FAQ

DatabaseBuilder.com is not a data provider. We use 3rd party data providers that provide us with “real-time” access to their databases. That said, most data providers use a combination of gathering techniques. Many obtain information from sources such as government agencies, utility companies, private businesses, and trade organizations willing to sell it. Some data comes from public records. There are literally hundreds of sources that data providers use to gather their information and is generally proprietary.

The short answer is, it’s very difficult to know how accurate it is without knowing where they gather their information and most importantly, how often it is updated.

The longer answer, it all depends on your definition of accurate. The industry standard for data accuracy is defined at 92-96% accuracy. Again, it’s difficult to know what that really means because data providers rarely give out this information. In our experience with data providers, 92-96% generally refers to basic data fields such as name, mailing address, and phone number. However, accuracy rates generally drop much lower when you include more specific data fields such as work email addresses, job titles, purchasing habits, and household income. It’s simply too costly and time consuming to update this much information in a timely manner. It does not mean that this data is not available from credit agencies or internet search companies, but many will not part with their information or sell it in bulk, if at all.

Generally not. Data providers may use assumptions based on statistical information. For example, a married couple of a certain age range is likely to have X number of children. Another commonly used assumption, companies with X number of employees are likely to have average gross revenue of $xxx a year, or they might spend $xxx dollars on rent or office equipment. It doesn’t seem likely that data providers are actually verifying all of this information. It would take years to gather that much data.

The fact is data changes so fast and it is hard to stay on top of it. Take COVID-19 for example. Think about how many businesses closed their doors overnight. There’s simply no way to update that much information in such a short period of time. Disconnects have long been an obstacle with telemarketing and lead lists. However, it should not exceed more than 8% in a given area.

The best advice is to use common sense. Ask yourself, is it really possible for a data provider to have access to such specific information or is that information publicly available? If the answer is no, is it worth paying a premium for it? Lead lists are a great foundation to start with, but they need to be managed and updated on a regular basis or it becomes obsolete.

This is done to speed up the data search process. By pulling and displaying a limited amount of data from the master database prior to you purchasing the full record, makes it more efficient and easier to work with. We call this a “skinny view”. You are not charged for data that is requested or filtered in a skinny view. The intent is to get users to narrow down their data search to a manageable number of records.

Not all data fields are available from 3rd party providers. Generally, this pertains to more specific data such as email address, website URL, and social media addresses. Such data can be difficult to obtain. In today’s fast paced world, specific data such as work email addresses may be out-of-date before it’s published. For this reason, DBB cannot guarantee a full business or consumer record will contain every data field.