The Dirty on Data Cleansing & Appending

As part of our “Challenges CMOs Face” series, we addressed 8 common challenges encountered by CMOs and marketing leaders, and included insight on how to overcome them. Our recommendation is to develop a long-term agile marketing roadmap to overcome common challenges. For our “Roadmapping – Next Steps” series, we have invited industry experts to provide their insights to help you take your marketing strategy to the next level. In this post, Synthio’s Content Marketing Manager, Chelsea Mize, explains the importance of working with the right partner for data cleansing and appending.

When it comes to database hygiene and upkeep, there are a few buzzwords like “data cleansing” and “data appending” that get thrown around. Before you can get your data in shape, you have to understand exactly what those hot-button terms mean, what they entail, and, most importantly, the importance of partnering with a trusted data provider who can help you get the most out of your data.

Who Benefits from Data Cleansing and Appending?

The short answer: Everyone!

The long answer: Any B2B organization that does not already have a continuous, real-time data cleansing process in place. Did you know that contact data degrades at a rate of up to 70% per year ? That’s up to 70% of your database that is naturally decaying annually.

Outdated data, whitespace, misinformation, and technical errors create a big gap between you and the people you’re trying to reach. Data cleansing and appending helps you close the gap to meet people where they are.

Important Considerations for Evaluating a Data Provider

Where does the data come from?
Do you ever stop to think about where the data you buy comes from? It’s essential to do your research and find out the source of the data. You want to avoid data providers who are simply buying contact lists en masse from a list-purchasing company.

You also want to avoid compiled data, as constantly mixing together data from disparate sources promotes inaccuracies and irregularities. And finally, crowd-sourced data is also a no-go because rewards and incentives are often put into place to encourage customers to correct records, with little attention given to accuracy.

Social sourced data — or data that is gathered from social profiles and other publicly available sources of information — is ideal because it has the largest chance of being accurate. These data are self-reported by the contacts, so they are the best kind of data to have.

Can the vendor integrate with your MAP?
Your marketing automation platform (MAP) is the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. If you don’t have a way to easily integrate you cleansed and enriched data into your MAP, what are the odds that correct data will even get into your MAP?

Look for a customer data platform or data vendor that can integrate directly into your MAP so your data is always cleansed and current.

Can the vendor integrate with your CRM?
Like your MAP, your customer relationship management (CRM) system must be integrated with your data platform if you want to reap the full benefits of a cleansed and complete database.

Does the vendor have global contacts?
Do you market to an international audience? If so, you need a data provider with a global reach. There’s no point in cleansing your data if your data vendor doesn’t have any data to check your global contacts against for accuracy.

Can the vendor support an ABM strategy?
Account-based marketing (ABM) doesn’t show any sign of letting up anytime soon, and your data vendor or customer data platform (CDP) should be able to support your ABM efforts.

Does the vendor cleanse and enrich?
You want a data vendor who can validate contact information, purge duplicates, and flag inaccuracies. You also want a vendor who can take a small amount of information and add new fields of information to those contacts, or even generate net-new contacts targeted to your ideal buyers based on the prospects in your existing database.

How much information can the vendor provide when enriching existing contacts?
B2B marketers of yesteryear could get away with buying lead lists with just names and company titles. However, in today’s marketing landscape that is increasingly focused on authenticity and personalization, finding high-quality MQLs starts with having the most detailed information possible.

It’s important to ask a potential data cleansing provider how many usable data elements per contact they have in their database. A quality data cleansing provider should not only cleanse your data and identify discrepancies, they should also enrich your data with additional information. An ideal data cleansing provider can cleanse and enrich contact data with 50+ fields of data.

Is the platform self-service? Or will someone else have to cleanse and append for you?
The last thing you want is a co-dependent vendor/client relationship. Find a data vendor with a self-service platform that you can access to cleanse and refresh your data yourself, at your own convenience, so that cleansed data is always at your fingertips.

Does the vendor offer ongoing data cleansing/appending or is it a singular instance?
You don’t want a data vendor who will clean your data once and then call it a day. Be on the lookout for a data cleansing provider who can support real-time cleanse and refresh. Clean data should be on your terms, so find a data vendor who lets you call the shots and cleanse as frequently as you’d like.

Having a trusted data provider is critical for your success. Synthio is a new kind of contact data platform with more accurate, complete contact information. It’s how B2B sales and marketing teams get to the right people faster. Outdated data, whitespace, misinformation, and technical hurdles can create a big gap between you and the people you’re trying to reach—costing millions in wasted efforts and missed opportunities. That’s why global companies like Microsoft, Gartner, and Oracle rely on us for their B2B data needs.

Essential KPIs Our Customers Use to Measure Success

At Synthio, there are a few key KPIs that our customers use as a barometer for how much our platform has contributed to their success. The most crucial KPIs that demonstrate significant growth & improvement for our customers are email deliverability rates, open rates, and the percentage of their current database that was cleansed, validated, or updated. We can help you navigate the data maze to achieve optimal results.

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