“Contact data erodes by up to 70.3% per year.”
gartner
Customer data changes frequently. People change jobs, move up the ladder, and contact details become obsolete. If your sales and marketing strategies rely on outdated information, you risk falling behind. This is why renewing, validating, and enriching your database regularly is essential.
Whether you’re in disease research, drug development, population health, or commercial industries, keeping your data current ensures you’re targeting the right people with the right message at the right time. Here, we’ll explore why data updates matter, their key benefits, and how tools like SciLeads make the process seamless.
Why Frequent Data Updates Matter
Your CRM users will hopefully be keeping their immediate prospects, accounts, and opportunities updated every day, but the wider database of contacts and accounts they may not be interacting with as often can rapidly get outdated. Here are some reasons to keep your data fresh.
1. Keep Up with Role Changes
People frequently move to new positions, take on different responsibilities, or join new organizations. Missing these changes can lead to lost opportunities.
According to Gartner, contact data decays at an alarming rate. Studies show that B2B contact data accuracy erodes by up to 70.3% per year. This means that nearly three-quarters of your contact data could be outdated within a year.
Why it matters:
- A known contact may now be a senior decision-maker or has moved on to another opportunity and may bring you along with them!
- Changes in leadership can bring fresh scrutiny or skepticism about the value of your product or service, and as such they deserve your time and attention to fully demonstrate your value.
The opportunity:
- Identify key decision-makers within your accounts.
- Use role changes as a reason to connect and build new relationships.
- Validate you have the correct buying committee included and influenced within your product and service life cycles.
2. Ensure Contact Information Is Accurate
The average company wastes $180,000 per year simply on direct mail that does not reach the intended recipient because of inaccurate data – Lemonly
Outdated contact information disrupts outreach and wastes valuable time. Invalid emails or incorrect phone numbers can stall your efforts and prevent progress.
Why it matters:
- Invalid contact details lower your delivery rates, impacting your email sender score, and can have a knock on effect on future deliverability for your email service provider.
- When Inside Sales and Sales Development Representatives are tasked with a call and email quota, bad data slows them down, resulting in fewer connections per rep.
- Missing contacts may delay sales processes, requiring you to begin the value selling process all over again with people introduced to your deal at a later stage.
The opportunity:
- Bulk data validation keeps your database clean and actionable.
- Fewer bounce-backs mean more effective and timely communication.
- Reassure you are in contact with the correct people for every deal, early on.
3. Find New Opportunities
Data enrichment is more than just correcting inaccuracies—it’s about discovering new potential. Enriched data provides insights that can uncover fresh engagement opportunities.
Why it matters:
- New hires and stakeholders bring fresh engagement opportunities.
- New investments and infrastructure changes create new and unique opportunities to get ahead of the pack and be front-of-mind when the client is ready to spend.
- Known activities about your prospects, such as the events they have attended, talks they have given, or content they have published, shows you have done your homework and can help you build better rapport, faster
- Evolving businesses may have new needs your solutions can address.
The opportunity:
- Discover new contacts within existing accounts.
- Find new reasons to connect with someone and build a positive buyer-seller relationship.
- Strategize about how to engage with a contact to capitalize on their recent activities and organizational changes.
Benefits of Implementing Routine Data Refreshes
Starting every month or quarter with a validated, fresh database is a sensible, routine task. It gives your team confidence and helps set positive momentum for prospecting. Here’s how:
- Eliminate outdated records: Identify dead, dormant, and bad data, and flag it for enrichment or deletion.
- Introduce segmentation: Create categories for Sales and Marketing to use when acquiring new contacts and to properly map out territories.
- Introduce automated enrichment: A one-off cleanse and enrich is critical but finding solutions to continually keep your database accurate is the ideal approach.
Leveraging Data Renewal Tools
There are many tools available to help streamline data renewal and enrichment. Platforms like ZoomInfo, Salesforce’s Data Cloud (previously Data.com), and Dun & Bradstreet provide valuable services for general business data validation and enrichment. These tools offer automated updates, access to accurate contact details, and insights into key decision-makers across industries.
For industries focused on scientific data acquisition and enrichment, SciLeads is the ideal solution.
SciLeads: The Ultimate Scientific Data Enrichment and Lead Generation Solution
SciLeads is purpose-built for organizations operating in scientific markets. Our platform provides unparalleled access to targeted, high-quality data to support your business development, marketing, and sales strategies across the life sciences. Here’s why SciLeads stands out:
- Extensive and Specialised Database: SciLeads curates a comprehensive dataset of scientists, researchers, and decision-makers, ensuring your outreach is precise and relevant.
- Real-Time Data Updates: The platform uses advanced automation to provide real-time updates on contact information and role changes, ensuring your database is always accurate.
- Powerful Search and Filtering: SciLeads’ search functionality allows you to segment and target contacts by research areas, funding, publications, and other key criteria, maximizing your campaign’s impact.
- Industry and BioPharma data: Specific organizational data, including acquisitions, investments, press releases, announcements, and more is included to complement scientific researcher data. Use SciLeads to identify target contacts in both Academia and Industry.
- Time-Saving Automation: With automated syncing to your CRM, SciLeads eliminates manual data entry, which is a welcome relief for any Sales or Marketing Operations team member.
Whether you’re targeting academic institutions, biotech firms, or pharmaceutical companies, SciLeads provides the insights and data you need to build strong relationships and drive results.
Start Today With Fresh Data
Regular data renewal, validation, and enrichment are critical for maintaining effective sales and marketing strategies. Ready to transform your database? Book a demo or request a 7-day free trial to see how SciLeads can help you accelerate your Sales and Marketing pipelines.