Data.com and Jigsaw Says Goodbye To The Internet
Salesforce.com Retires “data.com Connect” (formerly known as Jigsaw) on May 4, 2019
After a fifteen year run, with nine of those years being under Salesforce guidance, data.com Connect has now been retired. The system provided an innovative system for sales and marketing leads and was used by other sales, marketing and C-Level people all over the world. Salesforce decided to close down the data.com Connect service and focus on its other products, where it makes the most of its income. The retirement of this system marks and end of an era in which products and services that flew so high, end up burning up by getting to close to the sun.
The data.com Connect service started life as the Jigsaw Data Corp in 2004 and was sold to Salesforce in 2010 for $28 Million in cash and stock. Jigsaw was a leading provider of business contact with a business-to-business base community of over 1.2 million avid and active members. The Jigsaw service gave individuals and companies access to business contact information for over 21 million business professionals and organization profiles in excess of 3 million companies.
Upon announcement of the service closure in 2018, many other organizations offered to buy the service, but Salesforce declined citing corporate privacy issues. The service ran from 2004 to 2019 and during its Salesforce years it was headed by various middle managers including Derek Turner and Susan Susteren. The service and website design changed little in the nine years of Salesforce ownership and they sank no money into developing it any further since 2010, which is where the service still looked like at its closure in 2019. The service had become the giant pickle in Salesforce’s product list and it was usually headed by people who had either one step out of the door by choice (retirees) or by boot (inept managers). The low priority on this product did not bode well for the service and finally Marc Benioff the CEO of Salesforce pulled the plug on the service in March 2018, giving users a one year notice (which was actually pretty generous)
Salesforce.com Issued Formal Statements:
“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.”
“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 on our Salesforce Lightning Data page.”
How The Data.com Connect Sales-Lead Service Worked
The data.com service (which most hard core users still know as Jigsaw) used a format of give one – get one. If you provided a lead to them (or an update to one of their existing leads), you would get a credit for one of their leads. If you did not want to provide a lead to get a credit, then you could buy one for a buck, or less if you bought in bulk
System Efficacy, Just How Good Were The Leads?
The efficacy of their system wasn’t stellar, but the service was still pretty useful and sales and marketing mavens recognized that the system was tailor made for them. On average, data.com would normally have leads for about half of any one organization. Of that half, 50% of that data was old or redundant, so this meant that data.com had about 25% of the leads of any one organization, which is lower than other services, but was still pretty good. So for example, Morgan Stanley has 60,000 employees, Data.com Connect would have 30,000 leads for that organization on its list and half of those were still valid, which meant that the service had 15,000 good leads for an organization of 60,000 – not bad for a user updated service, a system that other competing services did not use.
The Jigsaw System Had One Huge Advantage That Salesforce Squandered Soon After Their Acquisition
A very popular part of the original Jigsaw system was the corporate tree structure, where users could go up and down a tree of an organization and even see holding companies, subsidiaries and partner companies and all the employees within each of those divisions. This part of the service was invaluable to auditors, investigators and even the police and it was unfortunate that this was the very first thing that Salesforce ditched from the service after their acquisition as they were concerned about the ramifications and liability of providing so much power to their users, to be able to see corporate data in this way. The removal of this part of the service meant that the one unique feature that Jigsaw had over its competitors was lost and its ultimate demise was then assured.
Data.com Issued Some Final Guidance For Users:
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?
The last day to view or sign into The Corner will be May 3rd, 2019.
Can I still submit support tickets?
You can continue to submit support tickets through to May 3rd, 2019.
Users Responses To The Closure Announcement
Data.com Connect users were not kind in their comments following Salesforce’s announcement that they would be shuttering the service
HabsFan18 on 04-17-2018
Wow. Renew my account on March 28th 2018 and cancel the service on April 17th 2018? Unless the decision had never been discussed before the end of March (fat chance), this is a really nasty approach. It would have been nice to give me the opportunity to save my annual subscription charge, instead of forcing me to use a service that doesn’t want to exist anymore. What a BS move.
