• by Val Brickates Kennedy , April 18, 2014

As the saying goes, it's quality over quantity. Especially when it comes to databases.

An annual report by Waltham-based data-management firm NetProspex showed that 84% of the B2B marketing databases it surveyed were "barely functional" due to incomplete or erroneous data.

NetProspex said it analyzed 61 million B2B files for companies ranging in revenue from $1 million to $1 billion and hailing from a broad cross-section of industries, including business services, manufacturing and technology. The firm said 88% of the files were lacking basic information about the target company, such as what industry it operated in, annual revenue and number of employees. And 64% were missing a valid phone number.

NetProspex said it used four criteria in evaluating the files: information completeness, email deliverability, phone connectivity and record duplication. Files were ranked on a "health" scale of one to five, with one considered "risky."

The B2B marketers surveyed scored highest in the area record duplication, with an average of 4.2. NetProspex attributed the relatively high score to the increased adoption of marketing platforms with duplication functionality. 

It went downhill from there, however.

Marketing companies only scored a little above a 3 for accuracy of basic connectivity data like phone numbers and email addresses. Record completeness only averaged 2.7, with the big deficiencies seen in segmentation and demographic data.

It should be pointed out that NetProspex is in the "data cleansing" business, and that the survey certainly doesn't mean that everyone's database is filled with cobwebs. But some firms might want to consider doing some spring cleaning.