Rapidly deteriorating data and sales values high enough to ensure a respectable margin of profit even at a low response, many B2B companies feel they are lacking an incentive to put an end to the “carpet bombing” effect that has so long been dominant. By contrast this temptation is kept at bay in the B2C environment where the benefits of cleansed and up-dated data are made evident by response rates increases around 35%.

In addtition to this B2B data compliance is not a particularly central issue to the practicioners. Although statistics say that around 50,000 telephone numbers are registered with CTPS, not many businesses are ready to risk turning away prospecting activity through unsolicited contact that may ultimately prove interesting. In addition to this, each organisation has multiple contact numbers, many of which, like sales, are intended to receive the odd unsolicited call and thus have to be kept unregistered.

Data Protection is also less of a thorny subject in B2B than B2C as many individual’s corporate identiy is in public domain. For example data regarding Company Directors and Civil Servant’s is published as a matter of course.

The real benefit of cleansed and up-dated data in B2B probably doesn’t lie in the compliance and sensitivity issues of B2C, but in the possibilities that a continued relationship with the customer opens up. Although untargeted, one-off sales in the B2B sector remain lucrative deals that partially help meet the cost of wasted communication, most companies there is image damage associated with ineffifcient targeting and blindly telephoning.

Moreover many buinesses have products that they roll out in up-dated or improved versions, for example software providers, and thus need to eventually perform an up-sell. Providers of multiple services are similarly faced with the need to cross-sell or introduce clients to a new offer or provision. Clean data fuels these possibilities, ultimately achieving better response rates and might be the the trump card for securing a bigger share of the market.

Surely the real question is why does data hygiene get such a low profile in the B2B world compared to B2C. Nowhere, is the old adage of garbage in, garbage out truer than when applied to a marketing database. Data integrity is key to any successful direct marketing campaign, so why are so many businesses ignoring the fundamentals of getting their data into shape?

It’s true that there’s a huge number of data cleansing and hygiene solutions available in the market and finding the right option for a business can seem daunting. But there are a few basics to consider that can help guide a business to the most appropriate service.

What sort of business information does the database contain? The smaller the business, the quicker data tends to decay. If the database primarily contains information on small businesses that are likely to be non-limited or SoHo operations, then the data will be more volatile and the decay rate greater than limited corporates. In this case, it’s important to consider the directory sources a supplier will be using to match your data against and how their coverage of non-limited businesses compares. Thomson and Yell both have good coverage of small businesses.

Given that sound data should be the cornerstone of any DM campaign it’s also worth considering how a supplier can help you to upgrade your data. This could be through access to data healthchecks that can give you information on the number of duplicate records, goneaways, or can append telephone or key contact numbers to enrich data. For more sophisticated marketers, segmentation overlays and profiling techniques can take a marketing database to another dimension.

Nick Frazer, General Manager, Business Marketing, Experian Business Information

From Terry Hiles, Managing Director of Capscan:

For a B2B marketer, contact data is the lifeblood of the organisation’s operations. Data decay is a problem that causes unnecessary monetary and opportunity cost (from printing/mailing through to lost revenue due to a damaged brand image), so regular cleansing and suppression against relevant files is critical to ensure data quality.

Data cleansing uses processes such as the identification and removal of duplicate records (often caused by a multi-channel environment) and the correction or validation of incorrect or incomplete data. Suppressing a database identifies records that are no longer accurate or current so that the offending record can be removed or isolated from the file.

In order to identify the best solution for your organisation’s needs, firstly determine how often and in what volume you will need to cleanse or suppress your contact data. Also, consider whether you have both the necessary expertise and resources to manage the process in-house, as this will shortlist the options available to you.

Web-based, on-demand (pay-per-search) services provide those requiring a small-to-medium volume of ‘look-ups’ with a convenient low cost and risk option. Larger volumes benefit from implementing a desktop or enterprise solution (such as Data Quality Management), delivering quicker processing and significant cost savings long-term. Bureaux provide a valuable third option if your in-house expertise and resources are limited, and cleansing needs are infrequent. There will generally be a menu of different services and tariffs available from a bureau, so it is worth noting however that there are a number of different suppression files that can be sourced from different suppliers.