CoyoteOhio on 04-17-2018
It’s all about $$$ isn’t it? Not happy about the changes
FunBreed82 on 04-17-2018
This really stinks. I doubt the “after much consideration” corporate CYA comment at the beginning of the email thread. I have used this source a lot for finding new prospects. I have entered many contacts to this database, updated contact information with accurate information as I found it in the field, and used it as the “wiki” it was originally set up to be. So now that I have helped update your database with correct, factual contact data, over the past several years is Salesforce going try and sell me an overpriced database like we used to use in the old days when we had to rely on CD-ROM disks and before that large books from companies like Harris Selectory? I agree with the comment above about it being about the $$$. Way to go Salesforce, nice move, like everything else on the web – hurts the small business owner who liked your product until you had to “improve it” in pursuit of big bucks. What a Zuckerberg move.
Admin Response on 04-17-2018
@HabsFan18 I appreciate your concern. I do want to point out that Data.com Connect will be available until May 3, 2019, so you have more than a full year to continue to use the product.
TekJobs on 04-17-2018
Why not raise subscription prices, or sell the company?
Salesgunner on 04-17-2018
Wow, well now what to do with over 518,000 points? Now that this annoucement has been made I am sure the data quality will nosedive. I am proud I have maintained a 98% rating for years as a rainmaker. Certainly no one will be adding new contacts. How about a points for data.com bling?
SillyCause0 on 04-17-2018
I am so sad to see this go. I am sure you are too @EmailBandDCand other admins. I do hope that you will be moved into something else and this doesn’t displace you.
NewBoost6 on 04-17-2018
There is a lot of logistical information here, but nothing about why this decision was made. What led to this decision? Was it entirely monetary, or did the current social environment around privacy issues have some impact?
SillyCause0 on 04-17-2018
I would think both @NewBoost6
RoyGBiV76 on 04-17-2018
@HabsFan18 isn’t the renewal date based on when you first purchased a subscription? That’s hardly their fault…
HabsFan18 on 04-17-2018
@RoyGBiV76 If I had known the product was potentially (and likely) going away when my renewal date rolled around three weeks ago, I wouldn’t have renewed. Their decision to sunset the product wasn’t made in only three weeks. IMHO, the information was deliberately withheld to ensure that I and others like me would renew. Legal? Yes, of course. Sleazy? I for one think so.
BSR2002 on 04-18-2018
Is Salesfore planning to replace this with something else tat those of us not on Salesfoce can use? That is one aspect of the site that I lie, it is updated by all kinds of different people.
JustLight1 on 04-26-2018
What other comparable Contact Data products are out there from competitors and who has something close to Data.com?
BlueTikHound on 05-01-2018
Does anyone know of another database like this we could turn to?
MercV18 on 05-02-2018
how do I purchase a plan before the deadline?
MercV18on 05-02-2018
How do I sign up before the deadline??
mtakamoto on 05-08-2018
Why not spin it off? This is a valuable service that can evolve much further?
AAUSA7 on 05-11-2018
Please lets all list some other similar sites that could serve us. I know this all bites but we got to figure out what the other alternative sources for connections will serve us. I don;t believe for one second they will remain open until may next year, already lot of problems (try inserting a company or contact !, go ahead) If you have points, my suggestion is use them ASAP. These guys will close much sooner. SOOOoooo ….. what other places are there ? I have heard about:
– Datafox
– Matchdeck
– Clearbit
HFDUSJFPO on 05-11-2018
I’ve had some luck with ZoomInfo. I’m assuming they’re killing it because it competes with something salesforce does.
AAUSA7 on 05-11-2018
Zoominfo costs money, a lot of money if you are a heavy user and you fixing their data means nothing. How does data.com compete with Salesforce? I don’t use Salesforce ……. thats just a CRM tool right ? can I get (and fix getting points) contact data there ?
HFDUSJFPO on 05-11-2018
ZoomInfo has a free version. I have no idea what Salesforce has as I have no desire to use it. I don’t think they care about points, just spending money with them.
Granbit on 05-11-2018
@HFDUSJFPO @AAUSA7 Salesforce owns Data.com Connect….
AAUSA7 on 05-16-2018
so nobody here uses any other solution other than data.com …… and you know this will disappear ….. ?
