Sean Shea, a philanthropist and CEO of ViB, a company that generates leads for B2B companies globally, highlights the issue of data decay in B2B marketing. Research shows that B2B contact data can decay by as much as 70.3% per year, impacting revenue and marketing efforts. Data decay refers to the degradation of business data over time, specifically contact data like email addresses and job titles in a CRM.
Data decay occurs due to the constant changes in businesses, such as employees changing positions, promotions, mergers, and reorganizations. A survey by Validity found that 44% of respondents reported annual revenue losses of over 10% due to CRM data decay. This can result in wasted resources on leads that don’t exist, leading to failed marketing campaigns, sales efforts, and ultimately revenue loss.
To combat data decay, businesses should implement strategies like regular data audits to identify outdated entries, use data validation tools to ensure accuracy, and embrace data appending to fill in missing information. Collaborating with B2B data providers can also help maintain high-quality, accurate data and empower decision-making. Encouraging clients and contacts to update their own information can also help in keeping data up-to-date.
Shea views data decay as an epidemic but believes proactive data management practices can help combat it and save potentially lost revenue. Keeping data clean and sharp is essential for effective B2B marketing strategies, and implementing proactive data management practices is crucial in making data decay a non-issue. Forbes Business Council is a growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders, addressing key issues like data decay in business marketing.