It is also important to review the cleansing or suppression files on offer through the software or service chosen, to ensure they are the best available. The Corporate Telephone and Mail Preference Services screen for subscribers who object to receiving telesales calls or unsolicited direct mail. For those who welcome such approaches, telephone number verification can be used to append telephone numbers to addresses. It is important to identify whether the solution can also enhance your contact data at the same time with external datasets such as Geocodes, lifestyle and business-to-business information. Such extra information can increase the validity and effectiveness of any targeting prior to a direct mail campaign.

In the main, contact data cleansing and suppression solutions are easy-to-use, but regardless of whether you go down the on-demand, enterprise implementation or bureau route, you should investigate the reputation of the supplier and the quality of the services and support can they provide, such as online and helpdesk support. This is an area where suppliers can vary greatly. However, as a final note, it is important to consider that whatever method an organisation chooses to use to cleanse and suppress its contact data, it is vital to instil basic processes that ensure the right data is accurately captured at the point of entry, thus reducing the resources needed during the cleansing process.

There is very little in the business environment that is more subject to change than information. Every organisation shares the same task of maintaining not only their customers’ names and addresses but, also the business information they hold against these records.

With data analytics and modeling very much at the forefront of the database marketing industry - and now more accessible to smaller organizations - the need for truly accurate business data is greater than ever. Without it reports will be inaccurate and analysis will be skewed.

There are a number of possible techniques which can be adopted. These include:

1. Outsourced customer data management

Innovations in software are improving business matching techniques thus making de-duplication more intelligent and accurate. This enables clients to amalgamate multiple internal systems and create a single customer view for improved retention activity and analysis. Updates and ongoing management of the client data is handled by data specialists to ensure accuracy and data compliance (e.g. maintaining Preference screening, opt-in/opt-outs, PAF validation).

2. Enhancement:

With a number of business universes available in the market place, organisations are now able to incorporate these into their outsourced solutions. By matching the customer data into a universe, multiple business variables become available for analysis and segmentation. As the business universe is updated, so the customer information is also updated. Online, front end access can be provided to the client for analysis and reporting.

3. Data Capture

Getting organisations to understand the importance of the data they collect is the first step to improving business data. A high proportion of data is collected at the point of contact, be it through a call centre, till point, internet etc. Creating a standard process for collecting this information such as specific name and address fields improves accuracy at input. Utilising the Postal Address File to verify addresses can also be implemented at this stage. Although at the top levels (where the analysis and resulting business decisions are made) there is perhaps already an appreciation of the need for accurate data, it is essential to instill the importance of data at the grass roots level, assess the internal processes and evaluate the whether data is being collected in a manner that benefits the business.

4. Suppressions

Unlike b2c suppression files, the jury is still out on suppressions for b2b data. Some organisations use them (BSF, BCF etc) during their mailing file preparation and others do not. It is very much dependent on pack costs as large b2b mailers often negotiate low production rates that mean the cost of suppression exceeds the pack/mailing cost. But with increasing pressure being levied by the government onto our industry, with waste strategies such as Project Ark, organizations need to consider their corporate social responsibility or our right to self regulate may be replaced by government regulation.

The alarming rate of decay suffered by B2B data seems to be a symptom of both the natural volatility of UK businesses (the smaller the business, the more the volatility...), and the lengthy journey from raw data compilation (via directory, trade body, public sector etc), to the List Owner’s database, and finally to us, the marketers.

A time lag of (say) 12-18 months from source to market, poses a serious problem when you need clean, accurate marketing data to work with. So from an Agency (and Data Planning) perspective, selecting the right B2B data source is every bit as crucial as great creative and strategic thinking to the success of our campaigns.

For inexperienced Data Planners, the task couldn’t be simpler: B2B data is a commodity, right? Most of the data is compiled from public domain directories and Companies House, isn’t it? Don’t all B2B list owners essentially hold the same data? And so on. For those of us who have been round the B2B block a few times, we know that whilst there is an element of truth in these statements, it’s the little differences that become important when selecting a B2B data source for data matching / enhancement / prospect acquisition.

When appointing third party suppliers for my B2B data requirements, I’m interested in the ones who have supplemented the raw, base data with their own research enhancements. They’ll have checked and cleaned the data to remove / update the worst of the time-related decay, and added some extra data of their own: namely additional contact names and job roles, head office versus branch level information, and number of pc’s etc.

