Did you know it’s estimated that in just one year, at least 20% of marketing data becomes inaccurate? (Some studies have put the average annual loss of company income due to bad data at $15 million.) What can you do to make sure that your marketing data is still accurate? And how can you get the most out of your data? Data Enhancement is the key.
What is Data Enhancement?
Data Enhancement is the process of going through your current marketing data, making sure it’s accurate and then filling in any gaps. It is sometimes called Data Append. Data Enhancement uses Data Appends to add additional information to current data, such as phone numbers, email addresses, or mailing addresses.
Since one part of Data Enhancement is making sure all current records are accurate, it can sometimes be confused with Data Hygiene. What’s the difference between them? Data hygiene cleans out inaccurate data, while data enhancement also adds or fills in missing data.
Why is it Valuable?
We have already mentioned the estimated average cost inaccurate data costs companies. What are some other benefits to Data Enhancement?
Maximized Internal Records
Data Enhancement can fill in gaps that exist in current contacts and records. Accurate contact information for the current customers makes it easier to understand and communicate with them.
Effective Marketing Campaigns
The point of Data Enhancement is having accurate information that is actually what you need. Basing a marketing campaign on enhanced data increases the campaign’s chances of success because it is based on First-Party Data.
Data Enhancement isn’t just effective if it’s based on First Party Data. It can also be used on a purchased list. Many companies use a list when starting to advertise in a new market. Then, they build out their contact off of that original list of address. Utilizing Data Enhancement cuts down on the amount time needed to nurture leads, providing other pieces of contact information right from the start.
Better Audience Understanding
Understanding your audience is the key to effective marketing. By using Data Enhancement on current contacts, it can fill in the gaps in your CRM. The more information available on your current contacts, the more accurate data you will have to make marketing decisions.
Improved Customer Experience
It may feel like a stretch to use Data Enhancement to provide better customer service. However, the more ways you have to communicate with customers, the better service you can provide. This goes hand in hand with better understanding of your audience. A customer’s preferred method of communication or preferred communication channel may not be the contact information you have available for them. For example, a potential customer may prefer to communicate over the phone. But if you have only have their email, it will be difficult to reach them effectively.
How does Data Enhancement work?
Data Enhancement is a relatively simple process. It starts with data that is already owned, either First Party Data or a purchased list. A data provider (like us!) then takes the original data and matches it with additional databases and information to make sure that it is still accurate. Then, the cleaned data is matched with another list or database of contact information, such as emails or phone numbers. The Enhanced list is then returned to the owner.
What are some best practices?
There are many Data Enhancement best practices. These include CRM audits, ongoing data hygiene, and working with a team that has access to many types of data appends.
CRM Audits
CRM Audits are valuable to Data Enhancement. The more accurate the original data is, the more accurate the Enhanced Data will be. Doing a CRM audit before enhancing your data simplifies the initial data hygiene process. Why? The program that cleans the data is only going to look at data accuracy, whereas a person doing a CRM audit is going to look at data relevancy. A CRM audit guarantees that the enhanced data is not only accurate, but also best serves the marketing goals.
Ongoing Data Hygiene
Ongoing Data hygiene provides a similar value. Creating (and sticking to) specific CRM and data organization procedures and processes will simplify Data Enhancement. Documented and followed data organization procedures will minimize the need for and time spent on a CRM audit. It’s also possible that by maintaining organized data, you may find that you don’t need any Data Enhancement. You may already have the data you need at this point. Ongoing Data Hygiene provides a more clear understanding of what you currently have. Therefore, it also helps you see what you need. For example, now may not be the right time for a phone append. After looking at the data gaps in your CRM, however, appending emails may be a better fit for your marketing goals.
Working With A Data Driven Team
Why is working with a team that has access to many types of data a valuable Data Enhancement best practice? The goal of enhancing data is to fill gaps in current data and provide the most relevant data to you. Some data providers specialize in one type of data. Which is great! However, when enhancing data, it may be valuable to append more than one type of data at a time. It’s important to work with a data provider that has the ability to make sure the data you already have is accurate. As well as be able to provide whatever type of data is missing.
How can you use Data Enhancement in your business?
There are few practical ways to use Data Enhancement in your business. Here are two.
As already mentioned, Data Enhancement can be very helpful in better understanding your current customers. Data collected from online forms, or that is already in your CRM can be appended. This makes sure that you have the most complete and up-to-date records.
How does this help you understand your customers? Accurate and complete contact data helps to organize sales pipelines. For example, a potential customer may fill out a form online. However, they are already a contact in your CRM under alternate information. By appending the data they provided, it’s possible to link the two contacts through their common information. And as an existing customer, they are in a different part of the pipeline than they first appeared. With an accurately organized pipeline, sales reps waste less time prospecting and information gathering. Then they can prioritize who they target.
Another way to use Data Enhancement effectively is for a multichannel marketing campaign. Accurate audience data is the foundation for all effective multichannel campaigns. Enhanced data with more than one type of contact channel makes it possible to create a targeted multichannel campaign. Statistically, multichannel marketing campaigns have 3x higher effectiveness than single-channel campaigns. This is especially true for a retargeting campaign. Multichannel retargeting campaigns generate a much higher response rate than using only one channel.
Have you ever used Data Enhancement? If you have any questions about using Data Enhancement for your business, give us a call. 😜
