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Lead Liaison

B2B Marketing Analytics: Metrics to Focus On (Part 2)

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B2B Marketing Analytics Blog and SEOAs we mentioned in Metrics to Focus On (Part 1), effective B2B management requires you to focus on your b2b marketing analytics. Available analytics tools within lead generation and marketing automation platform provide impressive granularity that allows you to modify and improve your strategies. Here are key metrics to analyze for your blog and SEO practices.

Blog

Referral sources

Who is sending traffic your way? Sure, it’s great to get attention from third-party referrers but it can be even more beneficial when you understand who they are. What is their business? Who is their audience? The quality of your referral sources can directly affect readership and, consequently, revenue generation. Take the time to know your referral sources – it can lead to higher revenues.

Subscribers

A blog can be an effective inbound marketing asset when used as a lead nurturing tool. The sign of a productive lead nurturing tool is the number of followers who engage repeatedly with your brand. What is your number of subscriptions, sign up rate, and number of times a subscriber visits? Analyze the composition of your audience to determine targeted marketing opportunities.

Engagement

Automated marketing developers like our talented Lead Liaison team are finding ways to get deeper inside your market. Mining comment streams for data is a fairly new analytics tool that allows you to understand the tone, depth, and frequency of conversations via social sites, review sites, and others.
You can select keywords and phrases relevant to your business to analyze how the market is reacting to your blog posts.

SEO

Keyword performance

The keywords used in your site and marketing assets can make a significant impact on the effectiveness of your online presence. How productive are they? There are a number of tools available to analyze page ranking on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. according to the keywords and phrases you embed. Bear in mind that your keywords shouldn’t remain static; therefore, updating keywords to match traffic trends based on keyword performance analytics can be useful to managing your business.

Search rankings

How visible is your domain? Are your videos, articles, and other marketing assets reaching the first page? If your web pages are not being indexed effectively it can kill your conversion rates. Search engine optimization rules change regularly so analyze how well your marketing assets are currently being ranked. There are tools that deploy spider technology to analyze each page of your online presence for rank across multiple engines.

Inbound links

If you deploy multiple inbound assets such as social media, press releases, or product reviews, you’re probably using trackable links that connect your audience with landing pages or your website. Analyze the performance of these links as part of a marketing effectiveness evaluation. Tools like Google Analytics allow you to review which links are productive across search engines, referral sites, and other traffic generators.

The next post in this series will discuss the metrics you should analyze from your social media and content marketing practices.

Lead Liaison

B2B Marketing Analytics: Metrics to Focus On (Part 1)

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B2B Marketing AnalyticsB2B marketing analtyics and metrics to focus on, Part 1. Effective B2B lead management demands consistent analysis. There is no shortage of b2b marketing analytics reporting programs available, thereby there is no excuse to avoid reviewing your lead generation practices. A monthly or quarterly review can provide you with vital information which helps to determine marketing ROI. The first place to start is your website – the hub of your online marketing practices. There are seven key areas related to website traffic that should be included in your analysis.

Unique visitors

Analyze new exposures to your website. Unique views can shed light on the effectiveness of new marketing campaigns as well as your site’s position within organic search rankings. Cookies provide a mechanism which allows you to identify new and returning visitors. And a tracking application like our desktop client Streamer™ captures and displays unique IP addresses so you can view who is on your site and how long they are visiting.

Returning visitors

Users who return to your site may indicate greater interest in your solutions. It is important to analyze what pages a returning visitor is viewing and the duration of the return visit. This should tell you a bit about the purpose for the follow up visit. New page view metrics by returning visitors provide a good opportunity for a qualifying sales engagement.

Popular pages

Which pages are being viewed most often? If your product pages are getting the most hits, chances are there is interest from genuine prospects. Compare each page within your site’s architecture to determine if your visitors are onsite to learn about the company or to investigate your solutions.

