What are the best data enrichment tools for marketers and are they effective in converting leads?

Published on 7th August,2023          Last Updated on 23rd January,2024

How Do Data Enrichment Tools Work?

Data enrichment tools function as digital gateways that streamline and enhance the quality of existing datasets. Leveraging a first-party database as the foundation, these tools initiate a process of gathering information from disparate sources.

When a data enrichment software encounters an email address, it initiates a comprehensive search across the expanse of online platforms and databases. It scours social media platforms, websites, and various other online spaces to gather supplementary information associated with that specific email. Finally, the original database is made more comprehensive and accurate.

Email enrichment tools represent a subset of these data enrichment tools, specialising in amplifying the depth of information related to email addresses.

The role of email enrichment tools and email list validation tools:

While data enrichment software performs several functions to keep your database clean, updated, and optimised for your marketing campaigns, email enrichment tools, or email list validation tools are very specifically built to check the authenticity of email addresses, and make sure emails can be delivered to every address on the list.

Email list validation tools conduct several checks to ensure that each email address is valid, active, and belongs to a real user. By removing invalid or inactive addresses, businesses can improve their deliverability rates and overall email marketing performance.

Most email enrichment tools use a combination of syntax verification, domain verification, and mailbox verification to validate the authenticity and deliverability of email addresses.

Here are some of the most common methods used by email list validation tools:

1. Syntax Validation:

This involves verifying that the email address follows the standard format, which includes a local part, “@” symbol, and domain.

2. Domain Validation:

The next step is to verify that the domain exists and is reachable. DNS (Domain Name System) queries can help with this validation.

3. Mailbox Verification:

This step involves connecting to the recipient’s SMTP server to validate if the mailbox exists.

4. Disposable Email Address Check:

This step involves identifying and rejecting disposable email addresses created for short-term use. There are API services available that can assist in detecting disposable domains.

5. Role Account Detection:

This step involves avoiding accepting role-based email addresses (e.g., support@example.com or admin@example.com) as they are often generic and not associated with individual users.

6. DNS Record Validation:

The email list validation tool checks if the domain has valid DNS records (MX, A, and CNAME). This ensures that the email server can receive emails.

7. Typos and Corrections:

This step involves implementing algorithms or third-party tools to correct common typos in email addresses. For example, “gmial.com” can be corrected to “gmail.com”.

Email list validation tools can make an email list more accurate and effective by removing invalid or inactive email addresses from the list. This increases the chances of reaching the inbox of your intended recipients, saves costs associated with sending emails to non-existent addresses, and improves your overall email marketing performance.

Data Cleaning Tools:

Data cleaning tools ensure the accuracy and reliability of data in a CRM database. The process involves identifying and removing stale email addresses and other contact details that are no longer valid or useful. Here is a general outline of the process:

1. Identify the data to be cleaned:

The first task of a data cleansing software is to identify stale email addresses, invalid phone numbers, and other contact details that are no longer useful.

2. Remove duplicates:

Duplicate data can cause confusion and lead to inaccurate results. Data cleansing software removes duplicate data from your database.

3. Verification of phone numbers and email addresses:

Many data cleansing tools also provide email validation services. Besides this phone numbers in your database also need to be verified by data researchers, and in many cases consent is also captured.

4. Remove stale data:

Stale data refers to data that is no longer useful or relevant. This includes email addresses and phone numbers that are no longer in use. Data cleaning software removes stale data from your database to ensure that it remains accurate and up-to-date.

5. Standardise data:

Standardising data involves ensuring that all data in the CRM database is formatted consistently. This includes formatting phone numbers, addresses, and other contact details in a consistent manner.

6. Update data:

Finally, it is important to update the CRM database with new data. This includes adding new email addresses, phone numbers, and other contact details as they become available.

In summary, data cleansing tools perform critical functions that ensure the accuracy and reliability of data in a CRM database. The process involves identifying and removing stale email addresses and other contact details, removing duplicates, verifying email addresses and phone numbers, removing stale data, standardising data, and updating the database with new data. By following these steps, organisations can ensure that their database remains accurate and up-to-date, which is essential for effective marketing and sales efforts.

