Direct Dial Accuracy: How to Audit It Without Getting Tricked by “Match Rate”

Q: What is direct dial accuracy?

Direct dial accuracy means the number reaches the intended person (or their direct line) today. It does not mean the vendor can return a phone field or claim a match.

Q: Why is connect rate a better audit metric than match rate?

Connect rate maps to the cost you feel: wasted dials and rep time. Match rate maps to database coverage, which doesn’t tell you whether the number still routes to the person.

Q: How do data freshness and number reassignment affect results?

Data freshness determines how quickly records decay. Number reassignment turns a previously correct number into a wrong-person call. Both create variance by segment and lead age.

Q: What does “verification” mean in practice?

Verification should specify when the number was checked, what signals were used, and how reassignment risk is handled. If a vendor can’t define it, you can’t audit it.

By Ben Argeband, Founder & CEO of Swordfish.AI

Who this is for

This is for RevOps leaders and revenue teams who have to audit direct dial accuracy and defend a vendor decision. You’re trying to reduce wasted dials, stale records, and integration mistakes that quietly drain rep time.

Quick verdict

Core answer: Direct dial accuracy should be audited with connect rate and answer rate on a controlled sample, not “match rate.” A match only proves a number was returned, not that it reaches the person today.
Key stat: Expect variance driven by data freshness, number reassignment, seat count, API usage, list quality, and industry churn. If a vendor can’t explain variance, you can’t forecast outcomes.
Ideal user: Leaders and RevOps teams auditing vendor performance, troubleshooting declining call outcomes, or setting up a repeatable QA process.

Operational definitions (use these in your audit): connect rate is the share of attempted dials that connect to the intended person (or their direct line). answer rate is the share of connected calls that are answered. Vendors that only report “match rate” (a returned-number count) are measuring database coverage, not call outcomes.

What Swordfish does differently

Most vendors treat direct dials as a binary field: found or not found. That’s convenient for reporting and bad for operations because direct dials go stale. People change jobs, and number reassignment happens.

Operationally, you need the most likely direct path now, not a pile of “possible” numbers. In Prospector, direct dials are returned as ranked options (prioritized direct dials) so reps start with the highest-probability route.

On packaging, “unlimited” often means “until you actually use it.” Swordfish offers true unlimited under a fair use policy as defined in the written terms. This matters when seat count changes, API usage spikes, or you import a new territory and your workflow suddenly looks “abnormal” to a vendor that priced for light usage.

Decision guide

Use the “stale list” problem as your framework: yesterday’s data fails today because job changes and reassignment are constant. Your audit should be designed to measure decay and routing outcomes, not just whether a vendor can return a phone field.

What to measure (and why): direct dial verification only matters if it reduces wrong-person and dead-end outcomes. If verification doesn’t improve connect rate on your list, it’s a label, not a control.

Procurement-ready definition: verification should state when the number was checked, what method/signals were used, and how reassignment risk is handled.

Primary metric: connect rate (business outcome: fewer wasted dials and less rep time burned on stale numbers).
Secondary metric: answer rate (business outcome: helps separate “bad number” from “nobody picked up,” but it’s influenced by dialing behavior and spam labeling).
Decay signals: wrong person, disconnected, “no longer here,” switchboard routing (business outcome: exposes number reassignment and stale records so you can stop paying for rot).
Routing scoring rule: count switchboard connects separately from direct-to-person connects so you don’t confuse “a human answered somewhere” with “you reached the target.”

How to test with your own list (7 steps)

Freeze a sample. Export a fixed set of leads from your CRM. Don’t “clean” it mid-test or you’ll hide decay.
Segment before you test. Split by role seniority, company size, territory, and lead age. This is where data freshness shows up as variance.
Run vendors in the same time window. Pull results from each vendor within a tight window so time-based decay doesn’t bias the comparison.
Standardize what counts as a dial. Pick one denominator for connect rate (all attempted dials or only completed attempts) and keep it identical across vendors.
Log dispositions that expose reassignment. Track wrong-person and disconnected outcomes explicitly. Those are the operational costs of stale data and number reassignment.
Compute outcomes by segment. Compare connect rate and answer rate by segment, not just overall. Overall averages hide where your team actually works.
Write the variance explainer. For any differences, document whether they correlate with seat count, API usage, list quality, or industry churn. If you can’t explain variance, you can’t forecast it.

Integration headache to watch for: if your enrichment job overwrites newer phone fields with older vendor returns (or caches stale results), your audit will falsely show decay. Fix the workflow before you blame the dataset.

Checklist: Feature Gap Table

Buyer requirement	What vendors often mean	Hidden cost when it fails	What to require in your audit
“High direct dial accuracy”	Reported as match rate or coverage	Reps burn time dialing numbers that don’t reach the person	Score by connect rate on your list, segmented by lead age and role
direct dial verification	A label without timing or method	You pay for “verified” records that are already stale	Require a definition: when checked, what signals used, and how reassignment is handled
data freshness	Marketing copy unless tied to recency controls	Quarter-over-quarter decay looks like rep underperformance	Test recent vs older cohorts; demand a variance explanation
Ranked numbers	Prioritized direct dials vs a flat list	Without ranking, reps guess and call outcomes become inconsistent	Require ordering logic tied to reaching the person faster
“Unlimited” usage	Soft caps, throttles, or degraded results under load	Usage spikes reduce throughput; adoption drops	Get fair use terms in writing; test peak usage patterns via your real workflow

