A Guide to B2B Data Enrichment [+ The Best Tools to Use]

Wouldn’t it be nice if your sales team could look into a crystal ball? They could stare at it and see relevant and accurate data about target prospects. 🔮

This might seem like an out-of-this-world concept. But it’s possible thanks to B2B data enrichment.

Enrichment is the process of populating existing data with additional information. It can also be called data appending. There are manual ways of doing this, plus plenty of great tools on the market that do it automatically.

We break all the key points down in our guide below. 👇

Sources of B2B data

If your sales team wants to speak to more prospects, good quality B2B data is crucial. 

But where does this type of data come from? It’ll be one of these three sources:

1. Inbound leads 
2. Sales sourced
3. Data providers 

Here’s an explanation of each.

1. Inbound leads

B2B data often comes as inbound leads. This could be when potential customers share information on your landing pages and other website contact forms.

This data can be valuable because it’s directly from the lead. But it’s important to consider the intent behind the action. 

Requesting a demo is a far higher-intent activity than downloading an e-book (if your marketing team is still hung up on lead gen 😉). 

2. Sales sourced

Your sales development team can also go on the hunt for their data. Particularly if cold outreach is a common route for you.

They’ll research companies and prospects they want to turn into opportunities. Remember, Chet Holme’s buyer’s pyramid says 30% of your ideal customer profile (ICP) are “not thinking about buying”... yet. 

This data type used to take time, effort, and often a lot of spreadsheets. But now, there are some great B2B contact data tools on the market (Ahem).

💡 Top tip: How to Get Phone Numbers From LinkedIn [Step-By-Step]

3. Data providers

You can also get contact info through B2B data providers.

This could look like lists based on your ICP. Unfortunately, these can still come in spreadsheet form. 

It could also be enrichment through a third party. Maybe you’re using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and have decided to upload your lead list to a bulk phone finder.

This can also be entire platforms. Whether it’s automatically retrieving contact data by web scraping or providing intent insights.

Why do you need enrichment processes?

Data cleansing is part of the enrichment process. This fixes incorrect, incomplete, or duplicate data. 

Old email addresses, duplicate contacts, and misspelled names will slow down your outbound sales team. 

Here are some key indications your data isn’t healthy:

• Low connection rates - Reps struggle to get through to prospects on the phone. Even to leave a voicemail message.
• The data is on do not call (DNC) lists - Compliance with laws and regulations is key. If your data isn’t updated regularly, it’s likely to be in breach of GDPR.
• High email address bounce rates - Sales emails fall on deaf ears and bounce back. This is a sign that the emails are just plain incorrect.
• Email auto-replies - Nothing more frustrating than getting an auto-reply that they’ve left the company forever.

There are no two ways; keeping data clean is a priority. 💯

Especially in this environment, where daily prospecting is required. As Morgan J Ingram, Content Creator at Cognism explains here. 🎬

But enrichment also provides benefits like:

Sending targeted outreach

Everyone knows the "pray and spray" approach doesn't work anymore. Your salespeople need to make their outreach specific to stand out. Which is where data enrichment comes into play. Helping you create targeted outreach towards each group.

Having a higher success rate

Accurate data means your outbound team can focus on speaking to the right people. And hit the numbers they need to do this. More conversations mean higher conversion rates.

Richer customer profiles

How successful you are in your sales efforts depends on data quality. To make sure all communication is unique, you need to show that you know about your prospects. The correct quantitative and qualitative data allows you to create personas that are useful when going through your pitch. The richer the profile, the better the interaction.

A speedier sales funnel

It can sometimes take months to move a prospect through the sales funnel to convert to a lead. But with data enrichment, sales reps can forget leads that don’t fit their ICP and focus on the ones that do.

Maintain data compliance

Data protection laws, including GDPR, restrict the type of data a company can store and for how long. The data enrichment process comes in handy here. Because it helps teams keep up with these laws as prospects unsubscribe or add themselves to do-not-call lists.

Data enrichment tools

The data cleansing process can be done manually. But let’s face it, this is so time-consuming, and it’s easy for small details to fall through the cracks. 

This is where data enrichment tools come in. 🤩

These tools use two types of B2B data:

1. Public. Anything that is freely available in the public domain. Includes websites, social media, and news articles.
2. Private. Data sources that are secured from public view. They can only be accessed with a subscription, permission, or payment. Includes paywall websites, financial and market intelligence, and Data as a Service (DaaS) providers.
   
   

Here are some essential considerations if you’re looking for a solution to implement:

• GDPR and CCPA alignment - Your business needs to align with data laws. So it makes sense to look for tools that already do this.
• Integrations - You’ll want to sync up with any of your other sales apps. Make sure your enrichment tool can send the updated data to other systems, like your CRM.
• Customizable alerts - Important tasks and next actions must be tracked. Data enrichment platforms with this capability help you with your cadence.
• Filtering and list building - Too much data at once can feel overwhelming. A good tool will have advanced filters and lists so reps can see clearly and group their prospects.
• Types of data available - You need to know whether it is just the contact data you need. There are lots of tools out there. And some of them go a step further to provide buying insights like intent data, so you know when someone is more likely to close as a customer.

Sounds like something you need in your life? Check out these. 👇

Kaspr 

A data enrichment tool that should 100% be on your radar. 

There’s a seamless LinkedIn Extension and dashboard. This means you can automatically enrich B2B data straight away in the widget or later on in a workflow.

You can also:

• Build LinkedIn outreach sequences.
• Organize your leads with lists.
• Integrate with your sales apps.
• Create tasks and notes 
• Send emails straight from the platform via Gmail.

Psst: Did you know that you can also try Kaspr for free?

Cognism

Another great data enrichment tool is Cognism, which boasts 98% mobile phone number accuracy. 

There’s also:

• Technographic data.
• Sales event triggers.
• Intent data.
• Lots of options for integrating with other tools.

One element that makes Cognism unique is its Diamond Data®. This uses AI and human verification to provide verified emails and validated mobiles.

💡 Compare both: Kaspr vs. Cognism: 2023 Mega Showdown (B2B Prospecting)

Lusha

Lusha is another platform on the market. Thanks to its 7 Trust-Filters™, businesses can get full access to unique and high-quality data on decision-makers.

There’s also:

• Salesforce data enrichment.
• List building capabilities.
• Profile insights based on past searches.

💡 See how Kaspr compares: Kaspr vs. Lusha [2023]

Start automating your enrichment today

Accurate data doesn’t grow on trees. 🌲

But with the right tools, your sales team can find it easily. If you want to arm your reps with the best chance for success, consider trying Kaspr for free.

Join the 40K+ Kaspr users:

✅ No credit card required to sign up. 
✅ GDPR and CCPA aligned.
✅ 120m+ email addresses.
✅ 90m+ phone numbers.
✅ All-in-one prospecting tool.

✅ Fully self-service. 
✅ Customizable plans.