Traffic source

Knowing how your visitors are finding you reveals specific strengths and weaknesses of your campaigns. Is your content marketing strategy effective in driving site traffic or is your search engine marketing strategy the key to bringing visitors? The source of your site traffic is an important identifier for two reasons: 1) it reveals what led a prospect to your site and 2) it helps determine the ROI of paid campaigns.

Referring websites

Google Analytics and other traffic analyzers reveal what sites your prospects are visiting prior to finding you. Not only does this reveal the research patterns of your prospects but what sites may make valuable marketing partners. Keep in mind that the more popular a referring site is, the higher ranking your site will receive.

Bounce rates

How long are your pages being viewed? Which pages are getting bounced more often or faster than others? The length of time a visitor remains on a page tells you a lot about the value of that page. If the bounce rate for a specific page is high analyze the page to determine if the content on the page is providing value to your visitors.

CTA performance

Analyze your landing page response rates. Are marketing assets driving traffic to your landing pages? Just as important: are your landing pages generating an adequate response rate from calls-to-action? Marketing experts indicate a 1-3% conversion rate is average response rate, a 3-5% rate is decent, and over 5% means you’re doing something right.

Our the next post in this series we will discuss the metrics you should analyze from your blogs and SEO practices.

Lead Liaison

Sales Qualification Processes: Inquiry vs. Lead

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Sales Qualification ProcessesFor small to medium sized businesses in particular, lead qualification is vital to sourcing the might be interested clients from the really are interested clients. You might be saying to yourself, “I already know how to qualify leads. I’m already doing this.” If you’re sending every interested party directly into your pipeline with no extra thought, or your sales team is treating basic inquiries like hot leads, you need a sales qualification process. And you need it now.

Sales Qualification Processes: The One-Man Show

When we talk about smaller companies, we could easily be referring to one person running a team or working individually. Freelancers and small business teams can benefit from lead qualification as much as larger businesses. Why? Categorizing leads properly eliminates wasting time on leads that aren’t really interested. If you’ve worked for yourself even a day, you know time is money. Chasing down people who will never convert is tantamount to ripping up a check – so it’s important to be able to qualify leads and sales properly.

A small team’s sales qualification process can be as simple as labeling the strength or interest of the lead within a CMS system. Fortunately, there are fully integrated lead qualification systems out there that make managing leads a breeze (hint for Lead Liaison). The problem is ensuring small businesses recognize the value of – and use – these resources to build a sturdy sales qualification process. Again, not every inquiry is a lead. If you’re a small business owner, better growth for your organization can depend on nailing down the right lead process for your business early on. By the time you wait until you’re larger to get a sales qualification process in place, you might have a tougher job on your hands than you would have if starting earlier.

Sales Qualification Processes: Larger Entities

For larger businesses, the sales qualification problem can have a little more to do with communication between teams. MarketingSherpa tells us that 61% of B2B companies send leads to the sales team without giving sales members any information on the quality of the lead.

This is a problematic practice because sales teams may use the same tactics to approach leads of different qualification levels. Many different kinds of negative results can stem from this. First off, an inquiry that could become a solid lead down the line may be put off by the level of contact or pursuit and decide not to go with your company. If you don’t believe this, try going online and filling out one of those moving company aggregate forms that blast your phone number out to several different movers. Your phone line will suddenly become very – active.

With no qualification or direction, your sales team could also spend time pursuing a lead that seems ready, but isn’t – while neglecting a lead that’s more prepared to close. Lack of proper communication between sales and lead gen divisions of a business is a pretty common thing. Just by having a sales qualification process in place, you can skip the frustration.

Lead Liaison has a powerful suite of sales qualification tools built into our lead management program. Don’t miss out on recording valuable information that could save you time and convert truly interested leads. Take a look at our competitive package plans and let us help you with a system that works for you.

 

Lead Liaison

Key Factors that Must Be Considered in B2B Lead Scoring

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Key Factors that Must Be Considered in B2B Lead ScoringLead scoring can be an incredibly valuable tool that can produce more qualified sales-ready leads provided that you start with the right criteria. Start by combining both the marketing and sales department’s knowledge of existing customers and develop a profile that represents a typical buyer’s demographics and behavior.

