Interview with Frédéric Pichard, CEO of Zebaz: "We try to be stricter than the legislation

At the beginning of July, I was invited by Frédéric Pichard, CEO of Zebaz, to come and discuss with him in the Parisian offices of the company. Zebaz has been active for 5 years in the B2B acquisition business.

You know how Badsender likes to be cautious when touching the field of acquisition, for all that, it doesn't prevent discussion, especially when the interlocutor is full of intelligence 🙂

Meeting

What were the reasons for launching Zebaz?

We come from the world of lead generation. At some point, we realized that the performance of actions comes mainly from the quality of the data. However, few (if any) players in the email database market offered acceptable solutions in terms of quality. The existing databases were mainly internal, generated by sales people, trainees, ... On the other hand, the sellers of email databases came mainly from trade shows, via registration forms.

This lead generation method was therefore very imperfect, and we wanted to find an answer. To find answers, we first had to diagnose the causes of this imperfection: the B2B collection method and especially the update processing.

To try to have a minimum of volume, you have to try to get everyone to participate via exchange. Collaboration has shown us the way. For quality, there are processes to identify why contacts are bad and to isolate errors. Once again, it is the community that intervenes.

This is how the contribution model was born. That's how we got to the point where we now have almost 1.5 million contacts in our database.

How are these updates made?

We have developed algorithms that automatically generate updates every month. These algorithms analyze a large number of Big Data signals. For example, we are able to detect appointments and company changes by analyzing information published in the press.

To achieve such a result, you benefit from a very flexible B2B legislation in France.

Indeed, it is a model that is possible thanks to relatively permissive legislation, but we try, out of respect for the leads, to be stricter than the legislation in force. We have put in place a principle that we call "loyalty". Every lead in our database will be notified every month by email and we give them the means to object or correct their data. We have less than 1% opposition on these emails.

Coming back to the legislation, we think that the French system is the right one. A professional has a duty to keep himself informed and must be able to inform his market. Does he really need to be protected like the consumer? At the limit, the classification as undesirable is an acceptable solution for us.

How do you propose to your customers to use the addresses you have?

Our solution offers many selection criteria. Once our clients have entered these criteria, we deliver customized files that they can use as much as they want.

There are several reasons for this mode of operation. The data does not belong to us directly, so why protect it from reuse? The data is used externally, so why limit its use with necessarily fallible systems? Finally, a database that is not updated has no value, and it is precisely on this point that we try to make the difference.

In this mode of operation, you can quickly find yourself with a file containing many errors, which generates many bounces and complaints. How to manage this?

The key is to always use the latest version! This is the best way to keep the quality up.

Every month we offer the possibility to download an update of the selection made by our customers. This takes the form of three files. A file with all "up to date" leads. A file with the contacts to be deleted, because they have generated an opposition, because they have left the target or because our monthly update email has generated a bounce. Finally, a last file with the new incoming leads for the selection of our client.

This mode of operation allows us to make a complete update directly in the CRM database of our customers.

Do you think the market is self-regulating enough?

The market is self-regulated by usage. Advertisers are more cautious than before. This is probably due to the evolution of filtering technologies and the rise of e-reputation. If they cross the line, they know it can go wrong. For this reason, Zebaz will always try to move towards more quality in order to allow companies to communicate serenely.