What Is Data Quality and Why Does It Matter?

Even the best email or telemarketing pitch can fail due to unverified contacts and cold leads on the list. As database applications become increasingly intelligent to serve accurate data to users at the right time and place, organizations need to know where they stand.

Databases are expensive. Each contact can cost as much as hundreds of dollars, and companies need thousands of them. As a result, database procurement is highly focused on the quality of leads and prospects.

Data decays due to natural events like people changing jobs and finding new interests. Many details, like your prospect’s location, latest phone number, and social data, keep changing without any warning. Updating them is important for a good campaign strategy to actually work. Your results depend significantly on that aspect. Hence, the high thrust on data verification.

As database applications become increasingly intelligent to serve accurate data to users at the right time and place, organizations need to know where they stand with respect to the quality of coordination between teams such as marketing and sales.

Benchmark efficiency can be achieved with a systematic approach to database verification, which can be conducted remotely. Your company should be able to run campaigns without worrying about the accuracy of their data, regardless of which category they choose to filter their prospects by.

Basic hygiene for your database

Huge volumes of data mean a higher risk of errors and typos.

A marketing database’s inventory includes a huge volume of contacts. Although they come from dependable sources like government records or mobile and online data, large volumes create the chance of wrong digits and spellings, often owing to user-generated typos and errors. Some fields may also be empty or partially filled.With regular maintenance, your field values need to be rectified and augmented. With cloud technology, that process has become easier. Multiple sources can be mapped to cross-check the missing values for each person, and they can be populated accordingly. Verified databases increase the reach and response rate of your campaigns. There are data vendors who go the extra mile to provide double-verified databases, so the chance of a hard bounce is near zero.

Why segmentation?

Segmented lists bring more qualified leads from campaigns.

A standard enterprise database for B2B marketing needs to reach the communications department in a segmented format. Each segment may be related to industry, purchasing power, browsing history, download history, recent social posts, etc. A segmented list fetches more leads from campaigns. Comprehensive B2B lists contain 15 to 20 fields, including the name, title, multiple contact numbers, full mailing address, email address, web address, SIC code, city, state, or province, ZIP or postal code, country, primary industry, NAICS, number of employees, and sales figures.

Segmenting also helps you target people in specific industries. Perhaps you would want to target only people in IT consulting and services. Similar segmentation is possible for industries like manufacturing, banking, finance, accounting, technology, and others.

Segmenting can also be done based on the level of executives, like at the C-level, VP-level, director-level, or manager-level. It is also possible to segment the database based on the revenue and employee count of the organizations. Department-level segmentation is also possible, such as in Finance, Engineering, IT & IS, Education, Purchasing, Operation, Customer Service, Medical, R & D, Sales, and Marketing.And then you can choose which of these segments to target in each multichannel campaign to make it more meaningful.

Your data may be correct, but is it profitable?

Data validation can boost per-data returns from your campaigns.

Your data may have been great all these years, but if you haven’t checked on the new potential leads out there to replace the not-so-interested ones in your database, many of your hundred-dollar email IDs and phone numbers are getting wasted as of now. Validation of contacts is important because situations around people keep changing, and so do their requirements. If you regularly monitor the quality of your leads, your teams will be able to boast a high conversion rate.

Compliance can make or break your brand.

Honor people’s right to privacy, or you run the risk of legal action.

You have soliciting rights only as long as you solicit only those people who have signed up (or opted in) for campaigns from your brand. If an email or mobile user unsubscribed yesterday, he or she simply opted out. If your campaign manager fetches the old data, you could be facing legal action and heavy fines. A database should ideally be updated in real time so that people do not receive unwanted emails or phone calls from you. Besides reputation, there’s obviously a lot to lose.

A hassle-free marketing experience achieves targets. Even the best email or telemarketing pitch can fail due to unverified contacts and cold leads on the list. A sufficient focus on data quality will give you better visibility and a firmer grip on businesses in the years to come.