What is contact data?

Which contact fields matter for outreach

The fields that matter for outreach are the ones that let you reach the right person and write something relevant to them. More fields are not better if nobody uses them.

• Name and job title, to know who they are and what they own.
• Company and company website, to tie the person to an account.
• Work email, the main channel for business outreach.
• Profile link, to check the role is current and read what they post.
• Location and seniority, for filtering, time zones and tone.
• Phone number, where your team calls and has a lawful basis to.

Should you use a work email or a personal email

Use a work email for business outreach. It reaches the person in their professional role, which is the context your message is about, and it is easier to justify under data protection rules.

Personal addresses blur that line. A message about a work problem arriving in a private inbox can feel intrusive, and the lawful basis is harder to argue.

How is contact data different from company data

Contact data describes a person, while company data, often called firmographics, describes the organisation: industry, size, location, funding and technology used. You need both, because the company decides whether to target an account and the contact decides who to write to.

Keep them linked. A contact without a company record cannot be tiered or mapped, and a company without contacts cannot be reached.

What makes business contact data good quality

Business contact data is good quality when it is accurate, current, complete enough for its purpose and lawfully held. Accuracy and currency fade fastest, because people move jobs, change titles and leave companies all the time.

Check records before a campaign rather than once a year, remove duplicates, and record where each contact came from so you can answer a data subject's question about it.