Address qualification in the B2B sector

Address qualification is the constant improvement of the quality of marketing-relevant addresses. Business partner data and customer data need to be regularly updated and, if possible, enriched with additional information. As a key success factor, high-quality addresses prevent wastage and high marketing costs. This is especially true in the B2B sector.

Address qualification for enhanced quality

Good addresses — good sales. Granted, this is a simplified meaning of the term ‘address qualification’. But it sums it up: The best acquisition misses its goal unless it reaches the right target. Address qualification consists of two essential elements:

1. Updating the addresses
2. Supplementing the addresses with additional data

This is a well-known problem: Business-relevant addresses deteriorate as time goes by. Personal and business-related data lose their relevance. They are incomplete and will eventually be incorrect. These losses may already show when searching for the correct way to address your business partner.

In the B2B sector in particular, these mistakes have serious consequences. Every contact is a potential, lucrative business relationship. A profitable contact starts with the contact person.

B2B: Know your partner

Knowledge regarding your contact person is especially valuable in business and business (B2B) relationships. The following information is vital:

• Who is responsible for what in a particular company?
• How should the person be addressed?
• What decisions can the person make?

The question is how to obtain this information. Qualification of B2B addresses can be a difficult task. One must also pay particular attention to data protection regulations. Not every promising approach is also legally sound.

Four methods have proven to be useful in making the address qualification process effective and successful.

1. Manual in-house address qualification
2. Directly addressing your business partners
3. Address purchase
4. Address validaton and qualification with the help of the crowd

Manual address qualification

Interns and part-time workers often have to perform address qualification by hand. A data check via Google search brings current changes to light and the existing database is updated accordingly.

The benefits are obvious. Checking the work is very simple. However, this in-house method of B2B address validation also has major disadvantages. The quality of the work relies on a few people. As a result, the risk of an unacceptable error rate with a corresponding need for correction is high. In addition, this task ties up valuable resources – the actual work areas of the employees suffer as a result.

Address qualification through direct addressing

The classic address qualification method is to address the customer directly. Here, the focus is usually on a marketing purpose. However, additional information often emerges with regard to the address. This can be, for example, a mail return, which is always a disappointment — but at least it provides valuable information: There is an error in the in-house database.

A response element is very useful in online business. It can be used, for example, in e-mails to receive notices about possible changes and updates or additional information.  The address qualification method has positive and negative aspects:

• Positive: The information obtained is comparatively reliable — because it is first-hand.
• Negative: This method is very time-consuming and involves a lot of work. In addition, success largely depends on whether the contact person is willing to respond.

Addressing people directly is preferable for small and medium-sized companies with a manageable customer and business partner base. However, if the address database becomes larger, this method ties up a lot of resources. 

Buying addresses

Addresses that are up-to-date and packed with information are valuable. Many companies have recognized that selling addresses is a lucrative business model. One can distinguish between two basic models:

• The one-time purchase of a data package
• Address qualification by subscription

Of course, the quality of the data always depends on the reliability of the provider.  Purchasing a complete package carries the risk that the data will quickly become outdated and require a new investment within a short period of time. Subscription address qualification are better in terms of relevance. But here, the cost factor is more evident.

Address qualification with the crowd

Providers of microjobs, that are completed by numerous individual crowdworkers, offer flexible options for address qualification in the B2B sector. Companies can choose to have thousands of data checked within a very short time — and to have additional information researched on request.

Via clickworker you can have address validations and address enrichments carried out quickly and easily in large quantities.

The advantages of this modern procedure are the speed of the work and the quality of the results. The reliability of each qualification is guaranteed by the graded verification process of each microjob. Other advantages are:

• The manual qualification of each individual address
• The scalability of the individual projects
• The addresses can be checked, updated and extended with important information as required

Using a corresponding API (programming interface), you can integrate the data obtained into in-house databases quickly and reliably.

Summary

Companies cannot afford to do without address qualification in the B2B sector. With more business partners to address, a solid, effective, and cost-effective solution for keeping addresses up to date is all the more necessary. Address qualification pays off — if the right method is chosen.

Clickworker