Advantages of data cleaning tools:

A good starting point while evaluating the best data enrichment tools for your needs, is examining the pros and cons.

Holistic Insight Amplification

Data cleaning tools enable businesses to construct a comprehensive narrative from minimal initial data points. By tapping into these software, enterprises gain the ability to flesh out incomplete profiles, and build a complete picture. This facilitates informed decision-making and empowers efficient resource allocation within organisations.

Informed Decision-Making

The ultimate goal of data enrichment software revolves around leveraging enhanced intelligence to drive impactful decisions. These tools enable businesses to discern which leads need to be pursued and which contacts necessitate refinement or elimination within the CRM.

Real-Time Agility

The advent of API-driven functionalities within email enrichment tools ushers in a new era of real-time responsiveness. This real-time capacity empowers businesses to operate with agility, ensuring that decisions are anchored in the most current and relevant information available.

Disadvantages of data cleansing tools:

Database Quality Dependency

The efficacy of data cleansing tools is intricately entwined with the quality of the databases they draw from. Should the foundational data be inaccurate or outdated, the enriched insights are liable to be skewed or misleading.

Financial Investment

Integrating data enrichment tools into operational workflows invariably incurs additional expenses. Whether through outsourcing to external data enrichment software or investing in in-house development, it represents an added financial resource allocation.

Integration Challenges

Despite their ostensibly lightweight nature, seamlessly integrating email enrichment tools into existing business architectures can present challenges. Ensuring smooth compatibility and synergy with established systems demands planning and execution, safeguarding against disruptions or inefficiencies in the workflow.

How do I choose the right data enrichment tool for me?

When choosing the best data enrichment platform, you need to start by figuring out your specific needs. What data points do you need to manage your marketing campaigns and sales outreach, CEO phone numbers, technology-use, budget etc. Or are there any must-have features? Once you’ve answered these questions, start researching email enrichment tools and evaluating them against this checklist.

Below are some factors to consider when choosing the best email enrichment tool:

Data Availability and Accuracy:

Identify the crucial data points and geographic areas where information gaps exist. Choose a data enrichment platform renowned for offering high accuracy in these specific areas, ensuring the data aligns with your intended objectives.

Integrations:

Pick a tool that integrates with your CRM, marketing platforms, and other apps in your stack.

Compliance:

To avoid legal risk, make sure the company is sourcing its data ethically and in compliance with the GDPR.

Verification Methods:

Opt for a tool employing reliable verification methods involving human intervention, ensuring the database’s credibility and accuracy. Additionally, confirm the frequency of database updates to access the freshest and most relevant information available.

Response time:

For manual reviews, you may be happy to wait for the results of your search. But if you automate your queries, you will need a fast response time.

Databases:

Some data enrichment tools rely on stale databases. You need to ensure that yours regularly updates its databases to provide the freshest information.

Pricing

Delve into pricing structures to grasp any limitations or hidden costs associated with the tool. Certain data enrichment tools may offer free searches but restrict access to results behind paywalls, emphasising the importance of reviewing the terms and conditions beforehand.

Best Data Enrichment Tools

ZoomInfo

Overview

ZoomInfo is a leading provider of B2B contact and company information, offering a vast database for sales and marketing teams.

Key Features

Their platform provides comprehensive and accurate contact details, allowing businesses to access detailed company insights and target prospects effectively. ZoomInfo’s data enrichment tools offer real-time updates and verification of contact information, enabling sales teams to stay updated on lead changes.

Unique Selling Proposition

ZoomInfo’s extensive dataset, coupled with their focus on real-time updates, aids sales and marketing teams in targeting the right prospects and maintaining data accuracy for improved outreach strategies.

Clearbit

Overview

Clearbit is renowned for its suite of data enrichment solutions catering to diverse business needs. Their tools empower businesses by enriching customer data to foster personalised interactions and improve targeting strategies.

