Episode 49: Why Customer Data Is a RevOps Priority

In this episode of the RevOpsAF podcast, co-host Camela Thompson is joined by Irwin Hipsman, a seasoned B2B SaaS veteran with decades of experience in sales, customer success, and customer lifecycle marketing and founder of Repetitos. Together, they dissect a topic often overlooked in revenue operations - customer contact data. Drawing from recent survey results and real-world experience, Irwin delivers a wake-up call: most customer databases aren’t just messy - they’re actively holding back growth.

This conversation is an essential listen for RevOps professionals, CS leaders, and customer marketers trying to figure out who should own customer data, how to assess its health, and where to start when it comes to cleaning and maintaining it.

Why “Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough

Irwin recently partnered with Openprise and RevOps Co-op to conduct research into the quality and usability of B2B customer contact data. The results were eye-opening:

• The average confidence score for customer contact data was 3.3 out of 7 - a failing 47%.
• Only 11% of respondents described their data as “excellent.”
• 53% admitted their data “needs improvement.”
• Even among those who said their data was “good enough,” 71% reported struggling to execute go-to-market strategies or make strategic decisions with confidence

Camela echoed the findings from the RevOps Co-op side, pointing out that data issues often lurk beneath the surface of operational challenges. You might think your data is functional - until you try to execute a territory plan, launch a cross-sell campaign, or send emergency communications and realize how unreliable your contact info is.

Click here to download Openprise’s full report.

Defining “Customer Data” (It’s More Than You Think)

When we talk about customer data, it’s not just about the obvious fields like email or company name. Irwin defines four tiers of customer data maturity:

1. Basic Hygiene – Fix broken formatting (e.g., "Doctor" showing up as a first name), inconsistent naming conventions, or missing fields.
2. Core Fields – Keep job title, employer, and location up to date. These are the critical fields for segmentation, routing, compliance, and understanding the customer's lifecycle stage.
3. Audit Metadata – Add “last updated” fields for title, employer, and location to track data freshness over time.
4. Behavioral Signals – Integrate product usage data like login frequency, feature engagement, and admin roles to inform upsell and support strategies

If you’re unsure where to begin, Irwin recommends starting with what would be most embarrassing to get wrong in a customer conversation. Contract data, job changes, and current employment status should top the list.

For more on this topic, check out our blog’s guide Data Management for Busy RevOps Pros which outlines how to assign ownership for field logic, establish enrichment rules, and automate hygiene workflows.

The Case for Lifecycle Ownership: Who Should Own Customer Data?

Responsibility for customer data is often diffuse. Many companies assume that customer success managers (CSMs) keep data up to date, but in practice, CSMs only manage a small handful of primary contacts. Everyone else - the admin users, champions, detractors, and former employees - often fall through the cracks.

Irwin's research revealed something surprising: companies where Customer Success Operations (CS Ops) owns the customer contact database reported 10% better outcomes compared to when RevOps owns it. Why? CS Ops teams are closer to the post-sale experience and are more incentivized to maintain accurate customer contact records across the full account footprint - not just the one or two people involved in a sale.

If there’s no CS Ops function, Irwin suggests that customer marketing should take ownership. They're the ones sending lifecycle emails and measuring engagement - and they feel the pain of bad data most acutely.

You can download Irwin's Customer Data Report here.

How to Get Started: Quick Wins That Build Credibility

Many RevOps and CS leaders hesitate to take on a massive data project. But Irwin encourages starting small:

• Audit a random sample of 400 records. Are job titles outdated? Are people still with the company? Are email domains valid?
• Fix the top three fields: title, location, and current employer. These are relatively easy to validate (hello, LinkedIn) and have an outsized impact.
• Track open rate improvements after cleanup. A 10% lift isn’t uncommon when email targeting improves - even without changing copy or subject lines
• Map all existing customer comms. Most companies are sending lifecycle emails through three to four systems with no coordination. Start with an inventory.

Camela adds that maintaining a clean database is not a one-time job. At a minimum, teams should aim to refresh contact data every six months. Even if enrichment tools are out of budget, a systematic manual review can reveal surprisingly valuable insights.

Our article 9 Easy Fixes for Better Pipeline Hygiene offers more tactical automations like contact-role auto-assignment and stale-opp detection, which complement these fast wins.

Better Segmentation, Better Outcomes

Segmentation isn’t just for demand gen. When you’re trying to engage customers post-sale, clean segmentation helps prioritize outreach and personalize messaging.

The survey data showed:

• 53% of respondents could segment by title.
• Only 36% could segment by functional role (e.g., admin, champion, power user, executive sponsor).

This gap highlights a missed opportunity. By tagging contacts by role or behavior - rather than just title - you can craft campaigns that actually resonate. Irwin shares how at Forrester, shrinking the email list by half and improving segmentation led to open rates jumping from 18% to 25%.

Selling It to Executives: Lead With Business Impact

Data cleanup isn’t the sexiest pitch. But it’s often a high-leverage project that doesn’t get the attention (or budget) it deserves.

Irwin recommends avoiding alarmist pitches like “Our database is a disaster.” Instead, frame your case around impact:

• “After cleaning up 1,000 records, open rates increased 10%.”
• “We can now send targeted product release emails by user role.”
• “We’ve identified 20 key contacts who changed jobs - and reactivated them at their new companies.”

Camela reinforces the importance of internal selling: identify the biggest objector, especially if they have the CEO’s ear. Walk them through the business implications of bad data - like territory misalignment, customer churn, or misfired campaigns - and show them what’s possible with even small improvements.

Building a Culture of Cross-Functional Stewardship

Ultimately, customer data isn’t one person’s job - it’s a shared responsibility. Irwin encourages RevOps leaders to form an informal, recurring working group that includes RevOps, CS Ops, customer marketing, and product. Meet monthly, review metrics, and align on priorities.

This group can monitor progress on:

• Percentage of contacts with valid job titles and employers
• Role-based segmentation capabilities
• Bounce rates and deliverability trends
• Communication channel ownership and overlap

Even without a major tooling investment, this cross-functional collaboration builds momentum and accountability.

“Customer marketing is afraid of RevOps. They assume you’ll say no. If RevOps just shows curiosity and asks, ‘What do you need?’ - you’ve already built a bridge.” – Irwin Hipsman

Pair this with Mastering the RevOps Data Stack to build a scalable architecture - from source systems to analytics layers - that supports distributed trust in data.

Final Thoughts: Own the Journey, Not Just the Database

Customer contact data may feel like a back-office issue - but it’s a frontline lever for retention, expansion, and experience. It touches almost every revenue initiative: upsells, renewals, onboarding, segmentation, and compliance.

If your team is dealing with churn, missed renewals, or low engagement, the problem may not be your message - it may be your data. By starting small, aligning stakeholders, and measuring impact, RevOps teams can champion a smarter, more sustainable approach to customer engagement.

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