Lately our Drive Train program has been favorably compared to the popular Jigsaw data service. This is great development for us as it draws into a very clear comparison to a recognizable brand. Just recently Jigsaw was swallowed up by Salesforce.com which indicates to the market the value of contact data. The deal was valued at $142M. It validates what we’ve done in terms building our Drive Train platform. Indeed, the data that we deliver is valuable because it supports sales and marketing departments and feeds their various systems with the data necessary to make them go.
What then is the difference between Drive Train and Jigsaw? Let me start with a general description of both and then articulate what I think are the three really big advantages Drive Train holds over Jigsaw.
Jigsaw is a website where you self serve contact records based on search parameters. Most importantly, the record includes the contact email address. You can either pay for the record straight up (around $1 per record) or you can exchange your data for credits. It is this exchange that forms the source of the data pool that is then re-sold. Frankly, I think this is an efficient system for getting specific records on a particular individual or company. In very low volume (a few records at a time) it has some good applications. They’ve done well.
Drive Train also delivers verified contacts records with email addresses based on search parameters. There is NO data exchange model. The cost per record is comparable to a little less expensive in most cases (sometimes half) using the Drive Train model. Instead, a campaign occurs on your behalf in which the records are hard verified, vetted against your brand, and segmented based on response behavior. It is this campaign aspect that marks the biggest difference in the two services. Campaigning yields these three critical advantages.
Hard Verified
The Drive Train program sends emails to each record at program launch. This process allows us to verify with greater certainty than Jigsaw. We only deliver records that are verified in this manner. Your data is assured to be better because of it.
Vetted
The campaign email is sent on behalf of the customer (you) so that your name and brand are reviewed by the prospect with the option to opt-out. Verified records that don’t opt out can now be used in your internal systems for future marketing communications. Because they’ve been vetted in this way they are more useful and more valuable.
Segmented
Because of the campaign feature with Drive Train you receive segmented data which allows you to prioritize the follow up sales and marketing activity. This gives you a big head start on your next marketing or sales touch because you have more than a list, you have a database with characteristics. These characteristics include whether they responded to the email, clicked on your website, or opened the email.
Hopefully you can see why I’m so excited about our Drive Train program and its value and applications compared to Jigsaw.