When creating effective and informative B2B lead scoring criteria, be sure to consider the following key factors:

1) Ask strategic questions to determine demographic characteristics that will identify if they are a decision maker.

  • What is your job title?
  • How many years of experience do you have in the industry?
  • How many years of experience do you have with the company?

 2) Identify demographic indicators that will determine whether a company has the ability to make the purchase. Create questions that will answer the following questions.

  • Do they have the budget for that particular product or service?
  • Do they have a need for that particular product or service?
  • Have they ever purchased a similar product or service?

 3) Look for behavioral indicators that will show a lead’s current engagement level.

  • Has there been an increase in the frequency of visits?
  • Did they registering for a newsletter or sign up for a mailing list?
  • Has there been an increase in the amount of time they spend per visit?

 4) Record behavioral factors that demonstrate they have an interest in a specific product or service.

  • Did they download a specific article or tutorial related to a product?
  • Did they watch a demo video on a certain product or service?
  • Did they sign up for a free trial for a particular product or service?

 5) Watch for the key behavioral indicators that demonstrate that they are ready to make a purchase.

  • Visiting a company’s contact page is a great sign that they are close to making a decision in your favor.
  • A return visit after downloading relevant material is another sign that someone is ready to make a purchase.
  • Anytime a person or business willing offers their contact information, especially a cell phone number, is an obvious sign that they are ready for the sales department.

Once a complete list of all characteristics and triggers has been created, they will need to be ranked based on how closely that attribute signifies a sales-ready lead. For example, visiting a contact page should be weighted heavier than if their budget matches your price. Indicators that display a higher engagement level will be ranked higher, since it shows sincere interest in a product or service.

These key factors are essential for creating a B2B lead scoring model that will effectively rank and prioritize leads. Double check these against the list you have created to ensure that you are asking all the right questions, so you have all the right answers.

Lead Liaison

10 Ways to Improve Email Marketing ROI

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Improve Email Marketing ROIEmail marketing can certainly boost your sales effectiveness. However, email campaigns can drag down your marketing ROI if the execution is flawed. Here are ten ways to improve email marketing ROI.

Clean Lists

Though B2B email list buying is not always the best way to go,  if you do purchase lists make sure the lists are “clean”. Studies have shown that on average over 20% of list records are not delivered. And ISP mail servers can prevent your domain from future messaging if your emails are repeatedly sent to invalid addresses. Random address checks can help determine if your lists are worth the money paid.

Chase Ambulances

With the digital footprints that can be seen today, there is plenty of data that can be used to target email recipients. For example, if a company recently leased new space and your business sells office furniture, a friendly email campaign saying “congratulations!” and offering discounted items can prompt a conversion.

Deploy Videos

Video marketing has skyrocketed for a reason. A 2012 study by Experian Marketing Services revealed that embedded video increased conversion rates by 21% for companies surveyed. In addition, CTR rates improved 7% to 13% by simply including “video” in the subject line for video messages.

Use Analytics

From video analytics to CTR, the data available through reporting programs is staggering. You can examine response rates, engagement duration, and message timing. Marketing automation programs, such as our Lead Management Automation™ platform, provide analytics that can be used to improve messaging, targeting, and timing.

 Go Mobile

Email messages should be designed to be easily viewed via mobile devices if you hope to compete. Email is often the preferred choice of marketers over SMS and IM (though each has their place in a robust marketing strategy) because it is less costly and easier to analyze. Plus, email can be sent to multiple recipients at a lower cost than text messages.

Combine Email and SMM

Email marketing provides a great partner channel with social media marketing. Through email integration with social media ROI from both channels can be improved. Email subscribers can easily share content, offers, and other information. Using Facebook or Twitter to provide email opt-in opportunities can be effective as well.

Make Landing Pages Convert

If your email recipients are routed to ineffective landing pages, your ROI drops. Even with solid CTR numbers, if your landing page cannot convert, the email was wasted. Align landing page copy with the email message but also provide more “meat”. A landing page visit should not simply rehash the email; provide an additional offer or include additional reasons to buy. Above all, make sure the landing page offers something substantial in exchange for the click-through.

