Up to 75% of B2B buyers prefer a sales rep-free experience and 68% have recently made a significant purchase without traditional assistance, according to Gartner studies. Trends like this mean that B2B marketing and sales professionals need to pay more attention to the quality of their data.

Without good data, the digital experiences your brand delivers will fall flat, and your ability to reach and connect effectively with the right decision makers will become compromised. But keeping data correct, complete and current is not easy. The start of the pandemic resulted in layoffs and a high unemployment rate, followed by the Great Resignation, leading to unprecedented data decay. (In 2020 OMI purged over 6 million businesses and 13 million contacts -- 10% -- from our database to address this decay.)

And now we’re facing new challenges:

• Big businesses are doing big layoffs.

Time recently reported on an “avalanche of layoffs,” an overall 6% increase in job cuts recorded in the U.S. during 2022. Many are “technology giants” that experts say overestimated pandemic growth. Overall, more than 150,000 jobs were cut by technology firms last year, with an additional 75,000 employees being laid off so far this year. For example, Google recently had its largest layoffs yet, letting go of 6% of the company’s global personnel.

Here’s another point to consider: 96% of workers are job hunting, according to a Monster survey shared by Forbes. Additionally the survey noted that 40% of job seekers said they need a higher income due to inflation and the accompanying rise in costs. By choice or not, employees are changing jobs at a higher-than-normal rate, meaning the contacts you thought were key decision-makers may not even be employed right now.

• SMBs are hiring.

SMBs often change personnel and email addresses more frequently than larger organizations, making it harder to reach this contact group. And while economic conditions have challenged SMBs, the ones who have made it are looking to grow. SMBs that suffered from an inability to find the talent they need in recent years are now trying to hire employees impacted by layoffs at big companies. This presents many opportunities to reach new buyers -- if you have the right data.

The fact is, data quality needs to be a top concern for every organization. Whether you’re targeting large enterprise businesses that have recently laid off staff or going after SMBs, which may be hiring more now to replenish talent -- the contacts you have may not be as accurate as you think.

Data Cleansing: Review, Correct, Replace, Verify

Maintaining an accurate database through manual methods would be nearly impossible. Instead, many businesses have realized they need to turn to a data cleansing service provider to automatically purge invalid or out-of-date data without eliminating high-value prospect records or running the risk of manual typos.

The process of data cleansing involves removing, correcting and replacing inaccurate data. Data cleansing providers will often batch clean data using a staged cleaning process that checks the data against a number of known factors. Additionally, some providers, like OMI, automate and streamline the end-to-end process, eliminating tedious, error-prone manual steps. OMI also enhances and appends the data to strengthen the accuracy of the full record and the contacts associated with it.

Routine B2B database cleansing that aligns with industry best practices ensures that omnichannel campaigns reach the right decision makers. Like going to the dentist or changing the oil in your car, there’s a reason some things should be done routinely. That means, when it comes to your data, your work is never done—but the results make good data hygiene worth the effort.

Let us know if we can assist you. Reach out to our team today to learn more.

OMI’s high-quality B2B business contact data is used by Fortune 1000 firms and start-ups alike to drive modern digital marketing initiatives—from intent monitoring and ABM to email marketing and omnichannel campaigns utilizing display, social media, and more. Reach out to our team today for more information.