Today, there is more customer data available than ever before, and in these circumstances, the general trend in paid demand generation is towards standardization.
With only a few exceptions, the B2B sector now largely agrees that a marketing "lead" is a person who:
works for a company or government agency
performs a function related to business technologies
is interested in your product area
has expressly consented to receive your content and follow-up contacts
The data collected for each lead and how it is delivered are now standardized:
Personal data: name, title, role or function, contact details
Organization data: industry, size of the company
information about the content used
Delivery in an extensible file format (e.g. an Excel file) or malta whatsapp data direct integration of the data into a marketing automation system
If the prevailing industry standard is a table of simple contact information and data, how can marketers assess the quality of leads with a list of essentially the same looking leads?
The answer is not so much about the content of the table as about the information it lacks. This is critical insight into purchase intent. You need information about the lead's origin and activity history, topics chosen, the extent and time of research, and any interest in other influencers. Such data is a key indicator of a lead's interest, receptivity to your message, and willingness to convert. While this type of information is less clear-cut than personal and company data, it can be fully captured and measured and should be a central part of evaluating lead providers.
The question is why more lead providers don't provide such insights, and why more marketers don't request them.
Breaking out of the standard: Real lead generation instead of simple contact establishment
According to a new study from Ascend2, 54% of marketers cite increasing lead count as the most important goal of their lead generation strategy . In response to the demand for more data for less money, many vendors are moving away from activity and intent and instead focusing on commodification, offering something more like a simple contact list.