HFDUSJFPO on 05-16-2018
@AAUSA7 I’ve seen a few alternatives mentioned.
AAUSA7 on 05-16-2018
Like what? Matchdeck? Clearbit? Datafox? Lead 911 whatever? Zoom info That’s it? Thats what we are stuck with?
SillyCause0 on 05-16-2018
We are not here to inform you of database programs. We are just as disappointed that we can no longer count on this as our resource. I not only used this for a resource but have made connections with several of the members so I can attest to how disappointing it is that this is going away. Complaining about it isn’t going to bring it back. I do not think they are sleazy.
AAUSA7 on 05-16-2018
Your point makes no sense…… What is wrong about tryng to find out alternative solutions? You don’t want to thats fine, why do you try to stop me trying? I bet there are many users here scrambling trying to find and learn about other solutions.
SillyCause0 on 05-16-2018
@AAUSA7 you listed 5 alternative solutions and then stated “That’s it? Thats what we are stuck with?? THAT point makes no sense. You have found other alternatives so I am not sure why you would state that. It is not data.com connect’s fault that “you are stuck with it”. You do have choices.
ElfinWater79 on 05-19-2018
Zoominfo.com is the expensive, best option. The second best and much cheaper option is intelius.com. Its for personal contacts only but contains many company and work emails, phones, etc. Only $20.00 a month.
SillyCanal86 on 05-27-2018
what a shame Used this extensively. Definitely want to see as many alternatives that people know of.
mabell007 on 05-28-2018
There are a few services out there, and hope more will spring up. High end – Discover.org. Others like seamless.ai offer limited free service. Nancy Nardin writes about the “Sales Technoligy Stack”. Smartsellingtools.com
walterjlg on 06-05-2018
Very disappoiting! What is the new plaform?
MainBike on 06-12-2018
Some of us use this service to earn our living . So is there any thing you can do to keep this platform alive. Also I contacted other friends who use this service and they didn’t know it is going to end next year. I bet 60% of the users don’t know either. Why are you hurting so many loyal followers who help build this data base. Come on revisit this service and do the right thing for us and your BRAND.
DataDataData on 06-13-2018
So I am very disappointed in this change. Will you be supplying me with a list that I contributed or is that acceible now to get my contacts? Because of this amazing platform it has allowed me to no longer have to keep so many business cards and so this has been somewhat of a great lifeline for my business – very disappointing and wlll definately take a bad toll on my business – some of our smaller Mom and Pop businesses will really hurt from this. Very disappppinted user since 2012
ZortatheJust on 06-26-2018
Disappointing for sure, the concept of a community-corrected database of current info was very cool. When purchased by Salesforce, there were concerns as to how they would manage and leverage the product. We saw hints of their re-evaluation of potential ROI after cancelling the Rainmaker events a few years ago. I guess we all download our royalty contacts, use up our points on searches and move on to find an alternative 10 months from now.
iFreetobe on 06-27-2018
How can anyone assume that something would just keep rolling. In this day and age what was free once now has a charge to it. What had a low price is now a high price. This was a great service I agree now lets face the fact and move on by sharing a new lead source. What would it be I don’t know but why now share what we know. I’ll start looking, does anyone have a better idea than this page to share notes?
RoyGBiV76 on 06-28-2018
@DataDataData you’ve always had the ability to export your own contacts
Lukester1911 on 07-01-2018
10 years of college, down the drain. Finally make Rainmaker, officially able to attend the “special functions” (whatever those were)..now it’s going away. Sure, I wasn’t a big player, but was in the game everyday. Regarding comments about money from other comments?….It’s always about the money, don’t blame Salesforce for that.
RapidBeach13 on 07-12-2018
Can anyone recommend a similar service as this one?
fred2798 on 07-16-2018
gutted is the word – as a small business owner using points was a great way for me to access data. Anyone out there that has the web design expertise to start another data.com? I would be happy to help manage!
AAUSA7 on 07-19-2018
I have researched and found following list of alternative “tools” that might (or might not) provide similar kind of access to contacts. Some are purely CRM, most you have to pay big$ to get access …. so none of them are as good as good old JigSaw / Data.com …. but HEY ! got to find another tool right people ?
