How healthy is your database of prospects?

Chart of the Day: Annual churn hits 23% in the high-tech industry

Email marketing is a vital channel for B2B marketers. Providing a high ROI when compared to other marketing channels. Which drives us, marketers, to spend many hours creating engaging content for our target personas. After all this effort when you're ready to hit the send, are you sure that your data is accurate?

A recent study by Salesforce found that the rate at which B2B marketers were able to grow their email lists looks relatively healthy. In the High Tech and Retail sectors, the growth is as high as 21%. On the face of it, most marketers would take a 21% growth rate each year.

Average Annual Growth by Vertical and Department

But this is only one side of the story. The report also looks at the annual churn by the same verticals. This highlights trends that should concern the most seasoned marketer. If for example, you are able to grow your database of Retail marketers by 21% each year, you will also be losing 22% of your existing leads. That is negative 1% growth which isn't what we need.

The report also looks at the annual churn in the same verticals, which highlights a trend that should concern even the most seasoned marketer.

If for example, you are able to grow your database of Retail marketers by 21% each year, you will also be losing 22% of your existing leads. That is negative 1% growth which isn't that helpful to provide growth for your business.

Average Annual Churn by Vertical and Department

This trend is the same across each vertical and department, highlighting the need to not only nurture your current database. But also place a high priority on executing a program of activities to ensure you are always adding new prospects to your database at a higher rate than you are potentially losing them.

• Source: B2B Personas: Targeting Audiences by Salesforce
• Sample Size: 21.3 million full-time B2B professionals
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