We analysed 53,400 calls across 42 campaigns to get a view on the influence of bad data.
We started by defining ‘bad data’. Our definition was an excluded call, i.e. the sales agent made contact and was able to establish the company did not meet the target criteria (wrong industry, wrong size, etc).
The next stage was to define was constituted a good telemarketing call. We decided that a good call was one that met clients’ requirements. So a ‘positive outcome’ could be an appointment, an opportunity or a sale.
As you can see from the above chart, as bad data increases from 10% to 75% so the positive outcome drops by 28.57%.
As many telemarketing campaigns are for a defined period of time, it is not always possible to research bad data and correct any mistakes. The client is paying for results and the pressure to deliver means the sales agent will simply move onto the next call.
Cleansing data should be agreed at the start of a sales campaign as part of the projects overall objectives. It adds time and therefore cost to the sales project, but it is minimal compared to the cost of a bespoke cleansing project.
In most cases bad data is either a rented list supplied by the client or the client’s own CRM. SCi Sales Group has its own B2B database which invariably outperforms all other data, primarily because it is being constantly called, cleansed and refreshed.
In addition, B2B data gleaned from telemarketing is more accurate and revealing because you can dig deeper. A returned mail shot may not tell you the companies new address, and a bounced email will not reveal the name of the persons new employer.
The emphasis when discussing ROI is to concentrate on the message and creative, yet this research shows how inaccurate data can affect the positive outcome of a telemarketing campaign and therefore the ROI.