Key Features

Clearbit’s Enrichment tool leverages multiple data sources to enrich and complete customer profiles with accurate information. The Reveal tool helps identify website visitors, enabling businesses to personalise their website experiences. Their Prospector tool aids in finding and engaging potential leads by offering advanced search and filtering capabilities.

Unique Selling Proposition

Clearbit stands out due to its extensive data coverage and accuracy, providing rich insights that aid in refining marketing strategies, lead generation, and customer segmentation.

Leadspace

Overview

Leadspace leverages AI-driven data enrichment to offer comprehensive customer profiles and insights for enhanced targeting strategies.

Key Features

Their platform employs AI to enrich customer data, enabling businesses to create detailed customer profiles and segments for personalised targeting.
Offers data cleansing and enrichment services to refine existing databases and fill information gaps for more effective marketing campaigns.

Unique Selling Proposition

Leadspace’s AI-driven data enrichment assists in creating detailed customer personas and refining targeting strategies for improved customer engagement and conversion rates.

NeverBounce

Overview

NeverBounce specialises in email verification and list cleaning services, focusing on improving email deliverability rates by ensuring clean and accurate email lists.

Key Features

The platform offers real-time email verification to detect invalid, disposable, or risky emails.
NeverBounce’s API integration facilitates seamless integration into various systems for automated verification processes.
They provide list cleaning services to remove invalid emails and enhance the quality of email marketing campaigns.

Unique Selling Proposition

NeverBounce’s emphasis on email validation and list cleaning ensures higher deliverability rates for marketing campaigns, reducing bounce rates and enhancing sender reputation.

D&B Hoovers

Overview

D&B Hoovers offers comprehensive B2B data and analytics solutions, providing insights into companies and contacts for sales and marketing teams.

Key Features

Their platform offers a vast database of company and contact information along with business intelligence for informed decision-making.
Provides data enrichment tools to enhance existing datasets and streamline sales and marketing efforts.

Unique Selling Proposition

D&B Hoovers’ extensive B2B database and analytics solutions aid in targeted sales and marketing strategies by providing comprehensive business insights and enriched data.

UpLead

Overview

UpLead focuses on providing high-quality B2B leads and contact information to sales and marketing professionals.

Key Features

Offers a user-friendly platform for accessing verified B2B contacts and company information.
Provides data enrichment tools to maintain data accuracy and offer updated contact details.

Unique Selling Proposition

UpLead’s focus on user-friendly access to verified B2B contacts, coupled with data enrichment tools, ensures accuracy and relevance in lead generation and marketing efforts.

Datanyze

Datanyze is a great tool for anyone who wants to identify and connect with B2B prospects. It goes above and beyond by supplying you with actionable contact information, including email addresses, direct dial numbers, and mobile numbers, directly from LinkedIn profiles- all without ever leaving your browser.

Datanyze’s Google Chrome extension seamlessly integrates into your browsing experience, so you can find contacts right where you need them. This makes it incredibly convenient to access crucial contact information without disrupting your workflow.

But are Email Enrichment Tools your best option for Generating Leads?

The question on most marketing and sales teams minds, is that can data cleaning tools give you highly qualified and targeted leads for your email and advertising campaigns?

Most users of data enrichment tools complain about b2b data inaccuracies. 43% of sales and marketing teams say a lack of accurate data remains a challenge. It is an accepted fact that data accuracy rates are between 60% and 80%. This eventually leads to at least a 5% bounce rate on your email marketing campaigns. This insight has led many vendors to improvise how data is sourced.

The pursuit of highly qualified and targeted leads often prompts sales and marketing teams to explore the efficacy of software tools. However, when evaluating the suitability of data enrichment tools for campaigns, key factors such as accuracy and pricing take centre stage.

Reviews and user experiences often highlight two prevalent concerns with data enrichment tools: high costs and incomplete accuracy, leading to erroneous contact details like incorrect emails and phone numbers. Many tools, based on expansive databases housing millions of contacts, struggle to maintain real-time data refreshment, resulting in staleness and diminished accuracy.

