What is Multi-Provider Enrichment?
Multi-provider enrichment uses multiple data vendors simultaneously or sequentially to enrich records, maximizing coverage and accuracy by combining the strengths of different data sources.
Multi-provider enrichment is a data enrichment strategy that leverages multiple third-party data vendors to achieve higher match rates, greater accuracy, and more complete profiles than any single provider could deliver alone. Rather than relying on one vendor for all data needs, organizations that use multi-provider enrichment route their records through several sources and combine the best results.
The rationale for multi-provider enrichment is straightforward: every data provider has strengths and weaknesses. Some providers have excellent coverage for enterprise companies but limited data on SMBs. Others are strong in North America but weak internationally. Some excel at email and phone data but lack firmographic depth. By combining multiple providers, organizations can assemble a more complete picture than any single source offers.
There are two primary approaches to multi-provider enrichment. The parallel approach queries all providers simultaneously and merges results, selecting the best value for each field. This maximizes data completeness but is more expensive since every provider is queried for every record. The sequential (waterfall) approach queries providers one at a time in priority order, only moving to the next provider when the previous one fails. This is more cost-efficient but slightly slower for records that cascade through multiple providers.
Implementing multi-provider enrichment in-house is technically challenging. Each provider has its own API format, authentication method, rate limits, and data schema. Response formats differ, field names vary, and data quality is inconsistent. Building the integration layer, normalization logic, conflict resolution rules, and failover handling requires significant engineering investment and ongoing maintenance.
Cleanlist was built specifically to solve the multi-provider enrichment challenge. The platform integrates with over 10 data providers behind a single API, handling all the complexity of sequencing, normalization, and conflict resolution automatically. Teams configure their provider preferences and priorities, and Cleanlist orchestrates the entire enrichment process. The result is higher match rates and more complete profiles delivered through a simple interface, without the engineering burden of managing individual provider integrations. This approach typically delivers 30-50% higher match rates compared to single-provider enrichment while also optimizing cost by routing records through the most cost-effective providers first.
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See how Cleanlist handles multi-provider enrichment →Frequently Asked Questions
Why use multiple enrichment providers instead of one?
No single data provider has complete coverage across all companies, industries, and geographies. Each provider has unique strengths - one might excel at enterprise data while another has better SMB coverage. Using multiple providers typically increases match rates by 30-50% compared to a single provider. It also improves accuracy because data can be cross-referenced across sources.
Is multi-provider enrichment more expensive than using a single provider?
Not necessarily. While the total number of API calls may increase, a well-configured multi-provider setup with waterfall routing only queries additional providers when the first one fails - avoiding unnecessary costs. The higher match rates also mean less wasted spend on records that return empty. Cleanlist optimizes routing to prioritize cost-effective providers, often reducing per-record costs compared to premium single-provider plans.
How does multi-provider enrichment handle conflicting data?
When different providers return different values for the same field, conflict resolution logic determines which value to keep. Common strategies include using the most recently updated value, selecting from the provider with highest accuracy for that specific field type, or applying confidence scoring. Cleanlist handles conflict resolution automatically, applying provider-specific accuracy weights and recency signals to select the most reliable value for each field.
Related Terms
Waterfall Enrichment
Waterfall enrichment is a data enrichment strategy that routes each record through a sequence of data providers, moving to the next source only when the previous one fails to return a match.
Data Enrichment
Data enrichment is the process of enhancing existing data records with additional information from external sources, improving accuracy, completeness, and usefulness for sales and marketing teams.
Golden Record
A golden record is the single, most accurate and complete version of a data entity created by merging and deduplicating information from multiple sources.