It all started with a simple question...
When Western Consulting Firm’s chatbot asked, "Please provide your phone number," Bangladeshi users naturally typed what they knew: 01670-309-328, 01670 309 328, or even in Bangla digits like ০১৬৭০....
But the CRM system? It strictly demanded +8801670309328.
The Result? A Complete Automation Breakdown.
The moment the phone number was saved, the welcome SMS, email sequences, WhatsApp follow-ups, and auto-assignments were supposed to trigger. But because of the format mismatch, the workflow froze.
SMS messages weren't delivered, and lead nurturing never started. We were seeing 30-40 corrupted entries daily, wasting 2-3 hours on manual correction, and causing delayed responses to hot leads.
The Root Cause
This was a clash between cultural habits and technical requirements. A user says, "My number is 01670-309-328." No one says, "Plus eight eight zero..."
We realized a fundamental truth: You cannot change user behavior. You must adapt the system.
The Solution: The Invisible Fix
Our principle was simple: The user sees the natural format; the CRM gets the standard format.
We implemented a backend normalization protocol (a pure prompt-level solution, no heavy coding) that:
- Accepts Everything: It takes inputs starting with 01X, 8801X, +8801X, including dashes, spaces, and Bangla digits.
- Normalizes: It cleans and converts the data into the +8801XXXXXXXXX format for the CRM storage.
- Confirms: It replies to the user using their original input (e.g., "Saved 01670-309-328") so the interaction feels human and natural.
The Results
The impact was immediate:
🔴 Before: 60%+ data corruption, 3 hours of manual work/day, 25% drop-off.
🟢 After: <5% corruption, 10-15 mins manual work/day, 7% drop-off.
Business Impact: We saved 75 hours/month, restored full automation, and saw an 18% increase in conversion rates.
Key Lessons
User behavior is sacred. The backend and frontend don't need to match—that is the essence of smart automation. The best UX is an invisible fix; if the user doesn't notice the magic, we’ve done our job.
A seemingly small field like a phone number can break your entire value chain. Data quality is automation success.
Is your CRM automation struggling with data formatting?
MD FARHAN HABIB FARAZ
Prompt Engineer & Prompt Team Lead
PowerInAI
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