How to find the right education data supplier: 4 key questions
Accessing an education database is a great option if you’re planning to coordinate your own marketing to education.
The right education data supplier should allow you to easily access accurate education data and use it to coordinate marketing campaigns to the education establishments and education staff of your choice.
You need to be confident that:
- The data you’re getting is accurate and verified.
- You can easily access the exact data you need.
- You feel happy with the price-point.
- You’ll get a great customer experience.
There are lots of education data suppliers out there though so it’s important to do some thorough research to find the right provider for you.
To help you decide on the right supplier, here are the top 4 questions you should ask any organisation you’re considering:
1. How much education data can you provide?
Find out how large and flexible your supplier’s education database is.
You should look for a supplier who can provide the largest choice of education data possible. Compare the volume of data that different suppliers can offer but remember to make sure you’re only paying to access the exact data that you need. Find out if your data supplier offers flexible, custom-built packages that allow you to create your own specific, targeted dataset.
The range of data they can provide is also important. There are over 30,000 schools in the UK – each focused on different phases of education, employing a mix of job roles, and with different spending processes and management structures. Most education data suppliers will be able to provide general contact details for the education establishments you choose, including school email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers. This is great for sending general marketing campaigns to all schools.
Buzz’s Top Tip
We recommend sending targeted and personalised marketing campaigns to your specific education targets – it’s a great way to boost your engagement rates!
So, you should look for a supplier who can provide additional, in-depth information about the education establishments you wish to target. Additional data you should look out for includes names of teachers and decision makers, number of pupils on roll, percentage of pupils on free school meals and Ofsted rating. For example, if you want to connect with science teachers in secondary schools rated ‘Good’ and with over 500 pupils in the North-West of England, then your supplier should allow you to specifically choose this!
You can use our handy resources to understand more about UK education and the types and phases of schools, plus the range of job roles you could include in your education database.
2. How accurate is your education data?
Accuracy is key. You need to be confident that you’re using the most up-to-date data and that your marketing campaigns will reach the exact targets you want.
Any reputable education data supplier will be able to let you know the accuracy of their data and give you a data accuracy guarantee. If they can’t, it’s probably best to stay away.
Two other important things to consider are how often the data is reviewed and how often you can access the data.
3. How often do you review your data?
The more often the education data is checked and refreshed, the better.
School email data decays over time – teachers and staff move to new roles, new schools open, schools close and teachers retire, so it’s important to choose a school email database that you know is kept up to date.
You’ll find some data suppliers who offer you a lifetime licence to access their data. Whilst this sounds great you should be careful here – it doesn’t necessarily mean your data will continue to be updated so you could soon be using out of date data. Some education data suppliers will review and refresh their data yearly and some will never refresh it. The best education data suppliers will review and refresh their data on a continuous basis, meaning their data remains highly accurate all the time.
4. How often can I access the data?
We also recommend finding a data supplier that allows you to access your education data as often as you want throughout your subscription.
Don’t be wowed by a 99% data accuracy guarantee if you only get to access the data once. You need live data that you can access at any time during your subscription. That way, you can be sure your data is accurate all the time, and not just on the day you buy it.
This is especially important if you’re planning ongoing or long-term marketing campaigns to schools.
Buzz’s Top Tip
Ask for a data sample before you go ahead so you can get an idea of the data you’ll be provided with.
5. Is your education data GDPR compliant?
Any organisation that processes individual’s data must follow the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
It’s your education data supplier’s responsibility to make sure any data they supply is GDPR compliant.
Your supplier should be able to demonstrate that they understand GDPR regulations, confirm that their data is GDPR compliant, and provide evidence to show how they follow the regulations.
6. Do you have any knowledge of the education sector?
You might wonder why this matters – after all, you’re just buying an education database to run your own marketing to education campaigns.
The key here is the how much knowledge a specialist education marketing agency has about the education sector, compared with a data company that supplies 100s of different industry databases.
There are constant developments in the education sector including changes in school structures, expanding multi-academy trusts, new and enhanced job roles, and differing spending processes. Only specialist agencies will keep up to date with all of this and reflect it in their service provision.
You should find out how much ongoing support they can offer you in terms of knowledge of the education sector and specific marketing to education advice.
Explore the Buzz Education Database
- 30,000 UK schools
- 100% GDPR compliant
- 97% email address accuracy
- 12 months unlimited access
- Ongoing support throughout your subscription
- Access to expert education insights
- Verified education data
- 589,000 teachers and decision makers
- Live, real-time data
- 99% postal address accuracy
- Daily checks and updates
- 15,000 data updates made regularly
- Regular GDPR training
- Compatible with external ESPs
You can click here to find out more about our education database and feel free to check out our education data FAQs if you have any extra questions.
If you’d like us to create a custom-built education data proposal for you, get in touch today.