Accurate data is your biggest weapon to build and scale a business. With proper B2B data management, you can:
- Drive a clear understanding of customer needs and challenges, enabling better personalization.
- Monitor important KPIs, helping you stay on track with short and long-term sales goals.
- Forecast upcoming demands and market trends for better resource allocation.
However, customer preferences change, and so do industry demands. So, how do you prevent your data from going stale? By implementing B2B data enrichment.
Let’s find out more details:
Short on Time? Here Are the Key Takeaways
- Stale data can stifle your business growth with inaccurate information.
- Data enrichment prevents this by removing data discrepancies and enhancing the datasets with additional information.
- Real-time data enrichment is also important to ensure eCommerce scalability and performance.
- Your chosen data enrichment tool should be scalable, have extensive integrations with your current tools, and offer real-time data updates.
What is B2B Data Enrichment?
B2B data enrichment is the process of refining the existing data with more detailed, accurate, and relevant information. The aim is to add clearer context to the raw B2B data to get a deeper understanding of the customer needs, market trends, and the overall state of your business operation.
Typically, data enrichment involves:
- Cleansing duplicates and outdated information, correcting errors, and standardizing the data to ensure consistency.
- Adding more current information on existing customers, target demographics, and industry trends.
- Verifying accuracy through third-party data sources.
- Syncing the enriched and validated data into the system, ensuring accessibility and usability across the organization.
- Analyzing the enhanced B2B data sets gives deeper insights into various business processes and continuously adds more contextual information.
Data Enrichment vs. Data Cleansing
Benefits of Data Enrichment for B2B Companies
Regular data enrichment may look like a lot of work, but the benefits are significant.
Here are some:
- Better lead scoring: Stale B2B data causes lead scoring and targeting inefficiencies, wasting your time and resources on unqualified prospects. Regular data enrichment lets you score and prioritize leads based on the most current data, ensuring your team pursues only the valuable prospects.
- Improved sales efficiency: Enriched datasets paint a more comprehensive picture of the client’s needs, behavior, and market trends. This empowers your sales reps to drive more personalized and meaningful interactions with the prospects, improving chances of conversion.
- Enhanced customer experience: 89% of decision-makers consider personalization invaluable to their business’ success in the next three years. Enriched data lets you offer them an experience personalized to the core, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Informed decision making: Enriched and compliant B2B data offers the most granular details of your operations and market trends. This helps you make strategic business decisions aligned with your long-term goals and current business landscape.
- Better client segmentation: Enriched and up-to-date customer data lets you segment your contact list, ensuring existing clients and prospects get the most relevant marketing communication from your end.
How Does B2B Data Enrichment Work?
B2B data enrichment involves several steps that ultimately lead to more accurate, current, and complete datasets.
Here is how it works:
- Data cleansing: The B2B data enrichment tool identifies and corrects errors and inconsistencies in your existing datasets. It also removes duplicate data, ensuring data integrity. Then, it standardizes the data format for easy comprehension.
- Adding missing data: The system then adds the missing bits of information in the data sets. For example, if one of your contacts has an email address but not the current phone number, the data enrichment framework will find and add that to your records.
- Refreshes outdated information: The system then updates stale information to ensure it is current and relevant. For example, Your record has an individual listed as a decision-maker in a prospective client company. However, that person doesn’t work there anymore. Your data enrichment will replace that information with the current decision-makers.
- Adding additional data: It adds additional attributes like company characteristics, behavioral data like online activities and interactions, and demographic information.
- Data validation: Once the data is clean and enriched, B2B data enrichment services verify and validate it against internal and external sources to ensure accuracy.
Top 5 B2B Data Enrichment Tools to Consider
Here are the top 5 B2B data enrichment solutions worth your consideration:
1. Cognism
First on our list is Cognism, a popular data enrichment solution for B2B companies. This platform offers some good features, from instant CRM enrichment to on-demand CSV enhancements.
Key features:
- Instant CRM enrichment ensures data gets enhanced and augmented as it enters the system
- Scheduled CRM enrichments to suit unique user needs
- On-demand CSV enhancements where you can get all the missing info filled in just by uploading the files
Pros:
- It lets you know whether the contact number is direct, mobile, or HQ, helping in customizing your outreach accordingly. It also verifies emails, reducing bounce rates
- Allows users to flag inaccurate data
Cons:
- Integration with Salesforce often stops working
- The bulk enhanced credit limitation can be time-consuming
Pricing:
Cognism offers two subscription packages that users can customize. Contact their sales team for a tailored quote.
