Trestle’s Data Quality Tracker: September 2024
Each month, Trestle publishes aggregations and insights into some of our most popular data attributes that are part of our products. This Data Quality Tracker blog contextualizes the quality of your leads/contacts/sign-ups and how they benchmark against the rest of the industry. Please note: All data presented in this blog is aggregated and is not from an individual customer. This month, we are adding the results for Phone Contact Grade, which we return as part of our Real Contact API.
Phone Contact Grade
Trestle’s Phone Contact Grade provides a grade for the leads/sign-ups on whether the leads are real and contactable. It takes into account various signals including phone linkages to subscribers, phone activity, metadata like line type, carrier, the feedback loop we get from customers, etc. Signals we have seen over the years correlate very well to answer the question of whether a lead is real and contactable. This knowledge-base article can provide additional context on what these grades mean and how we determine them. When you apply such grade-based filters to your lead workflows, you can minimize wasted efforts and focus on the leads that matter most.
Below, you will find a breakdown of the Phone Contact Grade distribution observed by Trestle across all our customers.
September 2024
A couple of interesting observations:
From September’s numbers seen above, it is evident that the lead quality seen by businesses is relatively low. How do the aggregates we see above match up to what you see for your leads? To do a quick check and compare it to our benchmarks, you can use our Free Data Assessment Report to get a sense of your lead/contact quality and how it compares to others in your industry. From our perspective, there are too few Grade-A leads still seen by businesses, which is all the more reason why some form of lead assessment, filtering, and prioritization should absolutely be done to maximize the ROI and improve conversions.
Phone Activity Score
Below, you’ll find a comprehensive breakdown of the activity score distribution observed by Trestle across all our customers. We’ve categorized the data into three distinct categories:
- The percentage of phones we see with activity scores of 71 and above. This is where we see consistent activity with the phone through our networks.
- The percentage of phones we see with activity scores between 31 and 70. This is where we see slightly inconsistent activity with the phone through our networks.
- The percentage of phones we see with activity scores of 30 or below. This is where we see low to no activity associated with the phone through our networks.
This knowledge-base article can provide a quick primer on interpreting the activity score. If you are interested in how this score is calculated, check out this article.
September 2024
Observations:
Again, in September, the percentages for each category changed little to nothing from what we have seen historically. The number of disconnected phones, around 10%, is way too high.
Phone Line Type
Understanding phone validity and line type is not just about distinguishing between landline and mobile. With the introduction of VoIP, the dynamics of communications and how businesses and consumers use these numbers have evolved. The chart below provides valuable insights into the line-type distribution Trestle observed in September across our customers. This distribution represents the phone line type seen by Trestle for the numbers queried by businesses on lead forms or account sign-ups.
September 2024
Observations:
In September, there was effectively no change in the distribution of line types. Last month we saw a big uptick in the percentage of queries being landlines. This resulted in a lower overall distribution of the mobile line type, which continued this month. A 15% drop in the overall percentage is significant enough to impact the overall quality of leads and sign-ups across our customer base. In the coming months, we will see if this trend continues.
Top 3 U.S. Carrier Distribution
Phone Carrier Distribution provides context into the market’s state and insights into how your lead list compares to the rest of the industry. Essentially, the majority of your sign-ups are from these carriers. In the coming months, we will further analyze our carrier data and publish more insights to compare lead quality against the typical benchmarks we observe.
September 2024
Observations:
Nothing really to add here. The trend of these carriers remains the same.
What can businesses do about bad leads?
Services like Trestle’s Phone Validation API or Real Contact API can help verify leads/sign-ups, filter out disconnected phones, and ensure you prioritize the highest-quality leads that are the most contactable.
When your leads are sourced from various channels, use this data to work with them and point these issues at the front end rather than dealing with returned leads. The cost savings alone, both operationally and from receiving only higher-quality leads, could be multiple times more than the cost of these verification services. Focusing your efforts on these higher quality leads will also improve conversions with a higher ROI.
We value your input. Do these numbers align with your business’s experience? How can we further enhance lead quality and reduce COGS? Can we assist you in identifying and avoiding fake, bot, or fraudulent leads?
Let’s get your best salespeople working on the highest-quality leads. You can set up a meeting, email us at support@trestleiq.com, or check out our Phone Validation demo.
