Match score ranges from 1 to 100 and indicates how likely a Demandbase match is correct.
Important: A match score is not a percentage. For example, a score of 60 corresponds to roughly 90% accuracy, not 60%.
See Set Match Score Thresholds and Common Causes of Low Match Rates.
How Match Scores Are Calculated
Match scores depend on additive and subtractive factors:
- Number of input fields: More fields improve accuracy. Fewer fields lower confidence.
- Number of potential matches: More possible matches reduce confidence and lower scores.
- Similarity across companies: Many similar records dilute accuracy and reduce scores.
Why Use Match Thresholds?
A match score threshold sets the minimum score required for records to pass into downstream systems.
Threshold selection reflects tolerance for false positives:
- Lower threshold: more matches, higher false positives
- Higher threshold: fewer matches, higher accuracy
How to Set Match Score Thresholds
Demandbase groups results into the following categories:
- Acceptable/Good: Meets or exceeds the threshold
- Rejected: Below the threshold
- Uncertain: Multiple possible matches, may require review
Best Practices for Setting Match Score Thresholds
Thresholds balance precision and recall:
- Higher precision reduces record volume
- Higher recall increases volume but lowers precision
Recommended starting points:
- 0.7: Very high precision, decent recall
- 0.5: High precision, high recall
- 0.3: Moderate precision, very high recall
Match Score Benchmarks
This table shows the match score (also known as "confidence score") based on a sample size of 100,000 records:
| Match Score | True Positive (TP) | True Negative (TN) | False Positive (FP) | False Negative (FN) | FP_FN | Precision | Recall | F1 Score |
| 0.3 | 62,182 | 13,273 | 15,909 | 2,727 | 5,909 | 74.03% | 87.80% | 80.33% |
| 0.5 | 62,000 | 18,454 | 10,727 | 3,455 | 5,364 | 79.39% | 87.55% | 83.27% |
| 0.7 | 54,000 | 28,091 | 1,091 | 14,818 | 2,000 | 94.59% | 76.25% | 84.43% |
| 0.9 | 14,455 | 28,726 | 455 | 56,273 | 91 | 96.36% | 20.41% | 33.69% |
Example
A Demandbase customer needed a match score threshold that balanced accuracy and enrichment. Demandbase provided three options, and the customer selected a match score of 60 to meet their target balance.
| Accuracy versus Enrichment Balance | Match Score Threshold | Percentage of Actual Match Accuracy | Percentage of False Positives |
| High Accuracy & Low Enrichment | 70 | 94% | 5% |
| Medium Accuracy & Medium Enrichment | 60 | 90% | 10% |
| Low Accuracy & High Enrichment | 50 | 85% | 15% |