Help me rate these, lets share some opinions …. if you know one of them well and have used one of them, please pipe in and help us all find a new source. Spring is here tomorrow and I want to prepare, I am sure you do also. Please feel to add if I missed something:
- AeroLeads
- Clearbit
- Cliently
- CloseIO
- contactout.com
- Corporate360
- Datafox
- Datanyze
- Discover.Org
- eGrabber / LeadGrabber Pro
- found.ly
- FreeCRM
- hiplead.com
- Hubspot
- Hunter.io
- Infofree.com
- Insideview
- insightly.com
- intelius.com
- Lead411
- Leadferret.com
- Leadgenius
- leadlake.com
- matchdeck
- Mojo
- Pipedrive
- RainKing
- ReadyContacts
- Salesgenie
- SalesLoft
- SalesRipe
- seamless.ai
- TopProducer8i
- Unomy
- VanillaSoft
- Zoho
- Zoominfo
fyvlxwu41 on 07-20-2018
Outward Media Inc (OMI) is your only source of clean, valid, spam proof email addresses. OMI also offers a 95% deliverable guarentee. email me at carlwideberg@isalesman.com to get you started. Regards, Carl Wideberg.
GrandFlash0 on 07-30-2018
So, there went the jigsaw api…Thanks corporate america…
AngleTile24 on 07-31-2018
Don’t have a clue what Salesforce is thinking. For them life will go on but, for hundereds of users like me who have been heavy followers and contributors to Data.com, life won’t be that easy. I see this as a betryal to the whole strong data.com user community and with their trust that they imparted in data.com for years. Totally unacceptabe and disappointing move.
N1SalesGuy on 08-01-2018
So if I make a new version, and make it function in a similar way, would you all move your lists over? Maybe I can find a way to honor a few of the points…
FunBreed82 on 08-01-2018
Thanks to all for alternative suggestions on possible alternative “tools” given the corporate decision to end this specific Jigsaw / Data.com / Salesforce tool next May. The beauty of a free market is the ability to find alternatives (choices), even if those alternatives are not a “perfect fit” to what have been using here.
As a small business owner who uses this tool a lot, I have found it user friendly (for the most part), fairly accurate (for a user generated product), and very helpful to develop relationships with new customers.
I would like to give a “shout out” and thanks to @AAUSA7 for the lengthy list from which to at least start to look into alternatives. Thanks to others who have also made suggestions too.
Who knows which of those databases will work out with our individual needs, budgets, and info requirements but it is better than what Salesforce has left us with – which is a “thank you” and “see ya”.
Does not make me want to buy or use any of their other products especially after we contributed to its accuracy (my rating is consistently 96%+ over the time I used this product).
Who knows why the decision was made. All I know is as a sales professional with 30+ years in direct B2B sales, this is not a good way to handle an exit strategy for loyal customers. Many of you may not care, but I do having used this product for many years and truly liked to product. Oh well – onward.
AAUSA7 on 08-01-2018
I am 100% with you @FunBreed82 @AngleTile24 I have ZERO interest to give ANY business to Salesforce going forward, not in any shape or form. I am on a mission to find any other solution, as long as it has nothing to do with Salesforce.
@N1SalesGuy> you do something similar …. I am sure many of us would follow. I would be even willing to pay monthly fee for similar kind of source, something that Data.com didn’t even bother to consider or offer, which I find amazing.
tbragg on 08-01-2018 – last edited on 08-01-2018 by Admin
Folks, we have almost a year. Why not build one? I don’t have a huge number of contact records, but we at ResQSoft do have software that could be used to build the system pretty affordably. Why don’t we talk about it? -[edited]
AAUSA7 on 08-01-2018
I’m game ! 100%. Count on my support !
IdealGame on 08-01-2018
It seems very wrong of SalesForce to close JigSaw/DataConnect, as they can afford the goodwill, but cannot afford to loose the goodwill of JigSaw/DataConnect users. It is proof of short-sighted corporate “thinking”!
Apart from above, is there a marketplace for points where those that have many can get contacts for those that pay, since paying JigSaw does not work anymore?
Also, kudos to @tbragg, building a new JigSaw, perhaps community maintained is the right direction!
