Data Quality Glossary

58 key terms in B2B data quality, CRM management, data enrichment, and sales intelligence.

A B C D E F G I J L M N P R S T

A

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

A B2B strategy that focuses sales and marketing resources on a defined set of target accounts with personalized campaigns.

Address Validation

Confirms a physical address exists, is deliverable, and conforms to postal standards like USPS CASS certification.

B

Batch Enrichment

Appending missing data fields to a large set of records all at once, rather than enriching them one at a time.

Bounce Rate (Email)

The percentage of sent emails that fail to reach the recipient's inbox due to invalid addresses or server issues.

Buyer Intent Data

Tracks online research behavior to identify companies actively evaluating solutions in your category.

Buying Signals

Observable actions or events that suggest a company is moving toward a purchase decision.

C

CRM Hygiene

The ongoing practice of maintaining clean, accurate, and complete data in a customer relationship management system through regular deduplication, validation, and enrichment.

Catch-All Domain

A domain configured to accept email sent to any address, making individual mailbox verification impossible.

Contact Data Waterfall

A sequential enrichment strategy that queries multiple data providers in order, using each source's strengths to maximize coverage while minimizing cost.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

Software that collects customer data from every touchpoint and unifies it into a single customer profile.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

The total revenue a customer is expected to generate over the entire duration of their relationship with your company.

Customer Segmentation

Dividing your customer base into groups that share common characteristics for targeted messaging and strategy.

D

Data Append

Adding missing fields to existing records by matching them against external data sources.

Data Decay

The rate at which business data becomes inaccurate over time. B2B data decays at roughly 30% per year due to job changes, company closures, and acquisitions.

Data Deduplication

The process of identifying and removing duplicate records from your CRM or database to improve data quality and prevent redundant outreach.

Data Enrichment

The process of appending missing information to existing records using external data sources. Adds emails, phone numbers, job titles, company size, and other fields to CRM records.

Data Governance

The set of policies, processes, roles, and standards that control how data is collected, stored, maintained, and used.

Data Hygiene

The ongoing practice of maintaining clean, accurate, and usable data through regular deduplication, verification, and standardization.

Data Integration

Combining data from multiple systems into a unified and consistent view across your organization.

Data Migration

Moving data from one system to another, typically during a CRM switch or platform upgrade.

Data Normalization

Standardizing data formats and values so records can be accurately compared, deduplicated, and analyzed.

Data Profiling

Examining your database to understand its quality, structure, and content before cleaning.

Data Quality Management

The ongoing discipline of measuring, monitoring, and improving data accuracy, completeness, and consistency.

Data Standardization

Converting data values into consistent, predefined formats so records can be compared and analyzed.

Data Validation

Checking whether data meets predefined rules for format, type, range, and accuracy.

Demand Generation

The marketing discipline of creating awareness, interest, and pipeline across your total addressable market.

Duplicate Detection

Identifying records in your database that represent the same person or company through exact and fuzzy matching.

E

Email Deliverability

The measure of whether your emails successfully reach the inbox rather than bouncing or landing in spam.

Email Validation

The process of verifying that email addresses are valid, deliverable, and belong to real inboxes. Reduces bounce rates and protects sender reputation.

Entity Resolution

Determining whether records from different sources refer to the same real-world person or company.

F

Fill Rate

The percentage of records in your database that have a value in a specific field.

Firmographic Data

Descriptive attributes of a business, including company size, industry, revenue, location, and founding date.

First-Party Data

Information your organization collects directly from customers and prospects through your own channels.

Fuzzy Matching

Finding records that are similar but not identical using algorithms that measure string similarity.

G

Golden Record

The single, most complete and accurate version of an entity after duplicate records have been merged.

I

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

A data-driven description of the companies most likely to become your best customers, based on analysis of firmographic, technographic, and behavioral attributes.

Industry Classification

Assigning standardized NAICS or SIC codes to businesses based on their primary economic activity.

J

Job Title Normalization

Standardizing the wide variety of job titles in your database into a consistent taxonomy of roles and seniority levels.

L

Lead Qualification

Evaluating whether a prospect has the budget, authority, need, and timeline to become a customer.

Lead Routing

Automatically assigning incoming leads to the correct sales rep based on territory, company size, or other criteria.

Lead Scoring

Assigning a numerical value to each lead based on ICP fit and engagement behavior to prioritize sales outreach.

Lookalike Modeling

Analyzing your best customers' attributes and finding new prospects that share the same characteristics.

M

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)

A lead that has met predefined criteria combining demographic fit and behavioral engagement.

Market Sizing (TAM/SAM/SOM)

Quantifying the revenue opportunity for your product using Total Addressable, Serviceable, and Obtainable market metrics.

Master Data Management

Creating and maintaining a single authoritative source of truth for critical business entities across all systems.

Match Rate

The percentage of records a data provider can successfully find and enrich from your submitted list.

N

Net-New Contact

A person who does not currently exist in your CRM or marketing database.

P

Pipeline Management

Tracking, analyzing, and optimizing the deals moving through your sales process to predict revenue.

Prospect List Building

Creating a targeted list of companies and contacts matching your ideal customer profile for outreach.

R

Record Matching

Comparing records from one or more datasets to determine which ones refer to the same real-world entity.

Revenue Intelligence

Using data from across the revenue team to surface insights on pipeline health, deal risks, and forecast accuracy.

Revenue Operations (RevOps)

The function that aligns sales, marketing, and success teams around shared data, processes, and metrics.

S

Sales Intelligence

Data, insights, and signals that help sales teams identify, prioritize, and engage prospects more effectively.

Sender Reputation

A score ISPs assign to your sending domain and IP based on email behavior, controlling inbox placement.

Suppression List

A set of contacts that must be excluded from outreach campaigns for compliance, deliverability, or strategic reasons.

T

Tech Stack Data

The specific software tools and technologies a company uses, collected through website scanning and other signals.

Technographic Data

Information about the technology stack a company uses, including CRM, marketing automation, analytics tools, and other software.

Territory Planning

Dividing your addressable market among sales reps to maximize coverage and ensure fair opportunity distribution.