Most B2B companies focus on creating products and services that meet customer needs. But to sell these offerings, businesses need detailed customer information. Marketing teams are usually in charge of collecting this data, often through things like event sign-ups and website forms. However, these sources do not always provide enough information. This is where data enrichment services from https://go.enformion.com come in.

These services can provide a wide range of data, such as job titles, departments, locations, levels of seniority, email addresses, phone numbers, target companies, financial records, sales numbers, customer insights, market research, and much more.

While all of that sounds helpful, how do you know if your business actually needs data enrichment? And how do you choose the right provider? This guide will help you answer those questions.

Signs You Might Need Data Enrichment

“We often hear companies say, ‘Our marketing efforts are all at the top of the funnel,’” said Sneh Kakileti, VP of Product Management at data provider ZoomInfo. “‘Our campaigns aren’t working well. We’re spending more than we should, and not getting the results we want.’”

Here are some signs that data enrichment might be useful for your business:

• Inaccurate or incomplete customer data: If your customer records are missing key details or contain errors, enrichment can help fill the gaps and improve accuracy.

• Trouble with personalization: If you find it hard to customize your messages to customers, enrichment can add helpful details to each profile.

• Low customer retention: If customers are not sticking around, it may be because you don’t understand their preferences well enough to tailor your retention efforts.

• Poor targeting: If your sales or marketing campaigns are not hitting the right audience, better data can help you identify customer habits and traits more clearly.

• Missed chances to upsell: Without a full picture of customer behavior, you might not be seeing opportunities to offer more relevant products or services.

• Unlinked data sources: If you’re using different systems that don’t connect, your customer records might be incomplete or inconsistent. Enrichment can help bring everything together.

• Compliance issues: Keeping data accurate can also help you follow privacy laws like the GDPR. Enrichment can play a role in meeting those requirements.

Does Your Marketing Team Have the Data It Needs?

Start by reviewing your specific use cases. What kind of data are you missing? Check your current records for errors, duplicates, or missing fields. Then, list the exact types of information you need to improve your efforts. Look for vendors who have a good track record with data accuracy and coverage in your industry or market.

It’s a good idea to test out a few providers. Request demos or trial periods to see how accurate and useful their data really is.

Is the Data Easy to Use?

Once you get the data, you need to be sure it works well with your existing systems. Try to integrate a sample set from the vendor to check if it fits smoothly.

If there are problems, double-check that they are not coming from your own system.

“Some larger marketing platforms use ‘fixed schemas’ that force companies to follow a certain data format,” said Ted Sfikas, Field CTO at Amplitude. “This can lead to extra work just to get the system to accept the data you’re trying to enrich.”

For example, a customer data platform (CDP) with a fixed schema might require you to buy their tools just to collect data their way. That limits your ability to pick the best tool for your needs. On the other hand, platforms like Snowflake, Databricks, Azure, and AWS tend to allow more flexibility because they don’t lock in a specific format.

Does the Solution Include Identity Management?

Identity management makes sure that the right data goes to the right customer profile by cleaning up duplicates and matching records. This helps keep your data accurate and complete.

“Companies like Snowflake, Databricks, and AWS are strong in this area,” said Sfikas. “AWS offers a product called Entity Resolution that can match different datasets based on a wide range of details. Snowflake and Databricks have similar tools that are widely used.”

Make sure the data enrichment provider you choose offers this kind of identity management. Without it, you can’t get a clear view of your customers, and your enrichment efforts may not work as expected.

Be Aware of Data Security Concerns

One big risk is failing to check the security measures used by the data vendor. Sharing your business’s information with a third-party provider can be dangerous if they don’t have strong protections in place to prevent data breaches.

Some tools require you to give them a copy of your data so they can work with it more quickly. While that can make things more efficient, it also has drawbacks.

Sfikas warns against this approach in certain cases:

• You could pay twice: “Why should I pay again for data I already have in my warehouse?”

• Security risk increases: “If that same data is stored in five places, then you have five possible points of failure.”

• It slows you down: “If all your data is in one place—your warehouse—then your processes are faster and more efficient.”

Data Enrichment Is an Ongoing Process

Enriching your data is not something you do just once. You need a long-term plan for keeping your data accurate and up to date.

“The most successful businesses treat data quality as an ongoing priority,” said Kakileti. “It’s not a short-term task. It’s a cultural shift. You need people, tools, and processes in place to keep your data clean, private, and useful over time.”

If you don’t take this approach, you’ll likely end up facing the same problems again in the future—and need to go through the entire process all over again.