B2B marketing has evolved tremendously. Things are different from the time when sending postal mails was the most effective form of communication. We have grown to today’s social media and email campaigns that promise to bring in a customer’s attention. No matter which era you talk about, possessing accurate client data was and is imminent for fruitful campaigns. Add in the factor of how competitive the market has become, and you’ll see. Thanks to an onslaught of technological advances, it is much more essential to have exact and relevant client data.
Essential B2B Data Services
It is evident that most B2B marketing campaigns today fail to generate ROI due to poor customer data. Furthermore, the foundation of such campaigns is stale and irrelevant. In such a scenario, data is even more crucial. Here, it becomes even more crucial for B2B companies to get clean, consistent, and relevant client data. Moreover, these are usually the most overlooked aspects of the average B2B organization.
It is a known fact that B2B companies invest vast amounts of money on client information, lead lists, and other prospective client data. However, all these efforts go in vain if the data supplier isn’t able to provide the organization with precise and to-the-point data.
In the following article, I will talk about some important processes related to B2B data. Additionally, I will talk about data consistency, relevancy & normalization. I will also help you understand how to maintain as well as achieve these processes within your B2B business operations. These practices are important factors in achieving rewarding campaign results.
Data Consistency
Data Consistency defines how consistent your current data is. In this case, consistent means technically workable. Basically, this means that the data present in your database must adhere to the same rules that were set while building the database. All newly acquired data ideally should enter the database in a streamlined manner. This must happen only when it satisfies these pre-set standards (if applicable). B2B companies usually end up buying client data with the aim of having new leads to expand into a new market. However, they simply inject this new data into the existing database.
Needless to say, this practice is fundamentally flawed and is bound to contaminate the currently clean data. Thirty-four percent of B2B businesses now consider data consistency to be crucial. They concede that it is the most important aspect when it comes to organizing fruitful marketing campaigns. We’re not saying it. This is according to a joint global study from the Science Warehouse and eWorld. This means that as markets continue to get more competitive, the focus shifts to efficiency in all operations. The number of B2B businesses that focus their efforts on data consistency are growing. In fact, they have been continuously increasing over the last few years. This is a strong indicator of the growing importance of manual cleaning services. Additionally, it shows that B2B organizations are placing on data consistency and the value it can bring to the industry.
The Challenge of Managing Raw Data
With all of these things, managing raw data is still a challenge for most businesses. This is definitely true when it comes to ensuring data accuracy and cleanliness. Many data-cleaning firms offer data cleaning and even data scrubbing services with the aim of boosting your database’s potential. However, most of them lack the accuracy needed to ensure the highest quality of data. This essentially defeats the purpose of using such services.
Accurate data is an integral and highly necessary asset. It enables B2B businesses to close more deals, and this is also where most data cleaning services fail. Very few data processing and cleaning companies excel at helping you with this. They fail at providing you with a database that can ensure an augmented ROI for your B2B marketing efforts.
Data Relevancy
Relevant information is as important as having accurate and consistent data. In general, data relevancy stands for the data’s level of pertinence to the field it belongs. Having relevant data is crucial to the success of any B2B marketing campaign. Your data must help you.
If the database you’re using for marketing communication states, correctness is important. that a particular person is the Purchase Manager of a particular organization, you should be able to trust the relevance of this record. If this data was true 2 years ago, it doesn’t mean that it will still be true. The person whose details exist in an old database may have got a promotion or may have moved to another company. It is necessary that you updated the database records or that it appends to ensure that the information is relevant and up-to-date.
With the eternal dynamic life of people, data related to them is constantly changing. B2B firms are in dire need of getting their databases corrected with the right info, and this is what we refer to when we talk about data relevancy. Not only does an irrelevant B2B database put a strain on your resources. It also harms your ROI and the reputation of your B2B organization in the long run.
Data Normalization
Data within any particular database has a variety of attributes attached to it. Normalization means that all the attributes should be the same within the given database. All the important data characteristics should follow the same pattern of organization and recording. (Name, address, contact number, designation, etc.). This simple technique helps your marketing team simplify the process of organizing campaigns. Additionally, it helps in keeping a track of qualified prospects.
