The important role data plays in our lives extends far beyond the $700 billion digital advertising business. But with more signals than ever, it is at times easy to sacrifice scale for accuracy.
In this inaugural edition of Inside The Collective, we sit down with Data Collective member Michelle Taves, VP and Group GM, Data & Marketing at PGM, who is bringing data quality to the forefront of the home services and insurance industries.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about PGM, your company, and its mission?
Michelle Taves: I would say that PGM Solutions is a full-service data company really built around one core belief: that better data leads to better decisions. Whether you are looking for marketing decisions, risk decisions, or understanding your customer profile, we believe that better data provides the ability for you to understand those things at a high level. We help brands understand who the consumer is, what is happening in the consumer’s lives, and then what outreach matters most to those consumers.
We specialize in audience targeting, first-party data processing, cross-channel activation, and analytics—we do the whole thing. We recently developed something called the Factors Suite, which includes People Factors, Home Factors, Auto Factors, and Mover Factors. While most data only shows snapshots of consumers, we have created a unified approach to connect identity, household, property, and vehicle data into a single view. Our proprietary product is all around the home and we believe that stronger insights start at the front door. We have truly created a specialized approach to understand the property characteristics inside the home and the people living there.
Q: You specialize in data around the home, which is exciting given the rise of Connected TV (CTV) and streaming. What truly excites you about the data space?
Michelle Taves: There is a ton of excitement for CTV. We do really well for home services, home improvement, and home retailers because we have such a unique data asset. We can actually tell someone the condition of the inside of the home, for example, if there is water damage in the kitchen, the condition of their electrical panels, or what the condition of the toilets is. Those unique insights really resonate for home services and when we can use that data in a CTV campaign or an email campaign, the results are truly phenomenal.
What excites me the most about the data space is the constant innovation I’ve seen throughout my career. Whether it is in procuring the data, creating new data assets, creating additional ability to utilize the data, or data compliance, everything is constantly evolving. The ultimate goal is to use data in a way that provides the best brand experience and ultimately, customer experience.
In addition to home services and home retail, we are highly focused on insurance. Our Home Factors product provides insights to insurance carriers on the condition of the home without them having to go and do a home inspection. They can decide if they want to write a policy, how they want to price a policy, or if they want to expand across different state lines based on property conditions.
Q: PGM is part of the Data Collective. What was appealing about the community, and why did you actually join?
Michelle Taves: I have enjoyed our relationship across Truthset for a number of years. We were trying to find a way that we can understand the value of our data outside of our own four walls and in comparison to other data vendors in the market. I can then use that validation by Truthset to give brands confidence in our data sets – we really take pride and put forth a lot of effort in ensuring the accuracy across all our data. And while coverage and quantity of data is always important, at the end of the day, if the data isn’t accurate, it equates to just a lot of wasted spend.
By joining the Data Collective, we have taken a lot of measures based on the analysis and feedback we get back to be able to improve our data assets to make sure we have a really great product for our clients. More importantly, we are not trying to be everything to everyone. We know where we sit and what our unique differentiators are so we can truly bring value to brands.
Q: How important is data accuracy as a differentiator, and how does third-party validation help?
Michelle Taves: I would say data accuracy is definitely in the top one or two percent of all of our conversations. PGM is a data provider so accurate data is of course extremely important to us. And when we can then say we work with Truthset as an independent validator of our data to say “Hey, you can trust us, you can trust the data that you are going to be using and spending on,” that creates a lot of validation and confirmation for that brand. Then they feel more confident in their spend. It is definitely a leading differentiator, especially when everyone in the market is saying they have the best data.
Q: When we look at macro trends like AI, what implications does AI have on the future of data for PGM, and how are you thinking about it?
Michelle Taves: AI is such a new thing that we are all still learning. If you use AI too heavily, I think it is going to start to commoditize the data industry. If people are using AI in their data pools and in their builds, it is all going to be the same, and my product will be very similar to everybody else using the same type of tools.
We really don’t want to get caught in the trap of doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Where we see the opportunity is using AI to strengthen our first-party data strategy. Because we’re part of Porch Group, we have access to unique data about consumers and the homes they live in. That’s not something most companies have, and it gives us the ability to build products that are genuinely different.
We’re testing a few ideas right now around how AI can help us get more value from that data and turn it into something useful for our customers. It’s less about traditional demographic data and more about leveraging the unique information that flows through the Porch ecosystem. For us, the focus is really on building where we’re different and leaning into what makes our data unique.
Q: Can you talk a little bit more about how you are using AI for first-party segments?
Michelle Taves: One of the things that’s a little different about us is that we’re not just a data company. We’re also part of Porch Group, so we have direct interactions with consumers across a lot of different points in the homeownership journey. We may know when someone is looking for moving services, getting a home inspection, shopping for insurance, or buying a home. All of those interactions create first-party data that helps us understand both the consumer and the home.
We’re using AI to work through that data and understand what makes a meaningful segment and how it can be used in a meaningful way for the brands we want to partner with. AI also helps us create blended audience solutions, and it just happens much faster. If people were doing that work manually, some of those roadmaps could take six to twelve months. With AI and the tools available today, we can definitely accelerate our go-to-market.
We can also understand things about the home itself, not just the consumer. That gives us insights that aren’t available from traditional demographic data alone. For insurance, that can provide leading indicators around risks like water damage, fire, and other non-weather-related losses.