According to Helen Walmsley group account director at direct marketing agency TDA: Clean, up-to-date data is central to successful marketing. Everything hinges on whether you’re communicating the right messages to the right people. But with three million businesses operating in the UK, and one in four people in the UK changing their jobs every year, this is extremely difficult. In most cases it’s far more cost-effective to buy-in data from a third party.
However, considering that there are around 2000 B2B lists in the UK, provided by a legion of brokers, resellers, and list owners, picking the right vendor and building an effective relationship with them can be almost as daunting a prospect as maintaining your own database. Following these 10 rules should make it easier:
1. Don’t expect a miracle
While buying-in data can help you build a more effective prospecting database and reduce waste in your direct marketing activities, you should not expect it to provide an instant solution. Once the data has been bought, it must be integrated with existing data, then segmented accurately, and kept clean. You should be prepared to invest time as well as money.
2. Make sure it’s accurate
Accuracy is the number one issue with third party data. Jo Yandle, marketing operations manager at Target, a provider of software solutions and services to financial services companies including Barclays, says: I very rarely use the data as it is. I make sure that the contract allows me to use my telemarketing agency to double check.
She admits that this might be a long winded way of doing things but argues that: On the one occasion where I used the data provided in its original form there were so many spelling mistakes I had to go back to the supplier. Another option is to only buy lists from providers that have been accredited to a standard such as the DMA’s Business List Audit.
3. Consider how you will segment it
Adrian Cutcliffe, marketing manager at D&B, says: In the coming months and years, the ability to segment data will become even more important. We have developed a suite of entry-level analytical solutions because we’ve seen rapidly growing interest in reducing wastage in direct marketing. Sending promotional material to someone who is not interested in your service is just as wasteful as sending it to someone who changed job four years ago. It’s not only a waste of the actual material but it also wastes the time of the marketing and sales people involved.
Most lists allow you to segment by Standard Industry Classification (SIC), number of employees and location. Some, such as those offered by Marketscan come with their own, more specific, classifications. MD, Julie Knight explains: No one wants to do mass mailings anymore. Our clients want to deliver tailored communications to very specific market segments. So, our classification goes a long way beyond SIC. In some of the broader SIC sectors we have 2000 more classifications.
4. Have a plan for dealing with duplicates
Thomas Grundtvig is the market data & operations manager for EMEA at IBM in Paris. He is in charge of the marketing data used by IBM, and his number one issue with data is duplicates. We tend to use Harte-Hanks and Dun & Bradsteet because they have international data. But because all of the brokers organise their data by company, rather than contact, we have to do a lot of de-duplication. There is a real opportunity for someone to start selling B2B data that is organised by contacts.
5. Don’t accept poor customer service
Gary Boys, managing director of data service company GB Consultancy, comments: Customer service can be poor, delivery dates missed, commitments not met, and pricing inconsistent. Don’t put up with it.
I’d also advise people to buy data at the end of the month, as nine times out of 10 you can negotiate a better quote than the one you have.
6. Comply with data protection laws
Data protection legislation is often talked about, but not widely understood. Simon Halberstam, partner and head of e-commerce law at Sprecher Grier & Halberstam LLP offers this simple advice to data buyers on staying on the right side of the law: Before you buy marketing data from a provider, ask to see their data protection policy. If they don’t have one, not only may they not be legally compliant, but the data they provide could be suspect too.
You need to make sure that they have obtained express authority from the people on the list to provide that information to third parties (ie. you) for marketing purposes, Halberstam adds.
7. Decide between source broker or reseller
You can buy data from the original source, a broker, or a value added reseller. You should be aware of the various advantages and disadvantages so you can choose the route that is right for you. Sue Walters, marketing manager at Experian, says: When you buy from the source you don’t have to pay a middle man, you know exactly where it’s come from, and you have a greater opportunity to build a relationship and so influence the data you can buy in the future.
Brokers on the other hand have a better overview of the market. They know what is available and so should be able to point you to the most appropriate list, or even tailor you a list from a variety of sources.
Ben Bailey, head of data planning at Information Arts,a value-added reseller, counsels caution when buying lists. While half of those in the market are selling good, useful lists, the other half are selling data that isn’t good value and might even be illegal.
The problem with going through a broker is that they make their money on a volume-based commission from data vendors. We don’t make our money from data selling; it is just part of our offer, so we’re well placed to recommend the best list to our clients, he adds.
A fourth option has recently emerged in the shape of the B2B Alliance, a co-operative database. We launched last November and now have 43 members, reports Andy McDermott of Abacus UK, the company that runs it. Because each member constantly refreshes its own data, the database as a whole stays much more up to date than a traditional static list.
It costs nothing to join the Alliance, and £120 per thousand names.
8. Build relationships
Colin Sneath, MD of B2B marketing agency Native, comments: When you find a reliable supplier, stick with them. Everyone claims to have quality assurance processes, but the fact is that data quality varies massively across suppliers. You should certainly report any quality issues to the vendor so they have a chance to rectify them. In the longer term, if you’ve built a good relationship with the vendor, you’ll find out about their cleansing and building cycles so you will be able to buy their data when it’s at its freshest.
9. Look to buy online
Most experts agree that in the next year or two, an increasing amount of business-to-business data will be bought and sold online.
Yandle at Target says: I saw a pretty impressive website the other day where they offered you the chance to test it out. You input your desired matrix of institution, job hierarchy, area of interest and geographical location, and they send you the selection: detailing institution name, city and job title, for you to review. I found it very impressive, definitely the way forward.
10. Make data your first priority
John Noble, director at list broker ProActive, concludes with this advice: All too often data purchasing is done at the last minute. Marketers tend to see it as the second priority after the creative.
This is a mistake as the best creative in the world is useless if sent to the wrong person. They need to put an equal emphasis on who they’re sending it to, and put in the effort to acquire the best data possible, he adds.
Supplemental: Play it safe with the DMA Business List Audit
The Direct Marketing Association set up its Business List Audit in 2004 and the first companies were accredited in October of that year. James Hawkes, best practice & information manager, explains that: The DMA developed the scheme to address concerns over the accuracy of data in B2B lists. The BLA audits the transparency of the processes used by list owners. Applicants complete an online accreditation questionnaire, covering issues such as how often their marketing data is verified and to what extent, whether they use hygiene systems and screen against the relevant Preference Service files, and their systems for managing deletions and goneaways. All this information is backed up with a site visit by the DMA Compliance and best practice units. There are 10 list owner companies with BLA accreditation at present – representing around five per cent of the market. Hawkes expects this to grow substantially in the coming months. He adds: Some companies have failed the online accreditation. In these instances we’ve contacted the company and assessed why it was they failed and what they could do to meet the required standards of transparency.
