Blogs

[#1]

After much consideration, the decision has been made to retire Data.com Connect as of May 4th, 2019. Consequently, as of May 4th, 2018, you will no longer be able to purchase plans, contacts, or points with a credit card, and as of May 4th, 2019, you will no longer be able to purchase contacts with points. Having myself been a member of the Data.com Connect family since 2009, I understand how challenging this news may be to you, and expect you may have questions about how this impacts your Data.com Connect membership. As such, we've provided a list of FAQs to address a number of concerns you may have. Our goal here is to provide visibility into what you can expect as we move toward the retirement date and make this process as simple as possible for you.

Site Access
What's happening to Data.com Connect?
Guided by customer and partner feedback, Salesforce's priority over the last year has been focused on developing a new vision for data integration. To help us maintain this focus, we're beginning a wind-down process of not only Data.com Connect, but also our Data.com Clean and Data.com Prospector products. More information about the overall strategy for Data.com products and the future of data integration can be found here. 

When is the last day I can log in to Data.com Connect?
May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to log in to Connect.

Buying Plans, Points, and Contacts with a Credit Card
Why is e-commerce is being removed?
In anticipation of the May 4th, 2019 retirement, we wanted to ensure that we could fulfill all contractual obligations to our customers. In light of this, you will no longer be able to purchase points, contacts, or plans with a credit card after May 3rd, 2018.

When is the last day I can purchase a contact with a credit card?
May 3rd, 2018 is the last day to purchase a contact with a credit card.

When is the last day I can purchase a plan?
May 3rd, 2018 is the last day to purchase a plan.

Purchasing Contacts with Points
When is the last day I can purchase a contact with points?
May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to purchase a contact with points.

Adding and Updating Contacts and Companies
When is the last day I can add a contact and/or company?
May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to add a contact and/or company. All points expire on May 4th, 2019.

When is the last day I can update a contact and/or company?
May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to update contacts and/or companies. All points will expire on May 4th, 2019.

When is the last day I can submit a bounce report?
While May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to submit a bounce report, we recommend you submit any bounce reports prior to April 27th, 2019 to allow time for the file to be processed and points awarded. May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to use your points.

When is the last day I can upload a bulk file of contacts?
While May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to submit a bulk file, we recommend you submit any bulk files prior to April 27th, 2019 to allow time for the file to be processed and points awarded. May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to use your points.

Exporting Your Contacts
Can I export all the contacts I purchased?
Yes. Please note you can only export up to 50,000 contact records at a time. Please be sure to do so no later than May 3rd, 2019, as you will not be able to log in as of May 4th, 2019.

Can I export all the contacts I have Royalty ownership of?
Yes. Please note you can only export up to 50,000 contact records at a time. Please be sure to do so no later than May 3rd, 2019, as you will not be able to log in as of May 4th, 2019.

When is the last day I can upload a suppression file?
May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to upload a suppression file.

Paid Plans
My paid plan is set for auto-renewal. How do I make sure I'm not charged again upon expiration?
Auto-renewal will be disabled for all accounts effective May 4th, 2018.

My plan is expiring between May 3, 2018 and May 3, 2019. Can I buy more points after I use all my plan points?
Points will no longer be available for purchase after May 3rd, 2018, so any point purchases need to be made by this date.

Contact Data
What happens to the data of all the contacts in the database?
The contacts data from Data.com Connect will only be used in the maintenance of the Data.com Clean and Prospector products for Salesforce through the end-of-life of those products (currently targeted for some time in 2020). After the Data.com end-of-life is complete, the contact database may be archived by Salesforce.

Your Account
What happens to my unused points?
All unused points, whether purchased or earned, will expire on May 4th, 2019.

What happens to my personal member data which I provided to register with Data.com Connect?
Personal member data that was provided in the course of registration for Data.com Connect is maintained in a separate database from contact records. Such personal member data will be deleted from the database after Data.com Connect has been retired and will not be resold to any third parties.

New Membership
When is the last date new members can join Data.com Connect?
May 3rd, 2019 is the last day for new members to join Data.com Connect.

Will new members still receive 10 free points?
Yes, new members will receive 10 free points. However, May 3rd, 2019 is the last day to accrue and/or use points.

Support and The Corner
When is the last day I can access The Corner?
At this time, we plan to continue to make The Corner available until some time in June, 2019.

Can I still submit support tickets?
You can continue to submit support tickets through to May 3rd, 2019.

[#2]

Hi. I spoke to Scott at Ramped Up today.  From my understanding, they are not taking over jigsaw/datacom or sales force.

they are offering a promotion to come on their database. The promo seems fair.

I did have a chance to see the database.  The information is not broken down by states.  If you work in a certain city you will not be able to review information via zip code, city, metro area etc.

I recruiter attorneys for law firms... do this - finding the information may be problematic for my business. With this said - I maybe still interested in going with this company.  I need to do some more research.

Right now we have a few months to decide what to do...

Are we allowed to exchange personal contact information to discuss how to set up our own database?  

[#3]

RampedUp.io is honoring all credits for data.com customers.  They will allow you to download as many contacts in their database as you have credits in connect. Just send a screenshot of your credits. $100 a month to access the platform. 

