The quality of B2B data has declined 10% year-on-year, according to Dun & Bradstreet’s fifth annual data report.
Less than 20% of the 400 B2B demand generation professionals surveyed are extremely confident the segmented lists they build for campaigns actually represent their target audience.
Despite this, the importance of data seems to be understood: 80% of marketers see data quality as critical to sales and marketing and more than half are investing to address persistent data challenges.
Some 72% of those surveyed felt connecting first-party and third-party data is important, but just 10% believed that paid online targeting is effective.
A disconcertingly high 49% of marketers admitted to not scoring leads, and only 31% have connected data across CRM and MAP. More promisingly, 50% are investing to address data challenges.
While 42% respondents are currently using ABM to drive demand generation activities, 55% either use or plan to use analytics to help drive their ABM targeting.
Armed with more complete, accurate, and actionable data, 65% of those surveyed attributed an increase in MQLs to improved customer segmentation and profiling practices.
Another reason for the drop in data quality could be due to a considerable data skills gap within the B2B industry, with MHR Analytics research revealing 70% of c-level executives struggle to effectively upskill employees in data analytics.
Despite the perceived decline in data quality and skills gap, marketers seem intent on investing more in marketing analytics, with UK businesses set to increase their spend by 26% over the next three years.
Furthermore, separate research from Gartner found B2B marketers vastly outspend their B2C counterparts on marketing analytics.