Whilst this level of sophistication may seem derisory compared to the intricacies of B2C data manipulation, it’s a very useful differentiator when pondering over your supplier options.

Overall, B2B is far more difficult to maintain than standard consumer data, since business data can be presented in so many different ways.

Large organisations, in particular, can be a minefield. With a plethora of employees creating perpetual staffing and job title changes, not to mention numerous departments and office locations to keep track of, maintaining business data is often a challenging process. In comparison a smaller business might have fewer employees; however their address could be registered through their accountant, so far harder to keep track of.

In addition, names often pose a problem, with company initials versus full names e.g. BT and British Telecom. Or smaller businesses might sound more like an individual as opposed to a company so far more difficult to distinguish between.

However in order to stay on top of your business data issues, you’ll first need to consolidate all the information accurately to allow for any possible idiosyncrasies such as company initials versus full name. This is key since effectiveness is determined by how you process and consolidate the data, and not just what suppression files you use. The desired outcome is then to create a single view of a business individual using industry suppression and moving tools available to create accurate and up-to-date data in order to successfully engage businesses with relevant and targeted marketing messages.

Within the B2B arena the only way to keep your data clean and refreshed is simply to regularly verify it through a trusted supplier once a quarter. Leading Data Suppliers will update their data at regular intervals and at B2B Data Direct (a Blue Sheep company) we ensure that this is achieved every month without fail. Organisations should be aware that many companies profess to regularly clean, but in practice this does not materialise. Before choosing a data supplier, I recommend requesting a random sample of data, or whole files (not a pre-selected sample of the best quality data available from your supplier). Most companies will offer this service FOC to prove their worth.
Another aspect to consider is that within the industry, it is very easy for suppliers to clean data without any indication of what to override and what not to. Even though in general, data from the cleansing company is more accurate than that of a client, there is still 5% to 10% of client’s data which is up to date and should not be removed; however establishing which files these are is not always easy.
In addition it’s imperative to think about how your data is stored internally. Make sure a procedure is in place for everyone to store data in the same way, and make sure people don’t employ shortcuts for writing addresses and names etc. While this may seem simple it can in fact make a huge impact on the accuracy of your data.

Maintaining accurate information over time, such as the names and contact information for individuals and businesses, is certainly not easy, especially when you consider statistics like these: last year over 800,000 businesses changed addresses; over 150,000 new businesses opened their doors; 38,000 businesses changed their name, and over 16,000 businesses failed (based on D&B’s data and for the UK and Ireland, 2007).

Breaking it down further, this means that every 60 minutes about 461 businesses changed address, 87 new businesses opened their doors; 32 businesses changed their name, and 9 businesses failed.

If you are looking for a data provider to give you accurate, real time access to up to date business profiles, the process can be daunting. But do not despair; there are good suppliers and resources out there, and if you ask the right questions you shouldn’t find it too difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff. You would certainly want to know, for example, what checks and balances the vendor has in place to ensure that their data has been stringently processed.

There are also some ‘aggregator’-style toolkits that allow you to connect to virtual data warehouses that in turn contain information from a number of data providers. It’s worth talking to a few companies to find out what the best fit is for you – whether it’s for your marketing, credit control or for more strategic decision making.

Andrew Freeman, managing director at CRM Technologies said:

Owning and using poor quality data can ruin your marketing campaigns and can cost you in lost revenue, or wasted expenditure. Even without regular cleaning, and with general global population movement, most prospect databases will continue to deteriorate in accuracy at a rate of at least 6.5% per year.

There is no such thing as a 100% clean database, names can be misspelled or mail pieces can be sent to former residents, or to the wrong address. High quality data and the sophisticated statistical techniques for analysing this information are absolutely essential for successful customer programmes and processes. All information holds potential importance in customer relationships - historical purchase data, essential demographics, and lifestyle characteristics.

You must first try to understand exactly how far short of 100% accurate is your company’s database? Identifying a ‘percentage shortfall’ will also enable you to extrapolate some pretty alarming figures in terms of how this ‘quality gap’ translates into revenue loss or customer churn. The principal reason for trying to establish a figure for ‘customer loss’ is that data like this is the most likely to interest (or should that be ‘frighten’) senior management.

