There are plenty of cheap and cheerful discounted business data lists out there! So how do you tune your antenna into spotting a good one from a bad one? Read on for our top tips on what makes a quality business list:

1. The data needs to match your market. A great campaign starts with great data. The list, therefore, must be relevant to your business in order to achieve the best possible response rate.


2. Find out where the information comes from. Check the resources used for compiling the lists, and find out how reputable they are.


3. Check whether the data matches your target audience. It might broadly map your market, but quality business data, consistently maintained and selected using sophisticated techniques can go much deeper than that.


4. Make sure the names, numbers and addresses are up-to-date. People and businesses do move and key people do change. What deliverability guarantees are offered by the company selling you the data?


5. Duplicate database entries are a pain. They are expensive to contact, and can annoy the recipient (if they get multiple pieces of direct mail for example). Make sure your data provider can guarantee your data is clear from duplicate entries.


6. Telephone numbers need to be compliant so confirm that the data is monitored for Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate TPS (CTPS) compliance.

The most important thing is to make quality dictate your data decisions rather than price. Most of the cost of campaigns is not in the price paid for the business data, but in the other costs, and the opportunities missed. Cheap data can be very costly in the long run. Whether it is business direct mail, telemarketing, email or a multi-channel campaigns you are looking at - precise, well targeted data is at the core of a successful marketing campaign.