[#4]

I'm thinking this is the most unethical move a company can make.  This is bizarre.  You spend years building a database, spending money on contacts and you shut it down?  Sick and ridiculous. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

[#5]

Sad.....small businesses need a platform like this with both paid and free options or very low cost. I would contribute to a similar platform.

[#6]

I went to Rampedup.io after seeing their ad to help Data.com customers- they honored my Data.com points and I have 10,000 credits. Best part was that the e-mails went through.

[#7]

@AAUSA7  You have to go into your profile settings, and enable private messages in order to PM people and receive PMs.

[#8]

I can see that the business plan for data.com [or Jigsaw for us early adopters] has been impacted by GDPR and other privacy concerns.  I don't why you don't spin it back into an independent company instead of deep-sixing it.  

[#9]

I can only assume that come spring of 2019, there will be a flurry of activity, with people downloading contacts to use whatever points they may have, along with extracting all of their current contacts. Others may first upload batches of contacts to fatten their point totals prior to cashing in. I would suggest that you do this in early April, as this site could be prone to crashing close to the bitter end.

[#10]

I have read about a few people looking to start a new site, I will move my contracts.  Small list but will move and continue to contribute.

[#11]

Please -- for my sanity's sake -- get rid of Capcha. I know you're trying to wean us off the site in anticipation of May 2019 but come on -- 10 minutes clicking grainy pictures every morning to access the site is really trying my patience. 

[#12]

@ScuroLupo @AAUSA7@HabsFan18@N1SalesGuy

I'm also interested in the new crowdsourced environment.  I've been a part of this since the jigsaw days, and use it frequently and would be happy to move my contacts over.  Please keep me posted.

Another note- about oce a year, I get some one ask me how I got their contact info?  I just say a intern found it on the internet...  I don't have any interns, as I am just a sales guy.

Or,I say my boss told me to call....

Sometimes, they ask me to take them off my list- and I do...  If they ask to be taken off the list- that is one area to be concerned...

Unless you are spamming a ton of people in the same company, those "answers" should suffice.

I look forward to a new crowd-sourced resource!

[#13]

They're doing this because Salesforce has an integration with this database and going forward to use this database you'll need to become a Salesforce user.  I could be wrong but I believe it's only if you are an Enterprise level subscriber, which is bloody expensive.  So it's Salesforce's attempt to drive sales to their higher subscription price.  The beauty is that there are many other choices.  One I've used in the past which seemed to be a mirror image of Jigsaw/Data.com is Netprospex.  I didn't see it listed on the list of alternatives given by AAUSA7 (which is a great list), but it's certainly one to also look into.  It seems, from about ten years of experience with Jigsaw/Data.com that a lot of users were adding names to both lists.  Jigsaw was the bomb before they sold out. 

[#14]

I've been utilizing this site on and off since 2009. This news is terrible to the small business owner. Sadly, the little guy is forgotten yet again and no one really cares. Oh well, back to the phones and LI I go....

[#15]

I've been data.com strictly as a points user without subscription for many years.  It has been a helpful tool to my at-home business and I will be surely disappointed when it's no longer available.  Does anyone know of a similar shared, or point system that does not require a paid subscription?

[#16]

Salesforce bought data.com way too early for way too much money.   The revenue projections that Salesforce had to have used would have been hard to look at with a straight face.  So expectations were high when Saleforce started forcing multi-thousand $$ packages down big company's throats.   Would be very hard to imagine that revenue the first few years ever got anywhere near expecations.  I was EVP of sales at a relatively large privately help financial company when Salesforce came knocking trying to sell laughably expensive subscription plans.   They wanted to sell me a quantity of data about 10x larger than my entire prospect universe, and that was the smallest package.  I passed and we paid by-the-lead going forward.  

All along the way, we all bought lots of inaccurate data from these guys.  When's the last time you downloaded records that had accurate emails more than 60% of the time ?   I bought thousands of leads over several years and about 40% of them had an undeliverable email address.  The process to get a credit on those was laborious also AND I had a number of undeliverable emails where I sent bounce reports from my ASP and data.com still wouldn't issue a credit.  

I'm sure all of you have searched for large companies that had zero records as it seems companies could "opt out" of having their records included in the database ?   Now there's value.   

As far as privacy concerns, data.com always tried to hide behind the defense that they were "crowd sourced" leads, so if anyone's privacy was violated,  data.com couldn't possibly be held responsible because THEY didn't gather the data, you and I did.   So while I'm not aware of any serious class actions or regulatory enforcement  against data.com, the FTC did levy a $100+million fine against a company with a very different business model last summer, and while there's no direct correlation to data.com, that suit did underscore that the feds are lurking and watching how companies profit from selling data.  So data.com's management would be silly to not have their radar on for potential legal liability down the road.  Perhaps they felt that a defense based in hiding behind the crowd sourcing nature of their data was a bit "thin".  

The carefully worded statement they've issued makes me think that the database will likely be entertwined with other sales related services in an effort to continue to extract income from the investment in the database and also, importantly, likely to make if difficult to identify exactly how the data is being used.  A good strategy for making it difficult for regulators to come after data.com/salesforce.

Farewell to Data.com, a promising concept that never got it right.