Decision Tree: Weighted Checklist

Highest weight: Outcome-based measurement. If the vendor can’t support a pilot scored by connect rate and answer rate, you can’t audit direct dial accuracy in a way that maps to revenue work.
Highest weight: Stale-list controls. Require an explanation of data freshness and how the vendor mitigates job changes and number reassignment. These are standard failure points that drive wasted dials.
High weight: Variance transparency. Require segment-level reporting and a written variance explainer tied to seat count, API usage, list quality, and industry churn.
High weight: Prioritized direct paths. Prefer prioritized direct dials (ranked numbers) because it reduces wasted attempts and improves call list quality without changing headcount.
Medium weight: Integration behavior. Validate CRM write rules, dedupe, and caching. Integration mistakes can manufacture “bad data” by overwriting newer fields with older ones.
Medium weight: Usage model realism. Confirm what “unlimited” means under real seat count and API usage patterns. If the vendor can’t state fair use boundaries, procurement will find them later.

Troubleshooting Table: Conditional Decision Tree

If a vendor leads with match rate/coverage and avoids outcome testing, then treat their claims as unproven and only proceed with a controlled pilot scored by connect rate.
If your connect rate drops while match rate stays flat, then suspect decay: stale records, job changes, or number reassignment. Test recent vs older cohorts to confirm.
If the drop is isolated to older cohorts, then it’s likely lead-age decay and weak data freshness controls.
If the drop hits all cohorts at once, then suspect workflow changes: CRM overwrite/caching, dialing behavior, or routing differences.
If wrong-person outcomes are common, then assume reassignment risk is high and require the vendor to explain how they detect and reduce reassignment exposure.
If two vendors have similar connect rates but different answer rate, then inspect routing outcomes (direct line vs switchboard) and your dialing practices before declaring one “more accurate.”
Stop condition: If the vendor cannot define verification (timing + method + reassignment handling), cannot provide segment-level variance explanations, won’t support a time-boxed pilot with outcome logging, or won’t provide written fair use boundaries, stop.

Limitations and edge cases

Direct dial accuracy decays. Even correct numbers rot over time. Your goal is reducing the operational cost of decay with better data freshness controls and clearer variance management.

Answer rate is not purely a data problem. Spam labeling, call timing, and rep behavior affect answer rate. Use it to diagnose, not to excuse weak connect outcomes.

Some segments will always be noisier. High-churn roles and industries will show more reassignment and job-change fallout.

Edge case: assistants, shared lines, and main office numbers can “connect” without reaching the target. That’s why you separate switchboard/EA outcomes from direct-to-person connects.

Evidence and trust notes

This page avoids universal accuracy benchmarks because they’re not portable. Performance varies with seat count, API usage, list quality, and industry churn. Any vendor quoting a single accuracy number without a variance explainer is giving you a statistic you can’t reproduce.

What you can verify is the method: run a time-boxed test on your own list, score by connect rate, segment by lead age to expose data freshness decay, and log outcomes that indicate number reassignment.

Disclosure: we can’t see your carrier outcomes from inside your CRM. You still need to log dispositions consistently if you want an audit you can defend.

For supporting context, see what is direct dial data and the broader data quality pillar page.

FAQs

What is direct dial accuracy?

Direct dial accuracy means the number reaches the intended person (or their direct line) today. It does not mean the vendor can return a phone field or claim a match.

Why is connect rate a better audit metric than match rate?

Connect rate maps to the cost you feel: wasted dials and rep time. Match rate maps to database coverage, which doesn’t tell you whether the number still routes to the person.

How do data freshness and number reassignment affect results?

Data freshness determines how quickly records decay. Number reassignment turns a previously correct number into a wrong-person call. Both create variance by segment and lead age.

What does “verification” mean in practice?

Verification should specify when the number was checked, what signals were used, and how reassignment risk is handled. If a vendor can’t define it, you can’t audit it.

Where does Swordfish fit if I need direct dial lookup?

If your workflow is finding and prioritizing direct paths to a person, use direct dial lookup and evaluate it with a connect-rate-based pilot on your own list.

How do I compare providers without relying on marketing claims?

Run the same sample across vendors in the same time window, segment results, and score outcomes. If you want a starting point for vendor categories, see best direct dial data providers, then validate with your own test.

Next steps

Week 1 (Setup): Freeze a lead sample, define dispositions, and confirm CRM write rules so enrichment doesn’t overwrite newer fields with older ones.

Week 2 (Pilot): Run vendors in the same time window, collect ranked/prioritized numbers where available, and log connect and reassignment outcomes.

Week 3 (Analysis): Segment by lead age and churn-prone segments, compare connect rate and answer rate, and write the variance explainer (seat count, API usage, list quality, industry).

Week 4 (Decision): Choose the vendor that produces the best connect outcomes with the least integration friction. If you want ranked direct dial data in a workflow designed for real usage, evaluate Prospector using the same audit method.

About the Author

Ben Argeband is the Founder and CEO of Swordfish.ai and Heartbeat.ai. With deep expertise in data and SaaS, he has built two successful platforms trusted by over 50,000 sales and recruitment professionals. Ben’s mission is to help teams find direct contact information for hard-to-reach professionals and decision-makers, providing the shortest route to their next win. Connect with Ben on LinkedIn.