What happens when your customer records are incorrect? 

Outdated customer records can have serious implications for any business. According to research by Experian®, 40 per cent of Australian businesses do not validate any of the information that they collect, and 45 per cent do not have a data quality strategy at all.

From miscommunications and failed customer service to increased operational costs, incorrect data is more than just a minor inconvenience - it can be a serious liability over time. One of the most overlooked but critical gaps in data accuracy is the failure to account for customer deaths. Death records must be updated regularly, especially in sectors like financial services, superannuation, and government, where client data is maintained and kept throughout their lifetime. 

Without an effective method to verify if a customer has passed away, businesses risk continuing to waste resources on deceased individuals. At a larger scale, it exposes them to fraud, compliance issues, and public backlash. With the growing technology in data verification, death checks have become more accessible and convenient for businesses. 

Let’s look at death checks in detail and how they can improve the accuracy of your customer data. 

Why Death Check Data Is the Missing Piece in Data Accuracy

While businesses commonly use data validation tools to verify the identity of living individuals, very few think about identifying customer death data in the processes of validating customer records. This results in deceased individuals remaining “active” in databases for months — sometimes years — after their passing.

Here’s a simple example of how death checks can impact the overall business process for a Superannuation Fund.  

“Assuming an Australian superannuation fund was unknowingly holding over 5,000 deceased members in its active database. It could result in millions of dollars in unclaimed benefits, incorrect beneficiary communications, and compliance exposure under APRA regulations. If the fund had no death checking measures in place, it would have failed to flag post-death changes in a timely manner.

Updating customers’ data with death checks can protect the company from wasting resources on a deceased individual and significantly reduce financial and reputational risks for the company. But those aren’t the only benefits.

Let’s explore five powerful ways death check data enhances customer record accuracy - and why it's an essential component for any modern data strategy.

Benefits of Death Checks 

Cleansing Databases of Deceased Accounts

It goes without saying that inactive or deceased users can inflate customer lists, influence business analytics, and create unnecessary costs. From sending out physical mail that will never be read to maintaining unused digital profiles, operational inefficiencies can pile up quickly when deceased accounts remain in your system.

By integrating Australian death check data with a verified service provider, businesses can systematically identify and remove these accounts and ensure their internal databases reflect current, living individuals only. Over the long run, it results in leaner systems, lower costs, better resource allocation, and peace of mind that your data is up to date. 

Stopping Fraud Before It Starts

Fraud is more prevalent in environments where data is inaccurate or incomplete. In industries such as finance, insurance, and superannuation, criminals may exploit outdated records to impersonate deceased individuals, access benefits, or redirect payments.

By regularly cross-referencing customer records with real-time national death data, organisations can proactively flag and investigate discrepancies, ensuring that accounts associated with deceased individuals are locked down before fraud can occur.

Making Better Business Decisions with Clean Data

Accurate data is the foundation of sound business processes. Whether you're building marketing strategies, calculating customer lifetime value, or forecasting future demand, the quality of your data is directly related to the quality of your insights.

Unfortunately, failing to remove deceased individuals from data sets can distort your reports and critical metrics. For example, inactive accounts may lower engagement rates or inflate retention figures, leading to misguided business decisions. Death check data improves the integrity of business analytics by ensuring your data pool only includes living customers. 

Eliminate Service Errors and Miscommunications

Imagine the distress caused when a business sends promotional material, policy updates, or follow-up messages to someone who has passed away, and their grieving family is on the receiving end. This kind of miscommunication is not only damaging to brand perception but also deeply insensitive as a service provider.

These types of errors are preventable. By updating your customers’ status against real-time death records, businesses can avoid these painful mistakes and demonstrate respect and diligence in their communication practices.

More importantly, businesses can also be proactive and send grieving family members a message of condolence if their system is updated. It can go a long way in building a favourable perception of your company.

Protecting Brand Reputation and Legal Risk

More than the emotional impact, failing to remove deceased individuals from your customer database can result in serious legal and regulatory consequences. In industries governed by strict compliance and privacy laws, such as banking, healthcare, and government, neglecting to verify death data may result in lawsuits, fines, or even investigations.

Moreover, a public incident involving communication with a deceased individual can quickly escalate, especially on social media, causing lasting damage to a company’s brand image. By integrating the official death checks into your data hygiene processes, your business can comply with rules and regulations, demonstrate respect for customer dignity, and maintain public trust.

How IDSure Death Check Service Keeps Your Data Clean

IDsure provides seamless document verification services for Australian businesses and is an authoritative source of national death data. Our solution is built to provide real-time, secure, and accurate verification of deceased individuals across your customer database.

As a DVS gateway service provider, IDSure also has a direct connection to the Australian Government’s Document Verification Service (DVS). Whether you’re cleaning historical records or validating new entries as they come in, IDsure quickly verifies and ensures that your customer data stays accurate and updated. 

To learn more about our Australian death checking services, contact our team today.