“Ok, Google. Mexican restaurants near me”
How often have we made our life easier with just a click and voice note? Very often, right. This is what POI data aims to do for people – delivering the right message at the right time to the right consumer. With businesses evolving every single day, unlocking the full potential of POI data has become the primary goal of every business.
“Data is everywhere” quote can’t be more true. However, the point to note is “good data cannot be everywhere”. In today’s data-centric world, gleaning knowledge from good data is challenging.
Inaccurate, bad, and unusable data flows around the internet like a gush of waves in the sea and if used, can have lasting impact on your business – from customer experience to profit and revenue.
According to research by Gartner, poor data quality costs a business about $15 million per year on an average. In this post, we will discuss five major factors to consider before buying POI data and use them as a checklist to avoid falling into the bad data trap.
1. Is POI data up-to-date?
Imagine you have scheduled a meeting with your business associates at the nearest coffee shop and you reach there only to find it unserviceable. The result of bad location data has made an impact on your meeting, thus consuming time, effort and expense to reach the location.
Locations change, shut down, reopen, relocate, or change attributes, like visiting hours or phone numbers. In addition to these, human error is another factor.
As a data business owner, you don’t want to send your consumer to the wrong location at the wrong time, or worse, send to a place that does not exist. It is not only risky but also incorrect to define the wrong audience segment. Additionally, old and obsolete POI data can affect the business and marketing strategies of a business owner.
For example, 10,000 postal codes change monthly and 130 municipalities change names annually affecting 3.3 million addresses across Canada.
Therefore, POI data providers must update the dataset regularly based on the changes in private & public places and city planning process. At Mobius, the standard refresh cadence cycle of POI dataset is 30-60-90 days to attain recency.
2. Is POI data accurate?
A 2019 study on location-based marketing stated that accuracy of location data is a firms’ biggest concern in geomarketing.
Accuracy of data is not a newly discovered problem. This problem has been haunting us for several years. For example, this shot from the 1960s sci-fi series Thunderbirds, indicates the major problem of POI dataset – ACCURACY.
In today’s analytics-obsessed world, data accuracy is an essential element of every business. Hence, it is important to assess the accuracy of the given dataset from the POI provider before using it for analytics purposes.
A good POI data provider will filter out noisy locations such as places that do not help in business strategies and insights. Before buying POI data, know the sources of POI data collection and assess these sources for accuracy.
3. Is POI data extensive?
Do you want your user to see the rating or a picture of a restaurant before they land there? If yes, then it is mandatory to ask your data provider on the coverage of the POI datasets.
With limited datasets and attributes, critical insights to derive scalable solutions becomes challenging. Bringing POI data together from disparate sources and regions isn’t easy, however, when brought together, it provides meaningful results for every business owner.
For example, if your business involves setting up chain restaurants, you can ask your POI data vendor on other populated points-of-interest like tourist spots, parks, shopping malls, etc., along with restaurant POI. This kind of broader and extensive dataset helps business owners to understand the market in-and-out.
The more detailed the POI database is, the better experience you deliver to your customers. Therefore, coverage across brands, regions, categories, and completeness of data is as important as quality and accuracy of the POI data.
With 4+ million POIs across 11 industries (116 sub-industries), Mobius ensures maximum coverage for different user requirements.
4. Is POI data verified?
In 2018, Google had to remove three million fake business listings from their maps. Bad POI data are created and listed on the Internet to give clients an advertising boost.
POI data vendors collect location data from various sources such as onsite visits, media platforms, geocoding services, government databases, company store locators, user review sites, and 3rd party POI service platforms.
Therefore, before buying POI data, check for the credibility of the sources. As the amount of POI data available to businesses increases, there is likely to be more bad data.
Some data intermediaries take source data and process it to add value. As a POI data buyer, you must be aware of this as it can have a huge impact on your findings and insights.
According to reports, 91% of people check online reviews regularly, while 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they would trust a word-of-mouth recommendation. Thus, verified POI data is important to move in the right direction to serve customers better.
5. Is POI data customizable?
Even the most accurate and verified data can cause discomfort to use if they are not represented in a simple and efficient medium.
Based on the use cases, POI data is made available via GUI, charts, API integration or simply packaged up as raw data. Before buying POI data, ask for the format, mode, and attributes of the POI data.
If a lot of additional work is required to use the data, then the dataset becomes a roadblock to drive meaningful, timely, and actionable insights.
While complex datasets require an additional amount of effort and expertise, the other plug-and-play datasets are easier to integrate with data analytics APIs. Ensure that your POI dataset is versatile and meets the specific needs of your use cases.
Since there is no standard format, attributes or model for POI data, it is important to purchase a POI dataset which is compatible with your systems and formats.
The source of POI data, the vendors, and their quality processes are important information to accumulate before buying POI data. With rapid increase in advertising and “door-deliver” services, high-quality POI dataset has become the backbone of the geospatial world.
Xtract’s POI database which includes 3M+ POI data helps you to expand your operations and enrich customer service. Our POI and geofence data are 95% accurate and spread across 100+ industries.
If you are interested in knowing more, request a demo here.
