How clean is your B2B data?

Data is at the heart of all direct marketing; email blasts, direct mail, telemarketing and social media are all driven by data (and collect data at the same time). So why is so much B2B data out of date?

It came as a surprise to read that research by Sirius Decisions showed 30% of data in ‘best in class’ B2B CRMs is out of date within 12 months. How can you prevent this valuable marketing resource and engine getting into such bad shape?

The answer may lie in new research we carried out into the question of data cleansing. We asked over 100 managers how frequently they check and clean their B2B data. The results are alarming.

With almost half of managers stating they never check or clean data it’s not surprising that some B2B databases are not fit for purpose.

Please don’t assume the companies that took part in our survey are all SMEs without the resources to regularly cleanse data. We have personal experience of one multi-national company with a channel partner list, containing thousands of contacts, that had not been cleansed in 10 years.

Cleansing customer/prospect data is vital as it drives so many channels. Bounced emails will give you a clue that your data may be inaccurate and returned mail shots are further evidence; but only telemarketing gives you the ability to dig deeper. Have they moved to a new department in the same company? Are they on maternity leave and returning soon? Have they changed their surname? Or moved to another company (and therefore become another prospect for your sales team)?

It’s the start of a new year. Make sure your data is clean, and if you can’t justify the cost, clean a sample of your database and measure the improvement in response/ROI. You may be pleasantly surprised.