analytics (2nd edition) | 2025 |
54% of business leaders aren't totally confident the data they need is accessible | Salesforce, State of Data and Analytics (2nd edition) | 2025 |
24% of CRM admins say less than half of their data is accurate and complete, a 26% increase from Validity's previous report | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
40% of CRM admins say their company struggles with CRM data quality issues | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
Among them, the top issues are incomplete data (68%), missing data (65%), incorrect data (61%), duplicate records (53%), and expired data (49%) | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
Salesforce ranks incomplete, out-of-date, or poor-quality data as the number one factor preventing organizations from being data-driven.
The cost of bad CRM data
Poor data quality hits revenue directly, and it stalls projects before they start.
Statistic | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|
31% of CRM admins say poor-quality data costs them at least 20% of annual revenue | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
41% of companies halted valuable initiatives due to low-quality CRM data in the last 12 months, with an average of six initiatives delayed or halted per quarter | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
46% of sales pros with AI agents say data quality issues hurt their sales | Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) | 2026 |
Because of unreliable or inaccessible data, 32% of business leaders made gut-based decisions and 27% missed a deadline | Salesforce, State of Data and Analytics (2nd edition) | 2025 |
Data decay: CRM data goes stale faster
Contacts change jobs, companies reorganize, and data volumes keep growing. Manual upkeep can't keep pace.
Statistic | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|
48% of CRM admins noticed an acceleration in customer data decay in the last 12 months | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
Executives at VP level or above were 69% less likely than average to notice that acceleration | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
Data and analytics leaders estimate their data volumes grow 30% a year, up from 23% in 2023 | Salesforce, State of Data and Analytics (2nd edition) | 2025 |
The gap between admins and executives matters: the people who approve data projects are the least likely to see the problem.
Sales productivity and manual CRM entry
Reps spend most of their week not selling. Tool sprawl makes it worse.
Statistic | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|
Sales reps spend 60% of their workweek on nonselling tasks, including manual data entry, and 40% selling | Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) | 2026 |
Sales teams use an average of eight standalone tools, and only 34% run on one platform | Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) | 2026 |
42% of sales reps are overwhelmed by too many tools | Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) | 2026 |
Manual errors rank as the number one data issue among sales teams with AI agents, ahead of duplicate data, security concerns, incomplete data, and corrupt data.
Bad data distorts decisions
When data is unreliable, people work around it, or bend it.
Statistic | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|
28% of respondents say management does whatever it wants regardless of what the data says, a 17% increase from Validity's previous study | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
At companies where decision-makers rely on data, 54% say staff manipulate data to tell the story decision-makers want to hear | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
45% say staff fabricate data for the same reason | Validity, The State of CRM Data Management in 2024 | 2024 |
AI readiness depends on CRM data
AI agents in sales run on CRM data. Feed them empty or stale fields, and they produce confident, wrong answers.
Statistic | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|
Through 2026, organizations will abandon 60% of AI projects unsupported by AI-ready data (prediction) | Gartner, "Lack of AI-Ready Data Puts AI Projects at Risk" | 2025 |
63% of organizations either don't have or are unsure they have the right data management practices for AI | Gartner, "Lack of AI-Ready Data Puts AI Projects at Risk" | 2025 |
89% of data and analytics leaders with AI say they've experienced inaccurate or misleading outputs | Salesforce, State of Data and Analytics (2nd edition) | 2025 |
84% of data and analytics leaders believe their data strategies need overhauls for successful AI | Salesforce, State of Data and Analytics (2nd edition) | 2025 |
74% of sales teams with AI are prioritizing data hygiene to support it | Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) | 2026 |
High performers are 1.5x more likely than others to prioritize data hygiene to improve AI outcomes | Salesforce, State of Sales (7th edition) | 2026 |
What this means for Salesforce teams
The numbers point to one conclusion: manual entry can't keep a CRM reliable. Reps don't have the time, data decays faster than it's updated, and AI amplifies whatever gaps remain.
Three moves follow from that:
Measure reliability, not just adoption. Logins don't tell you whether the data is usable. A reliability score does. See how to measure CRM data reliability.
Capture data where it's created. Calls, emails, and meetings hold the deal facts. Extract them automatically instead of asking reps to retype them, which removes manual errors at the source.
Prioritize the fields that drive decisions. Qualification fields such as MEDDPICC® feed forecasts and AI agents. Start there.
Sources
Salesforce, "State of Sales," 7th edition, 2026. Survey of 4,050 sales professionals in 22 countries, conducted August to September 2025.
Salesforce, "State of Data and Analytics," 2nd edition, 2025. Survey of 3,800 data and analytics leaders and 3,852 business leaders, conducted June to August 2025.
Validity, "The State of CRM Data Management in 2024." Survey of 631 CRM administration workers in the US, UK, and Australia, conducted March to April 2024.
Gartner, "Lack of AI-Ready Data Puts AI Projects at Risk", press release, February 26, 2025.
Methodology: this page compiles public third-party statistics. EverReady did not produce these figures. Each is attributed to its original publisher.
Related EverReady solutions
Automated Salesforce activity capture - log every email, meeting and call with zero manual entry.
Automatic contact capture - create and enrich contacts from the signatures your reps already receive.
The 2026 CRM Revenue Data Report - our own research on revenue data reliability.
Frequently asked questions
How much CRM data is inaccurate?
Data and analytics leaders estimate that 26% of their organization's data is untrustworthy (Salesforce, 2025). Among CRM admins, 24% say less than half of their CRM data is accurate and complete (Validity, 2024).
How much does poor CRM data cost?
31% of CRM admins say poor-quality data costs them at least 20% of annual revenue, and 41% of companies halted initiatives because of low-quality CRM data in the past year (Validity, 2024).
How much time do sales reps spend selling?
About 40% of their workweek. The other 60% goes to nonselling tasks such as manual data entry and prospecting (Salesforce, State of Sales, 2026).
Does CRM data quality affect AI?
Yes. Gartner predicts organizations will abandon 60% of AI projects unsupported by AI-ready data through 2026, and 89% of data and analytics leaders with AI have experienced inaccurate or misleading outputs (Salesforce, 2025).
How do you measure CRM data quality?
Track completeness, freshness, and consistency of the fields that drive decisions. A reliability index combines the three into a single score you can track over time.
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