What is data validation for LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a sales tool that helps sales professionals identify, connect with, and close more deals with prospects on LinkedIn. It provides access to profile data, lead recommendations, company insights, and more. Data validation is an important part of configuring and using Sales Navigator effectively.

Why is data validation important for Sales Navigator?

There are a few key reasons why data validation matters for getting the most out of LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

• Improves data accuracy – Validating data like email addresses, phone numbers, and other prospect details ensures that the information Sales Navigator uses to generate recommendations and insights is accurate and up-to-date.
• Maximizes lead recommendations – Sales Navigator’s lead recommendations rely on having accurate profile data. Data validation helps ensure you’re getting the most relevant lead suggestions.
• Enhances search – Accurate data enables more precise searching within Sales Navigator so you can better find your target prospects.
• Increases effectiveness of outreach – Having accurate prospect contact info allows you to reach out to leads efficiently through Sales Navigator messaging and integrations.
• Optimizes account insights – The company insights provided by Sales Navigator work best when account data like firmographics and org charts are clean and validated.

In summary, good data hygiene through validation helps Sales Navigator work smarter so sales reps can be more productive.

What data should be validated in Sales Navigator?

There are several key sets of data that should be validated regularly to ensure optimal Sales Navigator performance:

User profile data

• Name
• Job title and company
• Contact info (email, phone, address)
• Profile photo
• Skills and expertise

Ensuring your own user profile is complete and accurate enables you to best leverage your network and identify the right prospects.

Prospect profile data

• Name
• Job title and company
• Contact info
• Profile photo
• Background summary

Validating key prospect details allows Sales Navigator’s algorithms to surface better recommendations and insights.

Company profile data

• Company name
• Industry
• Location(s)
• Company size
• Revenue
• Technologies used

Accurate firmographic data enables Sales Navigator to deliver targeted company-level insights.

CRM data

• Leads
• Contacts
• Accounts
• Opportunities

If integrating Sales Navigator with a CRM like Salesforce, validating this data ensures syncing works properly.

How can I validate data in Sales Navigator?

Here are some best practices for validating data within Sales Navigator:

Use the Data Health Dashboard

Sales Navigator’s Data Health Dashboard shows warnings for missing or potentially inaccurate data. Review and fix these issues directly from the dashboard.

Do regular audits

Conduct periodic audits of key account, lead, and contact data to catch any issues. Sort and filter to identify missing info.

De-duplicate records

Eliminate duplicate leads, contacts, and accounts within Sales Navigator to maintain clean data.

Check for formatting inconsistencies

Scan for formatting problems like capitalization, abbreviations, misspellings, etc. Standardize formats.

Update info during outreach

When contacting prospects, ask them to validate and correct their profile information.

Sync with CRM

Use CRM integration to validate data by syncing Sales Navigator with platforms like Salesforce.

Leverage integrations

Use data quality tools like RingLead to validate and append data from within Sales Navigator.

What are some common LinkedIn data quality issues?

Some typical data problems to watch out for in LinkedIn Sales Navigator include:

• Missing or outdated contact info like email addresses and phone numbers
• Incorrect job titles and companies
• Incomplete profiles lacking key details
• Mismatched company names – abbreviations, typos, etc.
• Duplicate or misspelled first and last names
• Nonexistent domains in email addresses
• Invalid link URLs in profiles
• Irrelevant skills that don’t match experience
• Outdated background summaries

How can data validation enhance LinkedIn outreach?

Validating LinkedIn data improves outreach efforts in these key ways:

• Increases open and response rates – Accurate contact data equals fewer bouncebacks.
• Improves personalization – Correct job titles and companies enable better custom messaging.
• Identifies more prospects – Complete profiles surface additional targets.
• Boosts prospect engagement – Prompting prospects to update their info helps connect.
• Saves time on wrong data – No more wasted efforts chasing bad contact info.
• Creates warmer leads – Updated info builds more trust to convert prospects.

What tools can I use?

In addition to Sales Navigator’s built-in data quality features, here are some helpful tools for validating LinkedIn data:

How can I prevent data getting stale again?

To ensure your LinkedIn data stays fresh after validating it, here are some tips:

• Set reminders to review data health dashboard and audit details regularly.
• Track when you last updated each account and contact.
• Proactively reach out to prospects to validate info.
• Turn on email and phone notifications in Sales Navigator when prospect details change.
• Use integrations that automatically validate and update data.
• Tag prospects in CRM as “data validated” once vetted.
• Include data validation in your team’s processes and training.
• Schedule periodic data cleanups as you enter new prospects.
• Continuously append missing details like email and phone.

Key takeaways

Here are the key points to remember about data validation for LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

• Accurate prospect data maximizes Sales Navigator’s lead recommendations, search, and account insights.
• Regularly validate fields like names, titles, contact info, and company details.
• Leverage Sales Navigator’s dashboard, de-duplication, and integrations to validate.
• Watch for incorrect or missing info that causes bad outreach data hygiene.
• Validation improves outreach open rates, personalization, and prospect engagement.
• Use data tools like RingLead and Lusha to augment validation.
• Stay on top ofstale data by scheduling periodic reviews and updates.

By making data validation a priority, sales teams can get the most value from LinkedIn Sales Navigator and drive sales performance.