What Is Data Enrichment and How Does It Work?

Manipulating massive amounts of raw data takes on greater significance as targeted technology develops new enrichment capabilities. Data enrichment incorporates new updates and information to existing databases as new relevant insights become available.

The accuracy of raw data is greatly enhanced through data enrichment policies, allowing corporate and government leaders to make better decisions. Inserting bits and pieces of missing information into a corporate customer database significantly improves the sales process.

Benefits of Data Enrichment

Several industries are now taking advantage of technology’s improved data retrieval, storage, and enrichment. Research has proven the importance of personalized customer experiences.

• According to Salesforce Research, 66% of consumers want the brands they shop at to offer individualized product suggestions and understand their unique needs and expectations better. Technological advancements allow retail and hospitality companies access to a whole new range of consumer data and how to use it to create a better customer experience. Organizations must learn to engage consumers in new and exciting ways in a thriving competitive market. 
• Customer relationships have changed dramatically; there is no longer a “one size fits all” standard. 52% of business consumers expect offers to be highly personalized to their company’s needs. Corporations must now leverage enriched data to determine what customers want and when they need it. Retail companies must focus on three main channels: 1) Omnichannel experience offers customers multiple channel experiences, 2) Immersive experiences to help conquer the divide between company and consumer 3) Hyper-Personalization is data enrichment to bring new customer experiences to life.
• 54% of customers now say they are looking at products in the store and buying them online (or vice versa). Brands are investing in omnichannel strategies to help match customer wants and needs. “Accurate enriched data is the key to creating targeted and personalized customer experiences.” With solid data enrichment strategies, the focus shifts from redundant enrichment to customer enrichment.

Three Industries Using Data Enrichment Effectively

Financial services have exploded in recent decades due to the rapid expansion of the secure internet. A customer’s financial history is vital to every firm offering mortgages, bank accounts, credit card services, and so much more. Enriching consumer data and filling in all the bits and pieces of account information gives a unique view of consumer needs and insight into their financial identity. A complete financial picture gives businesses confidence in making credit decisions regarding their consumers.

In the insurance industry, companies are responsible for predicting liabilities and pricing policies to mitigate risk and lessen financial fraud adequately. Data enrichment adds a layer of quality to an existing policyholder’s account, insured properties, and more. A complete picture of a policyholder’s city, town, or zip code improves profitability and gives the insurance company a competitive edge. Data enrichment solutions give companies precise information to make sound underwriting decisions.

Supply chain and inflation worries have given retailers plenty of problems to combat. Data enrichment gives the retail company a focused mindset on the customer experience and operational efficiency; Control what you can and leave the rest. Data enrichment allows retailers to stay consistent with consumer buying habits enabling them to improve their buying journey. Data enrichment is the perfect solution for any retailer looking to understand better who their customers are and what they care about. A retailer’s goal is building confidence in customer relationships and offering a positive shopping experience. 

Data Enrichment Best Practice

Every company is different in how they look at and implement data enrichment. Many of the factors include how they collect the data and the type. One of the primary questions each firm must ask is, “What are the strategic business goals achieved through data enrichment?” Here are a few best practices every company needs to consider.

• Data enrichment is not a one-and-done corporate occurrence. Company policy must include adding customer records and improving data to get a complete picture and better serve the customer. Data enrichment should be the responsibility of every member of the company. Data never stops flowing, and continual enrichment is crucial. 
• Create clear criteria for your data enrichment efforts. Define a goal of the enrichment policies and then create the criteria to reach the goal. For example, if there is a 90% goal for better data accuracy in a customer’s profile, the criteria may be improving the completeness in a customer’s record and having backups to authenticate the data.
• Prepare for growth and ensure data enrichment efforts can scale. Businesses make the fatal mistake of failure planning when they should plan to succeed. A well-thought-out data enrichment policy helps with a company’s success. Implement automation whenever possible and eliminate manual touchpoints with enrichment strategies. Reduce additional complexity that could introduce unexpected errors. 
• It is vital to develop repeatable processes. Companies must create a framework for inflows of data and analysis to be reliable and consistent. With a framework, more than one enrichment effort can be applied. For example, verifying customer profiles using third-party sources creates a process for automatically checking sites for specific data types and reapplying the function as necessary. 

Data Enrichment Tools

As technology has developed, so has the support for new thinking, software, and online strategies. Depending on the amount of data to enrich, there is a tool to get the company started. Here are a few well-researched solutions.

• HubSpot CRM has been helping companies and their customers for a long time. HubSpot is excellent for every type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution a company of any size can think of. Start with the Free service and then scale to other more complex solutions. 
• Vainu is a B2B solution for data enrichment services. Users can filter through millions of customer records or just a thousand; Vainu has the capabilities to make any size database easy to enrich. Vainu gives users easy access to their data and supports multiple platforms.

Every Customer Is Valuable

It is essential to realize the value of every customer profile and enrich the database from the ground up. Starting with several thousand profiles can take away from other company business, so having a strategy in place from the time you open the doors is essential.