Target Behavior

Frequent buyers should receive emails that encourage brand loyalty and repeat purchases. Email can also provide a feedback mechanism that allows customers to easily respond to customer satisfaction surveys. Take the time to analyze activities that have resulted from previous campaigns and implement messages that trigger similar behavior in subsequent campaigns.

Get Them Back to the Cart

Email can be used to target customers who abandoned ecommerce shopping carts during a site visit. An email message with a time-sensitive discount can be an effective way of resuscitating a pending purchase.

Avoid Being a Spammer

According to the February 2013 Symantec Intelligence Report, spam, phishing, and malware events have all decreased; however, spam still accounts for just over 64% of all email sent. Do everything possible to send “clean” emails so your company is not targeted as a spammer.

Lead Liaison

How to Use Marketing Automation to its Fullest

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Using Marketing AutomationLearn how to use marketing automation to its fullest. Marketing automation is designed to turn website visitors into leads and then into life-long customers. It is a strategic process of generating leads and subsequently guiding them through the buying journey until they are ready to make a purchase. Marketing automation streamlines the entire lead management process by eliminating time-consuming and expensive manual labor from the process. Let’s discuss  how to use marketing automation to its fullest.

Generates Leads

Marketing automation systematically tracks every visitor on a website. Automation software starts the process at the moment of initial engagement by capturing the location and visiting patterns of every user on any given website. It deciphers the country the user lives in, the number of pages they visited, and even how long they spent on each specific page.

Creates Profiles on Leads

Marketing automation software then uses online registrations and forms to extract additional information on each lead. Additional demographics can be easily obtained using free offers for valuable information or services in exchange for a visitor filling in contact information like their email address.

Divides Leads into Segments

Once a profile has been started for each lead, they can be divided into lead segments or groups based on similar characteristics and interests. It is too difficult to provide a truly personalized approach to every visitor on a website, since most successful websites have hundreds or even thousands of visitors each day. Breaking them down into segments is a more realistic approach.

Nurture Leads with Relevant Campaigns

Now that leads have been divided into categories based on an initial profile, they can be targeted using strategic and compelling lead nurturing campaigns. Lead nurturing content needs to be informative and relevant, while guiding the lead in the right direction. It must provide value to the reader to keep them interested.

Scoring each Lead

Throughout the nurturing process, marketing automation software will score each lead based on predetermined criteria. Marketers first create a profile for a typical lead based on the behavioral and demographic characteristics of their existing consumers. Each aspect of the profile is ranked based on the strength of the indicator. This lead scoring profile is then used to evaluate where the lead is at in their buying process and how likely they are to make a purchase.

Marketing Automation Builds Stronger Relationships

Every component of the marketing automation process is focused on learning more about each lead, so content can be customized to benefit their needs. The more emphasis that is put on nurturing leads in a useful and relevant manner will result in stronger relationships. As long as the same quality of service continues after a lead has committed to a purchase, this will create a greater loyalty between the consumer and the business.

Marketing automation software is focused on managing the lead’s lifecycle from initial engagement, through to lead nurturing and lead qualification, to the moment the lead is handed off to the sales team for conversion. It is a complete process for tracking and directing leads using an automated, yet personalized approached.

Lead Liaison

Landing Page Improvements, Bounce Rate and ROI

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Landing Page ImprovementsKISSmetrics has a great article and infographic discussing the particulars of bounce rates by industry. Average industry bounce rates are at about 40.5%, while lead gen websites can expect a 30-50% bounce rate. Service and retail sites rank in at about 10-40%, while one page sites exist simply to gather info or as a cart tend to have a higher bounce rate – 70-90%.

What Is Bounce Rate?

