by Jared KnappFounder – Jared’s Leads, Inc.
Your marketing efforts are only as good as the list that supports them. If the data is bad, the campaign is bad, no matter how creative the content or quality of the offer. Relying on bad data means paying for shipping, time on the phone, and ad spend trying to connect with consumers who moved two years ago, are using a new number, or never fit your target market in the first place.
Knowing the dangers of bad data is essential because the damage it causes is invisible until it’s too late. Bad data is a silent killer that is rarely blamed, even after campaigns fail. During a postmortem, everyone points the finger at the creation, the channel or the offering. The list is rarely questioned.
Worse yet, ignoring bad data can dilute the value of good data. Bad registrations slow down the entire campaign, leading to lower connection rates and lower deliverability. Cost per acquisition gradually increases as companies invest more in ill-founded campaigns, and no one can understand why.
I’ve seen businesses spend $50,000 on a direct mail piece and get a 0.2% response rate. They blamed copying and timing, but no one looked at the list. Ultimately, the list was the culprit. This is almost always the case.
Startups must be very demanding about the leads they use
As an insider, I can tell you that the data industry has a transparency problem. To avoid ending up with bad data, ask the company providing your listings lots of questions up front. Discuss how the list you will receive was obtained and when it was verified. Don’t let a list provider give you a file and disappear.
Knowing the decay rate, which shows how quickly data becomes obsolete, is also essential. Statistics show that up to 30% of a consumer list deteriorates within 12 months. People are moving. They change their number. Life happens.
If you or the company you rely on for leads is not actively maintaining the data used in your campaigns, you are not marketing to your audience. You’re marketing to who they were.
AI makes it easier to practice good data hygiene
The good news for today’s startups is that it’s easier than ever to get good data, thanks to artificial intelligence. Old school data hygiene This was a batch job that involved doing a check every few months and hoping that nothing became too outdated in between. Now AI can flag bad records in real time, cross-reference multiple sources, and assess the likelihood that a contact is still accurate and still in the market.
The best lead management platforms integrate AI, offering automated follow-up, lead nurturing, and engagement scoring. They make data hygiene an active process and not a one-time cleanup.
Extensive behavioral overlay This is an even bigger change that AI is enabling in the world of marketing. AI analytical capabilities allow you to assess, identify and leverage search intent, engagement history and life event triggers stacked on static demographics. Instead of just asking “Is this folder clean?” » you can now ask “Is this person ready to buy now?” This is a completely different question, one that was not possible to answer on a real scale just a few years ago.
Good Data Leads to Better Insights and ROI
The value you gain when you move from quantity to quality cannot be overstated. Bad data robs you of margin and predictability, leaving your sales team frustrated and ready to quit. Good data increases conversion rates, reduces cost per acquisition, and creates an environment where your salespeople talk to real prospects instead of chasing dead ends.
When you value the right data and are willing to invest in it, you eliminate the noise from your marketing campaigns and can do more with less. I’ve seen clients triple their response rate while reducing their list size by 40%.
Startups that demand good data also reduce their responsibilities. State data privacy laws are getting tougher and lawsuits stemming from privacy violations Telephone Consumer Protection Act are increasing. Using bad data puts you at higher risk of fines.
Startups need to keep in mind that marketing is the start of what you hope will be a long-term relationship with a potential customer. Good data makes it easier to make a good first impression.
If your data is accurate, you’re reaching the right person at the right time with something that really matters to them. It’s relevant. And relevance is what differentiates a campaign that converts from one that just creates noise.
Jared Knapp is the founder of Jared’s Leads, Inc.a 3x Inc. 5000 fastest growing company and a leading source of mailing lists, mailing lists, telemarketing lists and sales leads. Since founding the company in 2008, he has grown it from a home office to a nationally recognized marketing data and lead generation company, earning an A+ BBB rating and developing the AI Quantum Leads program that helps businesses double their leads with AI.
