While small and large organizations implement unique strategies to scale their business, they rely on data by the end of the day.
Reliable and authentic data helps make efficient and informed business decisions. This explains why 60% of companies globally use data and analytics to execute better business practices.
So if you want to boost conversions, drive more sales, and increase revenue, you must collect data. But the question is, how to acquire data?
Web scraping or buying prospects are two options to consider. But which one is better? We’ll reveal it in the guide below.
The Importance of Big Data for Businesses
Most brands today need data to tweak their practices for continuous business success. Big data could mean a lot of things. For one, it also refers to leads or prospects.
Because leads become customers later, they significantly contribute to business growth and revenue. Therefore, businesses pay critical attention to acquiring leads.
Data helps companies monitor competitor strategies, track price intelligence, perform lead generation, and more.
All these activities help brands outpace their competitors and make an impact in the ever-growing digital world.
Therefore, one cannot undermine the importance of big data and its role in upgrading your e-commerce game. Here is a quick overview of how big data helps businesses.
- Market analysis. Brands understand consumer behavior and their attitude towards a particular product and service. This helps them design better products and offer the desired services.
- Lead generation. Competitor data helps create high-quality leads that turn into customers later and translate into sales.
- Brand monitoring. What do consumers think about your brand? Gaining insight into such data helps protect business reputation by implementing helpful strategies.
How to Acquire Data?
Data plays a crucial role in making informed business decisions, but the question remains, “How to acquire data?” There are two ways to go about it.
Web Scraping
Web scraping is automated data extraction from online sources. But how to extract data from a website? Generally, marketers or business owners use web scrapers to harvest data and proxies for automation and efficiency. Click here to read more on the topic.
These tools help bypass IP blocks and geo-restrictions by offering thousands of locations and IP addresses.
Buying Prospects
A popular alternative to web scraping is buying the prospects. This involves brands purchasing already collected data from another organization.
However, note that the organizations that sell prospects to other companies also acquire it through web scraping. They choose to sell the prospects to brands that cannot afford web scraping projects due to limited sources.
Pros and Cons of Buying Business Data
Here are some pros and cons of buying business data.
Advantages
- Buying prospects is a convenient way to collect much-needed business data.
- You do not need to invest time in web scraping and go through the lengthy data extraction process. Instead, you can utilize the time to focus on other essential business tasks.
- Web scraping is automated, but it still takes more time than buying ready-made data.
- Data brokers are skilled at their job and will provide you with accurate and quality data.
Disadvantages
- Data brokers do not tell you how they collected and analyzed the data – it might make you question the accuracy in the first place.
- Buying prospects doesn’t come cheap.
Pros and Cons of Web Scraping
Listed below are the pros and cons of web scraping.
Advantages
- You have full control over the data you extract. Simply put, you can accessibly monitor the accuracy and reliability of data.
- Pre-built web scraping solutions make the entire process even more efficient, convenient, and cost-effective.
- A scraper API eases data analysis by organizing and optimizing the data.
Disadvantages
- You may encounter unanswered web requests, CAPTCHAs, and IP address blocks.
Buying VS Web Scraping Business Prospects: What to Choose?
Buying the prospects or undertaking a web scraping project both have advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take an overview to help you choose an ideal option for your company.
- Prospect quality. Because prospects can make or break your sales, acquiring quality leads is a must for a positive outcome. Incorrect details in a poorly organized list make it challenging to close the deals.
- Costs. You must consider how much gathering the prospects will cost you. If your budget doesn’t allow you to purchase prospects, you better go the route of web scraping.
- Company needs. A few brands need to generate prospects time and again. Buying, in that case, might not be an ideal option. Make sure you choose what best aligns with your company goals.
Building business data makes more sense as it gives you greater control over the data you extract. Yes, you may encounter problems but using a reliable web scraper API promotes convenience, speed, and accuracy.
Conclusion
Because businesses depend on data to stay ahead in the evolving digital world, the best way to go about it is not a new question.
Buying vs. building data are two ways to acquire online information. While purchasing the data sounds hassle-free, building one using web scraping guarantees accuracy, speed, and efficiency.
Further, if you know how to extract data from a website, it’ll be the icing on the cake.
