In the B2B sphere in particular, it is absolutely critical as marketers are dealing with a limited universe of high-value prospects. Using accurate and well profiled data can make or break a campaign and, ultimately, a business.
At The Telemarketing Company, we deliver high-quality data for use in demand-generation campaigns executed either by our unscripted outbound B2B teams, or passed back to our clients for use in other channels. The rate of growth of this part of our business is a sure sign that direct marketers' understanding is growing. A relatively small up-front investment in data usually has a huge impact on the return on investment for the overall project.
With so many providers in the marketplace, we also continue to hold, and to champion, the Direct Marketing Association's Business List Audit accreditation. This industry-wide guarantee of high quality gives reassurance to buyers, and over time it will drive up data performance across the board. As the UK's biggest outbound B2B telemarketing agency, we are more aware than most of the immediate difference that data quality makes to campaigns. For direct mail or email practitioners, it is often less obvious and marketers are sometimes just left facing mysteriously low response rates.
We will continue to play our part in ensuring that direct marketing, across all channels, delivers the best possible results for all of us.
METHODOLOGY: Direct Response conducted its research using our client reader database. We emailed more than 5,000 clients who had opted to receive emails from us. We asked them to visit a special online survey, which questioned them about their current spending priorities and intentions for the coming year. Respondents were asked to give proportionate estimates of their spending in areas such as data purchasing, data quality, list processing and customer retention. We then asked them if they had spent more this year than in previous years. All data was collected anonymously. Our response rate was below five per cent.