Software tools are known to have a large amount of stale data, since they are also built on large databases and contain millions of contacts. All these contact details cannot be refreshed in real time. Only the popular industries and job titles are refreshed quarterly or monthly by automated software programs. This is why they are low on accuracy.

Despite the availability of different subscription plans offering varying search quotas, bulk features, and technical support, the pricing structure poses long-term concerns. The potential for inaccuracies in purchased leads may necessitate additional payments for refreshing stale data, leading to bounced emails, decreased engagement, and ultimately, higher marketing campaign costs.

One downside about the pricing is that in the long run, the pricing tends to be higher. In case the leads you paid for are inaccurate, you may go on to pay more for refreshing these stale leads. With inaccurate contact details in your email campaigns, you end up with lots of bounced emails, contacts unsubscribing to your lists, and overall low open rates. This way you end up incurring a greater cost on your marketing campaigns.

What are the common alternatives to data enrichment software available on the market?

The landscape of data accuracy within B2B spheres continues to grapple with challenges, prompting a search for innovative solutions beyond conventional data enrichment tools.

Enter custom data research providers, recognized interchangeably as custom list builders or bespoke data vendors. These specialised entities offer finely tailored email lists explicitly curated for individual campaign requisites. In stark contrast to conventional data cleaning tools reliant on vast databases, these providers prioritise precision through tools for data cleansing. By focusing on smaller, purpose-driven datasets, these providers effectively reduce the risk of outdated or irrelevant information, thus elevating accuracy and substantially mitigating email bounce rates.

The hallmark of these bespoke data vendors lies in their unwavering commitment to compliance with stringent data privacy standards like GDPR, CCPA, and others. Unlike the rigid structures associated with data cleansing tools, these custom list builders offer flexible pricing models, making high-quality, accurate data more accessible to businesses across diverse scales and needs.

As accuracy and consent are essential for a seamless email marketing campaign, the perfect alternative to data enrichment tools are custom data research providers. By incorporating these innovative approaches to data accuracy, businesses can navigate the challenges of precision and compliance more effectively.

How does custom data research resolve the problems with email enrichment tools and email list validation tools?

Since the main problem is data inaccuracy, we need to understand that a tool that runs on software automation will never be able to give you 100% accuracy. Secondly, building a database of contacts from niche industries and job roles, and updating them in real time is practically impossible. The solution lies in doing away with pre-built databases that rely solely on software automation. Today companies that function as data partners have found a way to circumvent the problem of outdated databases by using a combination of automated processes along with human research and validation.

You’ll have a team of data researchers working as partners on your marketing and sales campaigns. They build your contact list, and validate your existing database from the ground up.

This allows the research partner to give you a replacement contact immediately, and also charge only for successful contacts. There is no auto updation of your subscription plan, no credit system, and you are not stuck with 20% to 30% of stale data.

Data is never stored in databases that are accessible to hundreds of users. Each database is built or validated and enriched for every individual client. Email addresses and phone numbers are manually validated through phone research as well as email verification tools. Consent is obtained through single and double opt-ins. Data privacy is given highest priority, and so is GDPR and other data privacy compliances.

Conclusion:

B2B data enrichment tools offer undeniable benefits by providing deeper insights and enhancing prospect or lead databases. However, businesses must be aware of the potential challenges and pain points associated with these tools. Companies should carefully evaluate their data enrichment needs, and then choose between a tool or a custom data research partner. By navigating these challenges effectively, businesses can leverage the power of validated and enriched email lists to thrive in the competitive b2b landscape.

In the world of data enrichment, accuracy reigns supreme. Ascentrik Research goes beyond the ordinary data enrichment tools, offering custom and precise data enrichment services that outshine standard tools. Our commitment to customised solutions, paired with our human expertise, ensures refreshed and highly accurate B2B data.

Our custom approach ensures that your data never gets stale, empowering your marketing strategies with data precision. Opt for our customised data enrichment solutions that not only meet but exceed your expectations, propelling your business towards unprecedented growth.