What Is Data Enrichment?
Data enrichment is the process of enhancing existing database records with verified, current information from external sources. For B2B teams, this means appending work emails, phone numbers, job titles, company firmographics, and technographic data to contact records that are incomplete or outdated. The goal is to make every record in your CRM accurate, complete, and actionable for sales and marketing outreach.
What are the types of B2B data enrichment?
There are three core types. Contact enrichment adds person-level data: work email, direct phone, job title, seniority, and LinkedIn URL. Company enrichment adds firmographic data: industry, employee count, revenue, tech stack, funding stage, and headquarters. Behavioral enrichment captures real-time signals: intent data showing which companies research your category, job change alerts, funding events, and hiring signals. Most B2B teams start with contact and company enrichment, adding behavioral data as they scale.
How does data enrichment work?
The enrichment process follows four steps. First, you input your data (CSV, CRM records, or LinkedIn URLs). Second, the enrichment engine matches your input against data sources using multiple signals (email domain, name + company, LinkedIn URL). Third, verified data points are appended: emails, phones, titles, firmographics. Fourth, results are delivered back to your CRM or spreadsheet with confidence scores and verification status. Single-source tools query one database. Waterfall enrichment queries 15+ providers for maximum coverage.
What accuracy should you expect from data enrichment?
Accuracy varies by field and method. Work email: 70-85% from single-source, 92-98% from waterfall enrichment. Direct phone: 45-65% single-source, 70-85% waterfall. Job title: 75-85% single-source, 88-95% waterfall. Company data (name, size, industry): 85-95% from most providers. B2B data decays at 22-30% per year, so enriched data has a shelf life. Plan for quarterly re-enrichment of active records.
What is the ROI of data enrichment?
Outbound email campaigns see bounce rates drop from 15-25% to under 3% with verified enrichment. Sales phone outreach improves from 40-60% wrong numbers to 80-90% valid direct dials, recovering 2-4 hours per rep per day. Lead scoring accuracy improves from 50-60% to 85-95% when records have complete firmographic data. CRM maintenance drops from 10-20 hours per week of manual cleanup to 1-2 hours of oversight. Most teams see 300-500% ROI on enrichment investment within 90 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between data enrichment and data cleansing?
Data cleansing fixes existing data: removing duplicates, correcting formats, deleting invalid records. Data enrichment adds new information from external sources: emails, phones, company data. Most teams need both. Clean first, then enrich.
How much does B2B data enrichment cost?
Pricing varies. Raw API access starts at $0.01 per record. Single-source tools like Apollo charge $59-149 per user per month. Enterprise platforms like ZoomInfo start at $15,000 per year. Waterfall enrichment typically costs $0.15-0.40 per full enrichment.
How often should I re-enrich my database?
Quarterly for most databases. Monthly for high-velocity sales teams. B2B data decays at 22-30% per year, meaning 6-8% of records go stale every quarter. Always re-enrich when you detect bounced emails or disconnected numbers.
Can data enrichment improve email deliverability?
Yes. Enrichment paired with email verification is the most effective way to reduce bounce rates. Verified, enriched email lists typically see under 3% bounce rates compared to 15-25% on unverified lists.