Magazine · 5 September 2026 · revised 9 October 2026
Data enrichment in your CRM: a number without a date is an opinion
Enriched CRM data goes stale without showing it. So every enriched field needs four details: value, unit, date collected and source. The date is the least conspicuous of the four, and only with it can you tell which row needs rechecking before the next outreach.
Why enriched data goes stale unnoticed
An enriched list of 400 companies is worth a lot on the day it's collected. Two quarters later it looks exactly the same, but part of it is no longer true, and you can't tell which part.
An empty or broken field stands out, a stale one doesn't. The company still exists, the headcount looks plausible. Except the head of sales left in February, the CRM was replaced, and the funding round that put the company on the list was two years ago.
How fast does B2B data go stale?
We haven't found a reliable figure. Online you'll see anything from 22.5 to 70 percent a year, depending on the source and the field. Most of them cite another source rather than their own measurement. We haven't measured it either, so we don't give a rate of our own.
For the work, a simpler question is enough: when was this row last correct?
Four details per enriched field
- Value: what it says
- Unit: what it is measured in. “250” alone says little, “250 employees” says something
- Date collected: when it was last true
- Source: where it comes from, with the source named
The collection date is the least conspicuous of the four. Yet it is the only one that lets a row expire.
What the date costs
In HubSpot that means two extra properties per enriched field, in Twenty two columns. During setup it costs an afternoon; after that, the enrichment run fills them itself.
Adding it later costs more. The fields are quick to create, but then you have 400 rows without a date and have to choose: collect them all again or distrust them all.
What the date is for
For a rule like this one: any row older than six months gets rechecked before outreach. Without a collection date that's a good intention; with one it's a filter in the CRM.
Reports read differently too when every number shows how old it is.
How we enrich and maintain target-account lists is described at Sales OS. The same applies to supplier data: Supplier OS.
What is data enrichment in the CRM?
Adding details from other sources to your records, such as headcount, industry, technology in use, contacts or a current trigger. We use Apollo, among other things, and the companies' own websites.
How often should you re-enrich CRM data?
It depends on the field. A simple rule: before any outreach, check whether the row is older than six months. For that, every field needs a collection date.
Which additional fields does an enriched record need?
Two per enriched value: the collection date and the source. In HubSpot that is two properties, in Twenty two columns.