Have you ever tried to import contact lists to HubSpot, but noticed that some of your contacts’ data is missing? This issue is more common than you’d think, and incomplete or outdated data in CRM systems like HubSpot can impact your efforts. Luckily, data enrichment tools can help you address these challenges by filling in the gaps and ensuring that your contact details are up-to-date.
What is Data Enrichment?
Data enrichment is the process of updating the existing information in your CRM by supplementing it with additional data from external sources. This data could include missing details such as phone numbers, email addresses, job titles, or company information. Data enrichment can also involve verifying and updating outdated information to ensure that your database remains accurate and relevant.
When it comes to CRM systems like HubSpot, incomplete or inaccurate contact details can lead to ineffective marketing campaigns, missed sales opportunities, and a lack of insight into customer behavior. In that sense, data enrichment becomes necessary for creating more accurate customer profiles, which in turn allows for better targeting, personalization, and, ultimately, improved sales and marketing outcomes.
Benefits of Data Enrichment
Data enrichment offers several significant benefits for businesses, especially those using HubSpot as their CRM platform:
Accurate Customer Profiles
Enriched data helps in building detailed and accurate customer profiles. This allows you to understand your customers better and tailor their marketing and sales strategies accordingly.
Improved Targeting
With more accurate and complete data, you can segment their audience more effectively, resulting in more precise targeting of marketing campaigns and sales efforts.
Better Decision-Making
Enriched data gives businesses access to more comprehensive and reliable information, which can inform better decision-making across various functions, from marketing to sales to customer service.
Increased ROI
By improving the accuracy and completeness of your contact data, you can reduce wasteful spending on ineffective campaigns and increase the return on investment for your marketing and sales efforts.
Common Data Gaps in HubSpot
Noticing data gaps in your CRM system is extremely common, especially when importing data from different sources to a CRM like HubSpot, which might not recognize certain data fields. In HubSpot, some of the most common data issues include:
Incomplete Contact Details
One of the most frequent issues is incomplete contact information. This can include missing email addresses, phone numbers, or job titles. Incomplete contact details can make it difficult for sales and marketing teams to reach out to potential customers, resulting in lost opportunities.
Missing Company Names
A pervasive data gap arises with missing company names. For instance, on your contacts list, you may have figured out how to get the “company name” for all new contacts you’re adding to HubSpot. However, the “company name” might be missing from all of your past contacts that were imported, for instance, from Excel sheets. This contrast can create a significant challenge, as it prevents you from understanding the organizational context of these contacts, making it harder to tailor your communication and marketing efforts appropriately.
Outdated Information
Over time, contact information can become outdated as people change jobs, companies rebrand, or phone numbers are reassigned. Outdated information can lead to ineffective communication and missed opportunities.
Impact on Marketing and Sales
These data gaps can have a significant negative impact on your marketing and sales efforts. For example, if your contact data is incomplete or outdated, your email campaigns may not reach the right audience, or your sales team might waste time pursuing leads that are no longer relevant. Furthermore, inaccurate data can lead to poor customer segmentation, resulting in less effective marketing and sales strategies.
Automated Data Enrichment Solutions
There are multiple solutions available to address these data gaps, such as automated data enrichment tools. These tools can help you automatically update and supplement your existing data, ensuring that your contact details are always accurate and complete.
Popular Data Enrichment Tools
Clearbit
Clearbit is a data enrichment tool that can automatically populate your HubSpot CRM with additional contact and company information. It integrates well with HubSpot and can enrich your data with over 100 different attributes, including industry, company size, and social profiles.
ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is another popular data enrichment tool that provides access to an extensive database of B2B contact information. With ZoomInfo, you can enrich your HubSpot data with verified contact details, company information, and more. This can help you ensure that your sales and marketing teams have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips.
Apollo.io
Apollo.io offers a cost-effective data enrichment solution that integrates directly with HubSpot. It provides a wealth of contact and company data, including direct dials, email addresses, and technographic information. Apollo.io’s platform also includes advanced filtering options, allowing you to enrich your data with highly targeted information.
HubSpot’s Native Enrichment Features
HubSpot itself offers some data enrichment capabilities. For example, HubSpot Insights automatically enriches company records with public information, such as company size, industry, and location. This feature can be particularly useful for quickly populating your CRM with essential company details.
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Data Enrichment in HubSpot
Start by selecting the data enrichment tool that best fits your needs. Consider factors such as the type of data you need to enrich, the size of your database, and your budget. One of the most affordable and effective options on the market is Apollo.io, and the following section will explore how to use it to enrich your data.
1. Integrate Apollo.io with HubSpot
Integrating Apollo.io with HubSpot is a quite straightforward process:
- Log in to Apollo.io: Start by logging into your Apollo.io account, or sign up if you don’t have one.
- Navigate to Integrations: In Apollo.io, go to the integrations section, where you’ll find HubSpot listed.
- Connect to HubSpot: Select HubSpot, follow the prompts and authorize the connection. Log in to HubSpot as needed to grant Apollo.io access.
- Map Fields: Map Apollo.io’s data fields to the corresponding fields in HubSpot to ensure correct data placement.
- Test the Integration: After setting up the integration, test it by enriching a few contact records in HubSpot to confirm that everything works as expected.
2. Configure Apollo.io Enrichment Settings
Once integrated, configure Apollo.io to specify what data to enrich and how often:
- Select Data Fields: Choose which data fields to enrich in HubSpot, such as company names, direct dials, or job titles.
- Set Up Automatic Enrichment: Schedule regular updates (daily, weekly, etc.) to keep your HubSpot data current.
- Real-Time Enrichment: Use Apollo.io’s real-time enrichment to automatically update data as new contacts or existing records are added, ensuring your CRM data is always accurate and timely.
Data enrichment tools can effectively overcome the challenges of incomplete and outdated contact details in HubSpot or other CRM systems. Regularly updating and enriching your CRM client data will, in turn, lead to more effective marketing and sales efforts, better customer relationships, and ultimately, improved business outcomes.
