In regard to data hygiene, there are several catchphrases that are bandied about in the B2B data arena that can be slightly vague. Data cleansing is quite straightforward. However when you add data appending and data enriching, the precise descriptions and definitions of these phrases begin to get considerably fuzzy. So, how can we distinguish between data cleansing and data enriching?
What is meant by the term Data Cleansing?
Data cleansing refers to the process of identifying and (or) removing erroneous or corrupt records from a data set. Data cleansing will assist you to detect erroneous, extraneous, incomplete and high threat contacts in your database.
Data cleansing is concerned with the detection and identification of mistakes, threats and redundancies in your database in order to enrich/append your data and ultimately get the most current and complete information.
What does data enrichment (data enriching) mean?
The term data enrichment generally refers to the process of improving and refining raw data.
When it comes to marketing, the most critical asset is your audience. It is perhaps more important than the product you are selling. To market to your audience in the most optimal manner you need to have as much information about them as you can.
The completeness of your records will dictate your ability to truly deliver a personalized and relevant experience for your audience. The more relevant and personalized your communication gets, the higher your overall engagement rates will grow. Ideally, you want the following key contact points for each record: name, company, title, phone, email, postal, and cookie. Also, having demographic and firmographic elements enable for optimal personalization and persona creations. This includes demographics such as: age, income, presence of children, and lifestyle indicators; and firmographics such as: SIC, sales volume and company size.
If this information is not currently in your database you should contract a data company for these key appends.
What does the term data appending mean?
Data appending is one more widely used term that is closely associated with data enrichment. The two terms can substitute each other.
How does data cleansing differ from data appending?
Data cleansing is a process that involves determining if your contact records are valid and accurate. Contact appending/enriching, on the other hand, entails incorporating extra information to your current contacts in order to make your data more complete.
How does data cleansing differ from data enrichment?
Data cleansing involves determining if your contact data is valid/correct while contact enrichment (appending) entails adding extra information to your current contacts to make your data more complete.
How does data appending differ from data enriching?
Both terms refer to the process of updating current contacts using correct information and filling in additional demographic and firmographic data elements to make your database more complete.
In conclusion
Since you now know the difference between data cleansing and data enriching and can distinguish between the main data hygiene terms, you are now ready to begin the process of making your data more robust and engage in dynamic marketing.
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