Making a case for Your Historical Data

Hey everyone, it's been a long winter but I'm back and ready to tell you about my most recent podcast episode! Ed Locher of HG Insights joined me on The Corporate Data Show last month where we talked about the unexpected value of Historical Data.

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING

When we hear "historical data", we tend to think, "not for marketing", and that's not necessarily wrong. You wouldn't run a campaign with it, you'll likely have a high bounce rate with a lot of complaints, and you run the risk of contacting people that have already unsubscribed. 

SO WHAT CAN YOUR OLD DATA DO FOR YOU?

What you can do with historical data is use it to make your marketing better with cleaner contact lists. Tracking data changes over time has a lot of benefits if you look at the right data and keep a well-organized CRM. 

From a timestamp perspective, your historical data can help you understand what worked and didn't in past interactions. 

SOME HISTORICAL DATA POINTS TO TRACK

The type of descriptors used in job postings can indicate how big a company is based on the positions available for hire.

What type of tracking technologies are being used?

A business transitioning from a homegrown CRM to a bigger product like HubSpot or SalesForce means they have grown enough to scale to automation, and may now be a worthwhile lead. 

Buyer types can show change over time if they are clearly defined, and your documented interactions with those buyers can indicate why different approaches may have won or lost accounts in the past.

DON'T BE LAZY WITH YOUR LIST DEVELOPMENT!

To make good data, you have to make bad data. And then you have to clear out that bad data.

I define "bad" as an email address that is undeliverable or a website domain that doesn't align with what the business claims to be. 

People tend to purchase lists without thinking about their buyers, and have a hard time building accounts as a result. To be blunt, if you don't know the customer's "pain", aka need, you probably shouldn't be reaching out. Just because an email delivers doesn't mean it's a good fit for your campaign.

Bad customers and leads don't help you in the long-run. I'm a firm believer that you can't fill your contacts until you have accounts. Once the account is established, the contacts will follow. 

Ed and I both agree that a well organized contact list means more useful data in the future. More very rarely means better. Laziness in list development won't do anything to help your business. As Ed says, "if not maintained appropriately, historical can mean dysfunctional".

Well-maintained historical data is what helps maintain good current records and data. So get out there, take advantage of the tools that you have to keep your lists organized, and make the most of that old data.

In the meantime, be sure to check back in for more tips to help you do your best work, and hit us up with any and all of your data needs!