The hidden cost of data enrichment tools

Somewhere in the labyrinth of modern marketing, a familiar problem lurks: bad data. Incomplete profiles, outdated emails, missing company details, the digital equivalent of trying to build a skyscraper on quicksand. Enter data enrichment tools: Clay, ZoomInfo, Clearbit, Lusha, Apollo.io, Cognism, all promising to magically transform incomplete lead lists into rich, actionable insights.

The pitch is enticing: plug in your CRM, set up automations, and voilà! Accurate customer data at your fingertips, a pipeline of perfect leads, and a B2B utopia where sales reps always call the right person.

But like any utopia, there’s a hidden cost, one that most providers won’t mention until you’ve already committed.

The hidden trap of data enrichment tools

Ask any marketing team why they chose their data enrichment tool, and you’ll likely hear about three things:

✅ More leads

✅ Better CRM data

✅ Higher campaign performance

What they won’t tell you is what happens after the honeymoon phase, when costs spiral, integrations break, and suddenly, the data goldmine feels more like an expensive illusion.

The four costs nobody talks about

1. Credit consumption: The silent budget killer

Most providers, especially Clearbit, ZoomInfo, and Apollo.io, operate on a credit-based pricing model. The concept is simple: each time you enrich a contact, you burn a credit. But in reality, these credits disappear faster than you expect. Many marketing teams assume they’ll use credits only for new leads, but they forget about data decay. A contact’s job title, company size, or even email can change within months, requiring re-enrichment. Over a year, a business might end up paying twice for the same contacts just to keep data fresh.

For instance, Clearbit charges around £0.30 per enrichment. At scale, this adds up fast. An enterprise-level company might start with a £13,500 contract, only to realise that heavy credit consumption can push costs upwards of £60,000 per year.

Think about it: do you know exactly how many contacts you need enriched? And if you do, have you budgeted for unexpected surges in demand?

Because these tools aren’t just charging for new contacts. Updating a contact? That’s another credit.

Trying to pull multiple data points? You might need multiple credits per lead.

It’s like buying petrol for your car, except you have no way of seeing how much fuel you’ve used until the bill arrives.

2. Integration nightmares: The fine print you didn’t read

Software is supposed to make life easier, until you discover that your new tool doesn’t work properly with your CRM.

Let’s say you’re using ZoomInfo. You expect it to sync seamlessly with Salesforce, HubSpot, or Marketo but suddenly, there are extra charges for deeper integrations, API usage, and user seats.

The Lusha pricing page might say £55 per month for a basic plan but what happens when you exceed your credit limits? What if you need custom fields mapped or advanced CRM syncs?

You either upgrade to a higher-tier subscription (cha-ching 💰) or pay consultants to fix integration issues (double cha-ching 💰). When integrations don’t sync properly, sales teams get frustrated. CRM data ends up incomplete or outdated, meaning SDRs waste time chasing dead leads. Marketing teams then have to manually clean up records, which delays campaigns. Suddenly, a data enrichment tool meant to streamline processes is creating more inefficiencies.

3. Training & support that isn’t actually support

The typical data enrichment sales pitch goes like this:

• “No technical skills required!”
• “Simple plug-and-play automation!”
• “Works out of the box!”

But that’s rarely true.

Many companies underestimate the learning curve of tools like Clearbit or Apollo.io. Even after the initial onboarding, teams still struggle with technical setup, data cleaning, and ensuring accuracy.

Most providers lean heavily on FAQ pages and video tutorials, which are great for basic tasks but useless when you have complex questions.

That’s when businesses resort to freelancers paying data specialists £25–£75 per hour just to manage the tool. The irony? They invested in data enrichment tools to save time and money yet here they are, spending more of both.

4. The costly mistake of outsourcing

When internal teams can’t handle data quality issues, the fallback solution is outsourcing. But hiring a freelancer or data agency introduces its own problems:

• Hidden costs: Hourly rates add up quickly, with no guarantee of ROI.
• Coordination challenges: External specialists don’t know your internal processes, leading to misaligned expectations.
• Data inconsistencies: Different freelancers use different sourcing methods, leading to fragmented results.

At this point, many companies start wondering: Wasn’t this tool supposed to simplify our data enrichment, not complicate it?

Compass Data: A better approach to data enrichment

This is why we built Compass Data, to eliminate these hidden costs while still delivering the data quality that marketing and sales teams need.

Instead of a self-service tool that requires constant oversight, we provide a fully managed service, designed to:

✅ Eliminate hidden costs – No credit-based pricing, no unpredictable fees.

✅ Ensure seamless integration – We handle setup, mapping, and automation for you.

✅ Reduce training overhead – No need to upskill internal teams or hire external experts.

✅ Deliver reliable, accurate data – A dedicated team enriches your leads with human oversight.

Case study spotlight: Northern Data Group

Northern Data Group—a leader in AI and high-performance computing (HPC)—was struggling with costly data enrichment tools that delivered inconsistent results.

They switched to Compass Data, and within three months:

✅ Identified thousands of high-quality prospects with precision.

✅ Used AI-driven insights to enhance targeted ABM campaigns.

✅ Achieved email open rates twice the industry standard, generating multiple high-value MQLs.

By removing hidden costs and streamlining enrichment workflows, they transformed their marketing ROI, without the constant pricing surprises.

Unlocking your data’s true potential

If you’re using a traditional data enrichment tool, you’re probably paying more than you think.

Between credit consumption, integration fees, training costs, and outsourcing expenses, the total cost often far exceeds the subscription price.

With Compass Data, you get a simple, predictable, and fully managed solution, so your team can focus on strategy, not troubleshooting. Every day spent with inefficient data enrichment tools is a day of wasted marketing spend, missed sales opportunities, and growing operational inefficiencies. The right data should accelerate your pipeline, not slow it down. Isn’t it time to switch to a model that actually works for your business?

Ready to stop overpaying for data enrichment?

Talk to us about Compass Data today.