Do you just rely on the same data list for your marketing campaigns? Well, it could be costing you. In fact, research from Experian indicates that 75% of businesses waste an average of 14% of revenue on bad quality data, which equates to £198m every year. That’s a lot of money down the drain.
What this means
Poor quality data will have a direct effect on email deliverability. Too many bounces from your ESP could land you on a blacklist, stopping your campaigns from reaching your clean, validated email addresses.
Even if your emails do hit the desired inbox, your outdated data may not have the right information attached to emails, such as first name, job title, company or sector, which means that you can’t personalise, segment or target your campaigns: you just have to send blanket emails. 66% of marketers are currently using data marketing to create personalised customer experiences, so don’t fall behind the trend just because you can’t rely on your data.
Decaying data
According to Biznology, B2B data decays at a rate of 70% per year, and another survey by Sirius Decisions found that 60% of companies had an overall data health scale of “unreliable”. And it’s not just email data that’s inaccurate. Sirius Decisions also found that 80% of companies have “risky” phone contact records, which is bad news for telemarketers, particularly as research rated follow up phone calls as the most effective follow-up marketing method, ahead of email follow up or invitation to an event.
What to do about it?
Instead of relying on risky records, businesses need to take a strategic approach to their data and flow leads through a funnel. Nurtured email leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales versus non-nurtured leads.
But how do you attract these prospects? Here’s how to generate your own, dependable data without having to rely on stale or inaccurate records.
CONTENT MARKETING
Marketers who blog are 13 times more likely to drive positive ROI than those who do not. By providing content on your site that speaks to your prospects’ needs and addresses industry trends, you can position yourself as a thought leader and attract prospects.
59% of buyers prefer to do research online instead of interacting with a sales rep because the rep pushes a sales agenda rather than helps solve a problem. By offering up this information in the form of a blog, report, whitepaper, infographic, or even a video, then prospects can make an informed decision as to whether your product or service will meet their needs.
Ensure that you have all your first-touch level of marketing directed to a landing page with a form that can capture accurate customer data so that you can then follow up. But beware of fake records that can further muddy your data pool; validate email addresses in your form or use auto fill buttons that allow people to log in using their LinkedIn profile to ensure you have their correct details.
Video is fast becoming one of the most influential marketing medias: 59% of company decision makers would rather watch a video than read an article or blog post. Additionally, embedding videos in landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80%. So if you’re not already using video as part of your lead generation strategy, get on board.
SOCIAL MEDIA
37% of buyers said they spend time using social media to research solutions compared to 20% in 2012. LinkedIn is especially influential in B2B with 80% of B2B leads generated through social media coming from the network.
And B2B prospects aren’t just using social media for content research, an IDC study found that 3 out of 4 B2B buyers rely on social media to engage with peers about buying decisions, as the platform provides instant access to a wealth of knowledge. This is when brand ambassadors and social influencers come into play; customers referred by other customers have a 37% higher retention rate. Consider using your current customers as advocates on social media to spread the good word about your product, or take it one step further and create a referral programme.
SEARCH MARKETING
Another valuable way to tap into new leads and grow your database is through PPC and SEO. Organic search drives 51% of all visitors to both B2B and B2C sites, while paid-search drives 10% (and social 5%, on average), according to Business2Community. 89% of customers begin their buying process with a search engine.
While organic SEO is important, pay per click links get an average conversion rate of 2.6%, compared to 1.9% for organic.
Do more with your data
Once you have a roster of reliable data, you can start to use this not only to send your campaigns out, but also to dictate how you create your campaigns. 49% of marketers are also using data-driven marketing to maximise effectiveness and efficiency of marketing and consequently develop their marketing plan.
You can also use ESP and CRM to manage your data and help you find patterns that you can use for personalisation and automation so that your campaigns gain more traction with the right audiences and user groups. According to a Pardot study with Harvard Business Review, 76% of companies who are advanced in their integration of technology, business goals and analytics, are more likely to enjoy a favourable market position.
Ensure that you refresh your customer data and don’t rely on old data lists when launching new campaigns, as tempting as it may be. Make your data work for you by using personalisation, segmentation and automation, and use the latest marketing techniques to attract new prospects and ensure you capture their data on a landing page to feed into your database.