Customer database enrichment is a practice that aims to improve the quality and relevance of the data already in a company's database.
In practical terms, this may involve adding missing information, updating customer data, correcting errors or enriching the data with useful new information.
Enriching the customer database means that a company has better quality data that is easier to use. The more precise the information, the more a company will be able to obtain a more accurate and complete overview of each customer.
By enriching the data, a company saves a considerable amount of time when analysing the database: segmentation is easier and more accurate. It can then use this information to improve its means of communication, by creating targeted and personalised marketing campaigns, offering services personalised to customers' needs or optimising its strategy.
Data is the essential basis of customer insights: quality information, i.e. information that is accurate and reliable, is essential for prospecting and running a successful marketing campaign.
A high-quality customer database enables a company to enrich its customer profiles by collecting relevant information from different sources such as social media, the web, surveys and forms. To find out more about data collection methods, read this article.
Moreover, a high-quality customer database offers a significant competitive advantage in a constantly evolving market. With accurate and regularly updated data, a company is able to better understand its customers' preferences and behaviours. By building a relationship together, customer commitment and loyalty will be multiplied.
The quickest and easiest way to enrich your customer database is to use tools designed for data enrichment. Manual enrichment is possible, but time-consuming.
This method involves collecting information, in particular in social media as LinkedIn, for each customer profile, one by one. The advantage of this method, however, is that it is particularly accurate when it comes to creating a profile of the customer and their company.
To automate the enrichment of your customer database, you can use a specific tool. These tools essentially retrieve public data (particularly via the Internet), organise it, clean it and format it.
Discover our selection:
1. Clearbit: a real-time data enrichment and validation tool. It has advanced search capabilities. It can be integrated into many CRM software packages.
2. Dropcontact: a tool directly connected to your CRM to continually update the customer database.
3. UpLead: a tool that enables companies to collect website browsing data, but also to track browsing behaviour and thus segment leads according to their interest.
4. Snovio: a tool that collects data on a company's prospects and current customers. It is also possible to segment leads according to their characteristics.
5. Hunter.io: a tool that enables businesses and individuals alike to collect contact and identity information about a person or organisation.
It is important to note that many other tools exist to optimally enrich your customer database.
There is no single perfect enrichment tool for all companies. Each company needs to choose the right enrichment tool for its own needs and objectives.
That's why it's a good idea to take the time to compare the various advantages and disadvantages of each tool, so that you can choose the one that's right for you.
To avoid unnecessary expenditure on data enrichment, it is essential to prioritise the data that is really necessary (according to your needs and objectives) in order to improve the knowledge of your company's customers. It is the value, not the quantity, of the data that is crucial.
In order to optimally enrich a customer database, it is important to define the type of data that needs to be expanded and added to the database.
For example, for a BtoB company, it may be useful to enrich the data relating to the customer's turnover or industry. In this case, enriching the database enables more precise and targeted segmentation of its various customers to be carried out when analysing and processing it.
Data can be collected from either public or private sources. Private sources are reliable and comply with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) regulations. However, they are generally expensive.
Public sources, on the other hand, are free and also comply with GDPR regulations. Note that data enrichment tools generally draw their information from public sources.
However, the use of public sources is controlled by the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés): even if the information collected is public, the prospect must, for example, give his or her consent in order to make commercial approaches. Find out more about CNIL control in this article.
In conclusion, enriching a company's database is an important step in developing its company. Enriching a database makes it possible to obtain accurate information to make informed decisions.
This is why the database enrichment process needs to be structured. To do this, you need to determine your requirements: the type of information to be added to the database, the appropriate tool and the source of the data collected.
In short, data quality is more important than quantity! With an informed understanding of its customers, a company can ultimately roll out effective marketing campaigns, adapt its sales pitch when prospecting for leads, or improve its communications with its customers. Taken together, these actions create a virtuous circle between a company and its customers.