What are the risks of using third-party data enrichment services?

Third-party data enrichment services add information to your subscriber records-demographic data, firmographic details, behavioral insights, or social profiles-sourced from external databases. While this enrichment can improve personalization and targeting, it carries significant compliance risks. The enrichment provider's data may have been collected under different consent terms than yours, potentially without permission for marketing use or sharing with third parties like you. If the provider obtained data improperly, you inherit their compliance problems when you incorporate that data into your records.

Under GDPR and similar regulations, you're responsible for ensuring that all personal data you process has a valid lawful basis. This applies to enriched data just as much as directly collected data. If you enrich a subscriber record with data the person never consented to share with you, you may be processing without lawful basis-even though you didn't directly collect that data yourself. "The enrichment vendor assured us it was compliant" provides no protection; controllers cannot outsource their compliance obligations.

Practical risks extend to data accuracy and subscriber expectations. Enrichment data may be outdated, inaccurate, or simply wrong. The uprovider's inference that a subscriber is a particular age, has certain interests, or works at a specific company might be based on weak signals. Using incorrect enrichment data for personalization can feel intrusive or creepy to subscribers, damaging rather than enhancing the relationship. Additionally, subscribers may be surprised or upset to learn you have information about them they never provided, potentially triggering complaints or unsubscribes. Enrichment can make your data more powerful, but it also makes your compliance obligations more complex-you're responsible for every data point you hold, regardless of where it came from.