The study also shows that B2B companies draw a majority of their total revenues from one particular segment. Additionally, this segment’s clients are usually acquired through marketing campaigns. In reality, however, companies don’t benefit as much as they probably could, based on their investment. The main reason for this is that only a fraction of intended recipients convert to clients.
If the customer data in any B2B database gets normalized to the core, success rates of marketing campaigns will bring in enhanced results. It is for this reason that the importance of data normalization remains paramount.
How to achieve these data qualities?
You can attain the three data characteristics explained through careful planning and preparation.
It goes without saying that any B2B company invests a large majority of its resources towards the ROI. Usually, they exchange time and money for enhanced sales and a boosted-up ROI. However, if all they boost all their sales and marketing efforts on bad service, things can go awry. Remember that a shoddily mined, unclean, poorly maintained database will never help marketing campaigns.
It is highly recommended that B2B firms strive to maintain the highest possible level of data quality as and when possible. Even if it needs considerable investment, it is easily justified thanks to the imminent sales growth and improved ROI.
Data cleaning and Data Scrubbing Services
A large number of companies offer data cleaning services for B2B organizations. Most of these firms run the database through default rules with the aim of locating errors. Usually, such entries relate to finding mismatches or duplicated records. Once they discover such entries, they will run them through specialized software that replaces broken records. Alternatively, correct information help fix the broken records. This process may sound very complicated, but it is a swift one thanks to the complete software processing of data at a great speed. As a batch of infected data goes through the process of scrubbing, it gets added back into your database. The resulting database is quite clean and fresh as per B2B marketing campaign requirements. The concerned B2B Company inevitably gets slightly better results using clean and improved data. The data cleansing process is also called Automated Data Cleansing. As the name suggests, such data cleansing uses automated methods that involve software. Infected data is usually passed through various steps of cleansing through the use of software and scripts.
The Right Data Cleaning Service for your B2B Business
It goes without saying that no software is advanced enough to account for the intricacies of real human logic. Arguably, no software can replace their innate understanding and logical reasoning abilities oh a human. They fail to bring in the most appropriate result for the problem at hand. Hence, to achieve enhanced accuracy B2B firms should consider Manual Data Enrichment services.
Manual data scrubbing involves the use of manual practices to find and correct duplicate and incorrect records. The automated version involves software that has a set format. The records that conform to the format get retained and corrected, but everything that does not fit the highly specific rule gets truncated. Records cleaned in this way are only about 60%-70% accurate. This means that even after scrubbing the entire database, at least 30% of the data is still infected. This has a negative impact on B2B marketing campaigns.
Manual Data Services
We’ve already established that automated data services are not nearly at par with manual data services. Having the element of human intelligence in your arsenal will always give you an edge. Most of all, when it comes to database maintenance, it is a boost in the right direction for your B2B business. With the implementation of these manual methods, every record verification happens manually. Subsequently, this happens using various trustworthy data sources. After this process of verification, the cleansed records are cross-verified across all online data sources. These records include channels such as professional networks and social media. Most importantly, this way, every single entry goes through stringent verification. Any missing information or discrepancies are then manually researched by these skilled professionals. Moreover, these professionals fill any gaps in the database. In the end, the entire database gets sorted as per the client’s requirements.
The Results
The resultant data, cleaned using manual data scrubbing services, has an accuracy rate that goes as high as 98%-99%. In order to benefit from this high conversion rate, you must try manual data cleaning, at least once. Since performing all of these highly specialized data maintenance skills in-house is impractical and cumbersome, outsourcing this to the right people is essential for your B2B business.
Manual Data Cleaning, Scrubbing, Enrichment and Enhancement at BizProspex
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of data cleansing firms that provide cleaning services for B2B companies. A large majority of them use automated processes to clean and enrich your data.
BizProspex is the only manual data cleaning company based in the USA providing manual data cleaning services. Right from data solution, CRM cleaning, data mining, lead generation, to any other data-related task, all the services use manual methods.
BizProspex has served more than 300+ clients in the past five years. Most of our clients return to us whenever a data problem arises. If your B2B organization is lacking the right data partner, look no further! We at BizProspex are completely equipped to offer your organization the data support it requires to move on to the next level.
Additionally, feel free to reach out to us if you have any doubts/questions. Do leave your comments in the comments box at the end of this page.
You can have better insight into Manual Data Practices when you go through my previous posts-