2. ZoomInfo
Next, ZoomInfo is designed to help businesses connect with and convert high-value prospects efficiently. With a database covering over 104 million companies and 321 million business professionals, the platform provides real-time insights into potential leads and key decision-makers.
Key features:
- Access in-depth information, including revenue, employee count, email addresses, direct dial numbers, and key decision-makers.
- Comprehensive tools for lead generation, outreach, and talent acquisition in one platform.
- Identifies prospects and recommends leads based on buying intent and advanced data analysis.
Pros:
- Extensive, accurate database of business contacts and companies
- Comprehensive contact information, including direct email and phone numbers
- Integrates with up to 60 vendors for flexible data enrichment
Cons:
- Pricing lacks transparency and can be expensive for some plans
- The free plan is limited to only 10 contacts
- Some users report a clunky interface and limited filtering options
Pricing:
ZoomInfo offers custom pricing based on the chosen product suite (SalesOS, MarketingOS, OperationsOS, TalentOS) and company needs.
3. Crunchbase
Crunchbase is another comprehensive platform with data enrichment solutions for B2B businesses. It is an extensive database of investors, companies, start-ups, and market trends with instant data updates and API integrations.
Key features:
- Instant CRM record enrichment and data enrichment scheduler
- Scalable API packages, including Salesforce and HubSpot integrations
- Bulk exports to CSVs
Pros:
- UI is simple enough to find target customers quickly
- It is ideal for start-ups seeking funding as it houses information on a broad range of investors
Cons:
- Filters aren’t advanced enough
- The interface on mobile devices is inefficient and tiresome
Pricing:
Pro
Enterprise
Monthly Billing
Annual Billing
Contact the sales team
$99/user/month
$49/user/month
4. Clearbit
The fourth tool on our list is Clearbit, a real-time B2B data enrichment service with impressive integrations and modern webhooks.
Key features:
- Automated record updates whenever there is a change in data
- eCommerce analytics features reveal the companies visiting and expressing intent on your site
- Data validation from over 250 data sources
Pros:
- High accuracy rate
- Extensive integrations with popular business tools create a seamless workflow
Cons:
- Unintuitive credit-based system
- It has a learning curve
Pricing:
You can contact Clearbit’s sales team for a custom quote.
5. Kaspr
Lastly, Kaspr gives you access to accurate B2B customer data enriched and verified against 150 internal and external sources. It offers real-time B2B data integration so that you spend less time prospecting and focus entirely on building meaningful connections with important potential clients.
Key features:
- Enrichment API that enhances incomplete target prospect lists with current phone numbers, email addresses, job titles, and company info
- Organized data repository with real-time enrichment functions
- Lead management with tags, notes, and task creation
- Chrome extension for LinkedIn for instant contact access
Pros:
- The extensive database gets updated continuously without any intervention from the user
- The Chrome extension, neat and centralized dashboard, and CRM integrations let you contact the right prospects instantly
Cons:
- LinkedIn automation is glitchy
- The starter package is a tad expensive for small companies
Pricing:
Starter
Business
Organization
45€/license/ month
79€/license/ month
99€/license/ month
Best Practices for Implementing a Successful Enrichment Process
By now, we know what tools we need to enrich B2B data. However, for best results, the efficiency of these tools has to be complemented with the right initiatives.
So, here are the best practices you need to implement for a successful enrichment process:
- Define clear objectives: Outline what you want to achieve with data enrichment. Is it better lead scoring, enhanced marketing, or improved KPI tracking? This way, the process will have a clear direction and reap the right benefits.
- Choose the right tool: Select a data enrichment tool that’s scalable enough to accommodate your growing data repository. It must offer real-time data updates, automated CRM and ERP maintenance, and eCommerce integration. You must also ensure it is compliant with data regulations.
- Ensure cross-departmental alignment: Make sure your data enrichment process aligns with different departments' needs. The refreshed data should always be accessible to your sales, marketing, and customer service teams.
- Seek feedback and improve: Examine your data enrichment process’s performance against defined metrics. Run a survey across your client base to see whether your eCommerce store shows the most updated data across every touchpoint. Pinpoint the most reported areas and address the issues. Constant improvements ensure operational efficiency and high customer satisfaction.
The Bottom Line
For best results, data enrichment has to be frequent and thorough. Otherwise, you may think you have improved information — but in reality, you will still be dealing with stale data riddled with inaccuracies.
So follow our best practices and choose a data enrichment tool with real-time data updates. It will help you set up an eCommerce store that always has the most current product details, stock information, and pricing.