Most of the companies don’t know how to ask for a list from a data vendor or a data provider company. They end up purchasing records with wrong titles, geography or sometimes the Industry itself is incorrect. The company then blames the data vendor or the data provider company, and the vendor accuses back the company.
Here we are listing the necessary steps you should follow while asking for a list:
Step #1 – Define your target markets
Please ask your data provider company or vendor for exact Industry, Geography, and Title and add more filters if you want to be quite precise with your target market, especially if you’re marketing your data driven solutions. You can add up Revenue size, Employee size or SIC Codes.
Here is an example of a target market shared by our customer:
Target Industry: Education (Schools, College, University, Teachers, K-12 education)
Target Geography: USA, Canada
Target Job Title: IT Director, IT Manager, IT Specialist, Campus Police, Director, IT Security
From the above example, it’s quite clear that working closely with his data driven solutions, the marketer knows his ideal buyer persona who will pay heed to their content.
This is how the ideal buyer persona looks!
Step #2 – Always ask for # of Companies and Contacts
Beware of data provider company or global data services company who will provide you with a high number of contacts with a handful of companies; it’s frustrating when you would pay $5000 for 40,000 connections and only 1000 companies on the list. They might include 100 – 400 contacts per company which are of no use for your marketing campaign. If you e-mail them, your server would be blacklisted. This is also true for many data append companies.
Ask your data provider company or vendor wisely to showcase no of companies and contacts they are promising to provide. 4-5 contacts per company are an ideal list to have with enough penetration per account.
Your data provider company or vendor should inform you with no of companies and contacts that they are going to provide for your target market. Not just for new email lists but also for their data enrichment services. If not, Please ASK!
Step #3 – Ask for a Sample list of 5-7 Contacts
Don’t be shy about asking a sample from your data provider company or vendor, if you need a list of them; they also need to sell their service to you. Don’t compromise on a random sample list from your data provider company or vendor; ask for a sample specific to your target market which you have requested.
This process will ensure the type of data fields you would be receiving at the time of delivery, the accuracy of data and completeness of the data. Confirm once again with your data provider company or vendor with the data fields which they promise should also be replicated on the real-time data file.
If your data provider company or vendor refrains from providing a sample, please refrain from purchasing and SAVE your marketing budget!
Invest with a data vendor who delivers on its promise, even when you are looking data appending services.
Step #4 – Never fall for $5- $10 per contact pricing unless they are digging up GOLD for you!
Yes, never fall for $5 – $10 per contact pricing, as there is no list made like that. The pricing should be nominal concerning data availability, volume, and accuracy.
Check the pricing and re-confirm with your data provider company or vendor.
Step #5 – Ask for Data Guarantee and Data Delivery Terms
Check the Data Guarantee Terms such as E-mail deliverability and Accuracy. If they promise over 80% e-mail deliverability, ask them what will happen if it’s not met – Replacements of Contacts or Refund?
Always ask for documented Proposal/Order/Contract before signing up with any data provider company or vendor, a signed order is a proof of your project details of what you have ordered and its terms, even when you use their data appending services.
Here is an example of Guarantee Terms:
Guarantee Terms:
Guarantee: Infotanks, Inc. provides 100% verified Contacts. Concerning the Data provided by Infotanks, Inc., ABC, Inc. will receive Contacts with 80%+ deliverability on email addresses, All inaccurate contacts, and hard bounced e-mails needs to be replaced by other data. This guarantee is valid for three months from the date of delivery of the data file as the data file changes at a documented rate of 3% to 4% every month.
License Terms: xyz, Inc. will have an unlimited usage license on the email addresses and all other information upon Infotanks, Inc. receipt of full payment of the Package cost set forth above.
There are no restrictions on the usage of email addresses, phone numbers or any other information provided by Infotanks, Inc. However, Infotanks, Inc. offers only verified email addresses, and multiple usages of these Emails are up to the discretion of the buyer.
Data Delivery: Infotanks, Inc. will deliver the data to ABC, Inc. within five business days from the date of signed proposal and on confirmation of complete payment of the Package cost set forth above.
Confidentiality: At Infotanks, Inc. the complete process of list building and data appending is done in-house. We do not use, disseminate, or in any way disclose any Confidential Information provided by ABC, Inc.to any person, firm or business, except to the extent necessary for email /data appending or internal evaluations with personnel or authorized representatives of ABC, Inc.
Read carefully and then place your signature on the document. If you have any queries, please ask your data provider company or vendor.
Step #6 – Data Delivery
Once data is delivered, check if the information is matching to your requested target market, if not, immediately call/e-mail your data provider company or vendor.
I hope these steps would help you to purchase an accurate e-mail list from your data provider company or vendor. Please comment below, if you have any questions.
Happy Purchasing!
