B2B Data Erosion refers to the gradual degradation of the accuracy and quality of business-to-business (B2B) data over time. This phenomenon occurs as businesses change key elements such as addresses, contact information, and staff, rendering previously accurate data obsolete. It is a significant challenge in B2B environments due to the direct impact on marketing effectiveness and customer relationship management.
To effectively address data erosion, it’s important to understand its primary causes. Here are some of the most common factors contributing to this issue:
The consequences of B2B data erosion are far-reaching and can undermine various strategic initiatives. Key impacts include:
Combating data erosion requires proactive measures and the integration of robust data management practices:
While both B2B and B2C sectors face data management issues, their challenges are distinct due to the nature of their relationships and market dynamics. B2B data management often deals with more complex and multi-layered information pertaining to businesses, requiring a deeper level of detail and accuracy. B2C data, while vast, typically involves more straightforward consumer details and benefits from higher volume, quicker feedback loops, making it somewhat easier to manage and update.
Prioritizing the management of B2B data erosion offers significant advantages:
Marketing Operations (MOps) is the engine of a marketing team, managing the technology, processes, and people to run campaigns effectively.
Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.
Learn about brag book, including crafting your outstanding brag book, essential components of a brag book, & brag book vs. resume: unveiling the differences.
Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.
Closed Won is a CRM status for a sales deal that has been successfully concluded, resulting in a signed contract and a new customer.
A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.
Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.
A sales kickoff (SKO) is an annual event for a sales team to celebrate wins, align on goals, and get motivated for the upcoming year.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.
The Dark Funnel describes customer buying activities that are untrackable by companies, such as private chats and word-of-mouth referrals.
Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.
A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.
A headless CMS is a back-end content repository that delivers content via API to any front-end, decoupling the content from its presentation layer.
X-Sell, or cross-selling, is a sales strategy of selling additional, related products or services to an existing customer base.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.
Expansion revenue is the extra money a business makes from its current customers via upgrades, new products, or additional services.
Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.
Account-Based Sales (ABS) is a focused B2B strategy where sales and marketing teams treat high-value accounts as individual markets of one.
Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all of a company's relationships and interactions with its customers.
A Single Page Application (SPA) is a web app that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current page rather than loading new pages.
Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.
User interaction is any action a user takes within a digital interface, like clicking a button, scrolling a page, or filling out a form.
Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.
Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.
Lead routing is the automated process of distributing incoming leads to the right sales reps based on predefined criteria.
Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.
Account mapping is comparing your customer list with a partner's to find common prospects and unlock new sales opportunities.
Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.
Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.
Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.
A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.
A Salesforce Administrator is a certified professional who manages and customizes the Salesforce platform to meet a company's specific business needs.
End of Day (EOD) refers to the close of business hours. It's a common deadline for tasks and reports to be completed before the workday ends.
A lead list is a curated database of potential customers (leads) with contact information and other key data for sales and marketing outreach.
A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.
A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a sales specialist who finds and qualifies new leads, building a pipeline for the sales team.
Revenue intelligence is the process of collecting and analyzing customer data to provide insights that help sales teams make smarter decisions.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.
A canary release is a deployment strategy where new software is rolled out to a small user group first, minimizing risk before a full release.
Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.
Consultative selling is an approach where salespeople act as expert advisors, diagnosing customer needs to provide the most suitable solutions.
Closed Lost is a sales term for a deal that didn't go through. The prospect decided not to buy, or the sales team disqualified them.
“End of Quarter” (EOQ) refers to the final weeks of a business quarter when sales teams rush to meet quotas, often leading to a flurry of deals.
A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.
An Account Executive (AE) is a sales professional responsible for closing new business deals and managing existing client relationships to drive revenue.
Predictive lead generation uses data and AI to find prospects most likely to buy, helping teams focus their efforts on high-value leads.
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other and exchange information.
Marketo is a marketing automation platform used by B2B marketers to manage lead generation, nurturing, email marketing, and analytics.
Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.
Feature flags let you remotely control features in your app without new code. This enables safe testing, gradual rollouts, and quick rollbacks.
An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the perfect, hypothetical company that would get the most value from your product.
Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.
Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.
Learn about bounce rate, including understanding bounce rate implications, key factors affecting bounce rate, & reducing your bounce rate effectively.
White labeling is when a company puts its own branding on a product or service that was actually produced by a different company.
A consumer is an individual or entity that buys products or services for personal use, not for resale. They are the final user in a supply chain.
A knowledge base is a self-serve online library of information about a product, service, department, or topic.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a tool that centralizes customer data to help manage interactions and nurture relationships.
Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business's products or services.
Learn about B2B data, including sources and types of B2B data, leveraging B2B data for sales success, & ensuring the accuracy of B2B data.
Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.
A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.
Learn about B2B sales, including key strategies for B2B success, types of B2B sales models, & B2B vs. B2C sales: understanding the differences.
Webhooks are automated messages sent by an app when a specific event occurs. They push real-time data to another app's unique URL.
Learn about behavioral analytics, including implementing behavioral analytics successfully, & key metrics in behavioral analytics.
Learn about B2B data enrichment, including benefits of B2B data enrichment, implementing B2B data enrichment strategies, B2B data enrichment vs. data cleaning.
Sales intelligence is technology that gathers and analyzes data to help salespeople find and understand prospects and existing clients.
An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.
A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is a target company that has shown significant engagement, indicating it's ready for the sales team to pursue.
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.
Process Builder is a Salesforce automation tool that lets you create 'if/then' business processes with a user-friendly visual interface.
Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.
Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.
Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.
SFDC stands for Salesforce Dot Com, a popular cloud-based CRM platform that helps companies manage their customer interactions and data.
A sales call is a real-time conversation between a salesperson and a prospect, aiming to persuade them to purchase a product or service.
Generic keywords are broad search terms that lack specific details like brand or location. They attract a wide audience with less specific intent.
Event marketing is a strategy where brands engage directly with target audiences through live events like trade shows, conferences, or webinars.
Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.
Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.
Outbound lead generation means proactively reaching out to potential customers who haven't yet expressed interest to introduce them to your brand.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.
Triggers are predefined conditions that, when met, automatically launch a workflow or action, ensuring timely and relevant outreach.
Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.
Video selling uses personalized video messages to engage prospects, build rapport, and guide them through the sales funnel to close more deals.
A landing page is a standalone web page created for a marketing campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after clicking an ad or email link.
GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.
Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.
Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.
An email cadence is a scheduled sequence of emails sent to prospects over a specific period to nurture leads and drive engagement.
Intent data tracks a user's online behavior—like searches and site visits—to identify signals that they are ready to make a purchase.
Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.
Cold calling is a sales tactic where reps contact potential customers by phone who haven't previously expressed interest in their product or service.
Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the maximum revenue a company can earn by selling its product or service in a specific market.
Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.