On that basis, management is far more likely to take the problem seriously than if you had just approached them with a statement like “we need to clean our database.” Indeed, many organisations find that they are losing millions as a result of the issue and ultimately, this kind of information will achieve the managerial support needed and ensure that they remain keen to resolve the situation.

On your own, the best you can hope for is to identify the ‘top 10%’, most critical entries on your database and treat them to a thorough wash & brush up – and then keep them that way by conducting regular audits of your own. At least you will then know that your key target or critical data is accurate – even if the same can’t be said for the rest of your database.

There are a number of classic database quality issues to watch out for and I have highlighted several key ones. Firstly, a customer’s own interpretation of their postal address may not conform to the Royal Mail’s PAF (postal address file) format, which details the correct presentation of every unique address within the UK.

Secondly, the lack of personal ‘identifiers’, such as Mr, Miss, etc, or middle-name initials can cause problems, as can incorrect insertion of address lines within name fields - and vice versa. Thirdly, business names can be wrongly inserted into consumer records - and vice versa and mismatches created from poor or incorrect list-merging techniques.

Many marketing databases have many fields that are only partially populated because one campaign captured that information and there was nowhere else to put it! Either put in the effort to maintain profile fields or remove them. Capturing “just in case” information should be avoided, it’s safer to defer to the minimum and collect only data that will be necessary to service your customer or aid in the marketing to potential customers.

There are steps you can put in place to ensure that you standardise on certain data collection and entry practices. The first is to standardise data input procedures. Standardisation applies reference data to entry fields and acts as a thesaurus of sorts. Validation processes can also apply business rules to check content.

Realistically, though the majority of businesses will not have the time or resources to audit and overhaul their databases on their own and many will outsource this activity to a specialist organisation. A full data audit from an independent data specialist is realistically the only way to ensure that you have all the data you need, together with an acceptable level of accuracy.

From Andrew Freeman, CRM Technologies

Traditional methods of maintaining an accurate B2C database are largely ineffectual when dealing with B2B data. A quite different approach is required. Generally, businesses make a mistake in relying solely on investing in expensive suppression services and turning to telemarketeers in advance of large direct mailings. With large mailing projects likely to occur only a handful of times each year, and data remaining static in between, clean up operations are inevitably lengthy and costly. This is particularly the case of larger corporations, from which large banks of information are stored, with relevant contacts, job roles and departmental information frequently subject to change.

Verifying business data at capture is of course an essential stage in the process, and utilising systems that verify key identity information such as address, telephone, mobile and email, will save time and funds later in the cycle. Capturing email data is increasingly vital in maintaining business relationships, yet a worryingly small proportion of B2B organisations are rigorous in doing so.

The key to maintaining a healthy B2B database is consistency. Marketing systems are available that road map relationships with each contact, allowing users to set up automatic triggers that will create a response to behaviour as it happens. In applying triggers and filters to everyday usage, marketers are automatically screening and cleaning email data as they work. By recording exactly which recipients respond to email marketing with clicks through to web links, live email addresses can be confirmed and recognised by the system. Bounceback emails can be stored in a ‘holding pen’ to be investigated; instant checks on format can be run to assess whether bouncebacks are the result of simple typos or other formatting errors. Such filtering and triggers can improve returns on mailings by over a third - but more significantly, they can also be used as a continuous data cleansing exercise to make sure B2B data is as accurate and up-to-date as it can possibly be.

In integrating verification and automated triggers into the targeting technologies they apply, businesses can significantly reduce their suppression costs, and boost response rates in one step.

The best way to approach this is to review your communications strategy and ensure its used 2 fold - for marketing, and for verification. This should be a large part of maintaining your database. The other responders have indicated there are data files that can be matched against to validate the details, identify ceased trading, change of addresses, new contacts, etc. The problem is that each of these sources will also suffer from your problem that business data decays quickly, so they will only go so far. Research needs to take place to identify how up-to-date these sources are, and whether or not they will add value. Your database bureau would be able to assist with this.

By combining the most appropriate data sources and regularly using your database with communication campaigns you will be well placed to retain a clean database.