--- title: "The Truth About Visitor ID: Fixing Data Quality in GTM | Larry Kim | S4:E2" description: Larry Kim's Customers.ai is revolutionizing website visitor ID with unprecedented data accuracy, transforming GTM strategies and boosting performance. --- [Mike J Midgley Insights](https://mikejmidgley.com/insights) # [The Truth About Visitor ID: Fixing Data Quality in GTM | Larry Kim | S4:E2](https://mikejmidgley.com/insights/podcast/s4-e2/the-truth-about-visitor-id-fixing-data-quality-in-gtm) Written by [Mike J Midgley](https://mikejmidgley.com/insights/author/mike-midgley) | Apr 28, 2025 2:45:00 PM Season 4, Episode 2 of *Force and Friction*, we sit down with one of the biggest names in digital marketing, **Larry Kim,** the founder of WordStream, and now CEO of [Customers.ai](https://Customers.ai), and a leading advocate for data transparency in go-to-market strategies. Larry pulls back the curtain on the *visitor identification* industry, exposing widespread data quality issues, explaining how bad data damages GTM performance, and sharing why **accuracy**, not inflated match rates—will define the future of Martech. If you care about revenue growth, lead quality, email deliverability, or ad performance, **this episode is a must-listen.**   ### Larry Kim **Larry Kim** is one of the most influential figures in digital marketing. He’s the founder of **WordStream**, the PPC and Facebook Ads platform acquired for **$150M by Gannett**. He’s now the CEO of **Customers.AI**, an AI-powered website visitor identification and remarketing platform that promises **10x higher data accuracy** than traditional vendors. **Larry's Career Highlights:** - CEO of **Customers.AI** – Raising the bar in visitor ID accuracy. - Founder of **WordStream** – Scaled to $150M exit. - **Marketer of the Year** – US Search Awards, Search Engine Land. - **Guest lecturer at Harvard, MIT, BU** – and received special recognition by the US Senate for job creation. - Creator of the **2025 Website Visitor Identification Industry Report**. [Follow Larry](https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrykim/) Watch the Episode: Here are the core areas we discuss in today's episode: ### F**rom WordStream to Customers.ai: A Shift Toward Accuracy-First Marketing:** Larry shares his journey from building WordStream into a $150M exit to launching Customers.ai, based on the insight that **remarketing and website visitor identity** are the true low-hanging fruit for marketers, if the data is trustworthy. > *“Every marketing channel eventually leads to your website. If you know who’s there -accurately, it’s the ultimate force multiplier.”* ### **The Big Problem: Why Visitor ID Technology Hasn’t Gone Mainstream** Visitor ID sounds amazing, but the industry hasn’t delivered. Larry breaks down the painful truth: - Traditional visitor ID vendors have **70–95% error rates**. - Most businesses churn within 4–5 months because the data simply isn’t accurate enough. - Bad visitor ID data **harms deliverability, poisons CRM systems, and sabotages ad campaigns**. > ***“Bad data is toxic waste for your go-to-market system. It doesn’t hurt immediately, it kills you slowly.”***   > ### **Match Rate vs. True Match Rate: Why the Metrics Are Misleading** > > Larry explains how many vendors have gamed metrics by chasing **high match rates** without caring if those matches are correct. > > > ***“You can have a 40% match rate and still be 90% wrong. Match rate without accuracy is meaningless.”*** > > He stresses the importance of **true match rate,** the percentage of matches that are actually correct, and how Customers.ai focused on **getting the data right**. >   > > **How Bad Data Wreaks Havoc on GTM Systems:** > > Bad visitor ID data has far-reaching consequences: > > - Tanks email deliverability > - Corrupts CRM and marketing databases > - Destroys AI ad training models on platforms like Google and Meta > > > ***“You think you’re helping your ad targeting. But if you pump in wrong data, you’re actually training the AI to find the wrong audience.”*** > > Larry calls this “data sabotage”, and it’s why most brands give up on visitor ID. > > **The Customers.ai Difference: Building a Data Company, Not Just Another Platform:** > > Unlike most competitors who **resell low-grade ad data**, Customers.ai built its own **identity graph**, signal systems, and engineering layers from scratch. > > *“We didn’t just license data. We rebuilt the entire stack from zero. That’s why we’re 5x–16x more accurate.”* Their in-house model delivers **70–85%+ accuracy** consistently, changing the game for visitor identification. ### **Proof in Performance: The Jordan Craig Case Study** Larry shares the powerful Jordan Craig case study undertaken using Customers.ai: - Customers.ai delivered a **2.79% conversion rate** from visitor ID leads. - Competitors delivered **less than 0.01% to 0.24%**. - Revenue per ID was **15x higher** using Customers.ai data. > ***“When you send clean data, you get real conversions. When you send noise, you sabotage your entire funnel.”*** ### **The Future of Visitor ID: Infrastructure, Not an Add-On** Larry believes visitor ID has been niche because of bad data—but **high-accuracy solutions** like Customers.ai will soon become **core infrastructure** for every serious GTM team. > ***“Visitor ID isn’t a ‘nice to have.’ If you do it right, it’s the foundation of better ads, better sales outreach, better email marketing—everything.”*** As the technology matures, it could become as essential as CRM or paid search.. > ### **Final Thoughts:** > > Larry Kim’s conversation is a **wake-up call** for revenue, marketing, and RevOps teams: > > - Data quality matters more than volume. > - Match rates don’t mean anything without **accuracy**. > - GTM success in 2025 and beyond will be powered by **clean, verifiable data**. > >   > > Download the full [*State of Visitor ID 2024* industry report](https://customers.ai/state-of-website-visitor-identification) for case studies and benchmarks. > > > >   ### Ready to be Our Next Guest Contributor? ### Your Host: A little about me, the host the show.  Please connect with me on LinkedIn I'd love to have you as part of our professional network. Mike Midgley runs a portfolio career, a dynamic hands on digital entrepreneur, founder of the Scrubbing Squad, NXD, strategist, public speaker, Winning by Design certified Revenue Architect and Host at The Force & Friction Podcast. Mike has achieved multiple exits over a 30+ year career, raised Venture Capital and franchised his businesses 68 times. [Follow Mike](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-midgley/)   [View full post](https://mikejmidgley.com/insights/podcast/s4-e2/the-truth-about-visitor-id-fixing-data-quality-in-gtm) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Mike J Midgley" }, "dateModified" : "2025-06-30T16:10:08.273Z", "datePublished" : "2025-04-28T14:45:00Z", "headline" : "The Truth About Visitor ID: Fixing Data Quality in GTM | Larry Kim | S4:E2", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 600, "url" : "https://7346913.fs1.hubspotusercontent-eu1.net/hubfs/7346913/Imported_Blog_Media/Larry%20Kim%20Podcast%20Hero.png", "width" : 1200 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://mikejmidgley.com/insights/podcast/s4-e2/the-truth-about-visitor-id-fixing-data-quality-in-gtm", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 60.0, "url" : "https://7346913.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7346913/MJM%20Brand/MJM%20Brand%20-%20Logos/MJM%20-%20MASTER%20Logo_Logo%20Black.png", "width" : 173.01038 }, "name" : "Mike J Midgley Insights" } } ```