4 Red Flags to Watch Out For When Purchasing Contact Database

In the modern era, a lot depends on the type of lead generated for both the marketing and sales teams - If both teams are able to find quality leads in large numbers then they can combine their approach to nurture the lead through the sales funnel and this will surely fuel the growth of the company. This is one of the main reasons why most of the companies are combining their inbound and outbound strategies. And for doing so, companies are taking help from data providers and a lot is dependent upon them. 

With the help of a reputed data provider, companies can get rid of the guesswork and make their efforts work by reaching to the right contact instead of wasting time on those who are not even interested in doing business with you. But this doesn’t mean that all the data provider companies using a ZoomInfo alternative are good.

In order to trim out the outdated and useless contact database that can turn out to be noxious for your efforts, you need to know the red flags while buying such data and this is what we are going to address through this blog post.

The subpar free trial result

The free trial is the one thing that you shouldn’t miss before purchasing a contact database from a company using a ZoomInfo alternative. During the free trial period, you can have a vendor vs vendor showdown in order to find out which type of platform offers you a quality contact database. This is why working with only those data providers that offer a free trial to their platform becomes crucial.

From the usability point of view, the platform offered by the data provider company using a ZoomInfo alternative should be intuitive and it should be easy to use as well. And from a functionality point of view, it should have some basic filters like demographics and firmographics.

Data decay

Data decay is the loss of data quality within a system with time and if you think it is only limited to books, then you should know that it is a real thing, especially for B2B companies. For this reason, the user should be provided with filters like ‘last updated date’. Such a type of filter will help the user to remove all those contacts that have not been updated within a specific time period.

While comparing different vendors using a ZoomInfo alternative, make sure to filter all those contacts that have not been updated within the past 10 months. Such type of approach will help you in spotting data decay and you will be able to stay away from the outdated and useless contact databases.

Unable to provide a sample of contacts

So after zeroing down the available options of data providers using best ZoomInfo alternatives, you have come down to a pool of some of the best data providers in the market. The next step will be to make a detailed list of contacts matching with the persona of the buyer.

You can either make the delivery of the data provider using best ZoomInfo alternatives to team up with your sales and marketing department and then come up with predetermined criteria or you can allow the delivery team to analyze your existing database so that buyer’s persona can be easily defined.

Either way, the vendor will then provide a sample file of contacts for your firm. And if he is unable to do so, then it is surely a red flag.

No sample for testing

You should know that there are many engagements that include thousands of contacts. And this is the goldmine offered by the data providers using companies like ZoomInfo but if a data provider firm using companies like ZoomInfo is hesitating in providing samples for testing then be sure that there is something fishy going on.

Proper testing before purchasing the whole contact database and before making the final payment is crucial and if you will not do so then you will be shooting in the dark. You should always let your marketing experts test email campaigns. And all that you will need to test this section of the red flag while purchasing a contact database is a sample from the data provider firm using companies like ZoomInfo.

There is nothing technical covered in this blog post as knowing that you are purchasing quality, cleaned, and verified database is all about these above-mentioned 4 red flags. Companies out there are ready to make you succumb to outdated and poor contact databases through hard to believe offers but your search for a pristine and quality contact database should always end with a genuine, reputed, and world-class data provider.

Look for the above-mentioned red-flags while zeroing down the available options and fuel the growth of your business with the help of the right contact database.