Out of sight, out of line?

A new study has found that B2B marketers frequently lag behind their B2C colleagues when it comes to data hygiene, taking advantage perhaps of the fact that independent monitoring of B2B marketing activity is often far less stringent. Antony Begley reports.

For B2C marketers, taking data hygiene seriously stopped being optional a long time ago, thanks partly to the fact that those marketing to consumers have never been under closer scrutiny than they are now. With Information Commissioner Christopher Graham able to issue fines of up to £500,000 for "deliberate or negligent" breaches of personal data from next month, a professional approach to data hygiene is now mission-critical for all B2C businesses. 

This, coupled with the demonstrable improvement in ROI that comes with efficient data hygiene practices means getting it right is now a no-brainer.

But what about down in the B2B jungle where nobody goes? The authorities have never shown the same evangelical enthusiasm for monitoring and regulating B2B marketing, presumably on the premise that nobody really cares if it's businesses that are on the receiving end of questionable marketing practices.  

So does this leave scope for cowboys and wide-boys to flourish in the shadows, out of sight of those charged with regulating marketing activities? Well, a new study published last month by myb2bonline.com seems to suggest so.  

The study, which analysed the direct marketing activities and attitudes of around 300 SMEs, found that despite well publicised best practice guidelines, B2B marketers are generally not spending money on updating their company data and are opting to flood the market with poorly or untargeted mail.  

This is exacerbated by the sheer difficulty of keeping B2B databases accurate and up to date, thanks to high data decay rates.

Of course, there is an element of this new study finding what it set out to find, commissioned as it was by the online B2B subsidiary of suppression and data hygiene specialists The REaD Group, but the results are still worthy of a little consideration.  

"What the survey has found is that B2B marketers are still lagging behind their B2C industry colleagues," says Marcus Oxlade, Business Development Manager for B2B Services at The REaD Group. 

"Suppression and data hygiene activities are now second nature in the B2C space as marketers have realised that there are huge benefits to getting your data hygiene house in order. What's less easy to understand is why B2B marketers seem to be so slow to follow suit. The benefits of regular suppression - reduced environmental impact, cost reductions, improved ROI, brand damage limitation and so on - are all just as relevant in B2B as they are in B2C." 

If the study's findings accurate, this suggests that best practice sits nearer to the bottom than the top of many B2B marketers' list of priorities. And for all the reasons highlighted by Oxlade above, this is a risky and highly irresponsible strategy.  The great fear for many legitimate marketers operating in the B2B space is that the reckless behaviors of the cowboy minority will ultimately lead to the persecution of the conscientious majority through punitive and potentially disproportionate legislation. 

The government has shown itself capable on many occasions of taking the 'if you can't regulate your industry yourselves, we'll regulate it for you' approach - and rarely is the outcome a satisfactory one from an industry point of view. 

B2C marketers may also be nervous of being dragged into such a regulatory clampdown after working so hard to up their game in recent years. 

The REaD Group estimates that of the one billion items of direct mail sent to the UK businesses every year, some 184 million are sent to companies that have moved or ceased trading. Despite this, the recipients remain tight-lipped although this may be down to the fact that much of this erroneous mail is filtered out by eager receptionists or mailroom staff before it even gets to the recipient.

The long silence of this uncomplaining audience may be part of the reason why B2B marketers seem less inclined to be rigorous with their data hygiene, but there are other less cynical reasons, believes Information Arts CEO Simon Lawrence: "It's easy to forget that it's not quite so easy for B2B marketers because there are far fewer tools available to them, and many of those that are available are simply B2C tools that have been tweaked for use in the B2B space." 

Lawrence cites the example of address management tools in particular where, he says, "every tool available to B2B marketers has been built out of B2C solution". 

He adds: "Then you have very few business suppression files and they haven't gained much traction due to a lack of credibility so the demand isn't there." 

Lawrence believes that these practical issues hinder the ability of B2B marketers to action their data hygiene responsibilities as easily but concludes that, from where he's sitting, the picture isn't quite as gloomy as the survey seems to portray it: "The rogue marketer days are largely behind us. The vast majority of B2B marketers take action their data hygiene very seriously indeed as it directly impacts on their brands if they communicate badly with customers and prospects. The benefits of getting data hygiene right are there for all to see."

And it's these benefits that should be appealing to marketers, says Blue Sheep Chairman Iain Lovett. He says, "As well as cleaning their data, SMEs need to execute more dynamic direct campaigns that adopt a multi channel approach to eliminate waste and increase profits.

"Single channel 'economy of scale' direct marketing campaigns are no longer sustainable. Clients who have invested in data to undertake a true integrated approach have experienced performance uplifts as high as 300% and an overall cost reduction of 30%." 

Oxlade aggrees that options for B2B marketers are limited but believes this should not be used as an excuse. "The consensus is that there is low understanding of suppression in the B2B space, that it's expensive and that it's too time-consuming, but it doesn't have to be like that and the world has moved on," he says.

"Using a suppression product will deliver the same response rate whilst realizing a greater return on investment."

Article from Database Marketing - March 2010