If it sounds like we’re speaking Greek, it’s time to get in the know about your bounce rates. A bounce rate refers to the number of viewers who visit your site, then leave without looking at any further pages or taking any further action on your website. Bounce rate is one of the top ways you can assess landing page improvements. Once you make these improvements, you can bring in a wealth of new web leads. You can find your bounce rate by taking a look at any analytics tracking platform (might we suggest Lead Liaison’s stellar lead management software for this?).

Knowing your bounce rate is important because the higher the bounce rate, the more you’ll be able to get an idea of the necessary landing page improvements. Modifying landing pages is a good way to ensure your customers:

  • Know what you have to offer
  • Understand the value proposition of your services
  • Can get in touch with you multiple ways if needed
  • Will leave valuable information you can use to get the customer into your funnel

If your landing pages aren’t doing any of these things, you’ll see your bounce rates increase. Landing page improvements can keep people looking through your site for more information about your company, which better increases the chance they’ll engage.

Landing Page Improvements

Landing page tracking will show you what areas of your page need improvements. Some areas you might need to focus on:

  • Header. The top of your site should feature your logo and contact information. If users land on your page and aren’t sure what to do, they’ll bounce. Try to develop a common look and feel to your landing pages which provides visitors with “familiar territory”.  Consistency is good thing with your landing pages. Use Lead Liaison’s landing page builder to easily create templates, just like you would with a PowerPoint slide.
  • About your company. You’d be surprised how many companies leave this out – even on their homepage! Immediately tell your users who you are and why you’re the best at what you do.
  • Offer. Landing page improvements should focus around what you’re offering and what you’re looking to get from your customer. For instance, if you’re offering an eBook in exchange for an email address, make sure the sign up form is above the fold of your page.
  • Structure. Users are used to seeing crisp-looking professional pages that are well-put together. A graphic or video that highlights your service followed by more about your company and the offering should all be showcased above the fold of the page. Most users read from left to right- just like a book – so it’s good to give users a visual or text representation of who you are followed by a call to action (e.g. fill out our form, watch our video, etc.). If you’re interested in placing a video on your landing page then Lead Liaison’s landing page builder can help you drag/drop YouTube videos or other flash content directly on your page.

If you see your bounce rates are higher than industry standard for certain pages – particularly your landing pages – make the recommended landing page improvements and watch to see if your bounce rate decreases over time.

Landing page improvement tracking is best measured through landing page ROI. If you’re not sure your landing pages are getting you the best possible ROI, Lead Liaison can help! Our suite of solutions can help you assess whether your landing pages are performing as needed. Bounce rate assessment is an important part of that info. We’d love to hook you up with effective landing page ROI solutions today!

Lead Liaison

Five Marketing Trends that will Generate Revenue in 2013

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Five Marketing Trends that will Generate Revenue in 2013It should come as no surprise that the internet is behind the top five marketing trends allowing businesses to generate more revenue in 2013. The internet is designed to make most business functions more efficient, which in turn will generate more revenue.

These are the top five marketing trends for generating revenue in 2013:

The Power of Social Media

There are billions of people using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other social media sites on a daily basis. Few users don’t feel the need to login daily and search what is going on in their online society. One of the biggest new marketing trends is connecting with people directly using a variety of social platforms. By creating engaging content and irresistible offers, it entices potential or existing customers to follow a business or brand. The more followers a company has, the faster their news will spread, and the more potential customers will be reached. If the social media site is created strategically, it should direct potential leads to their website for further lead nurturing and hopefully, conversion.

Save Time & Money with Marketing Automation

In the world of technology, every company should take advantage of more efficient automated systems. Marketing automation takes lead generation and nurturing to the next level by turning it into an automated process that can be customized to individual lead segments.

Qualify Leads with Lead Scoring

A critical component of the marketing automation process is qualifying and scoring leads. Marketers create a list of behavioral and demographic characteristics that define a typical consumer to compare leads against and then cater their marketing efforts based on the profile that has been developed. It also indicates which leads have the highest potential for conversion, so these higher-quality leads can be given to the sales team.

Compelling and Informative Website Copy

Google is increasing their ranking standards and insisting on unique and relevant website copy and blogs. Articles no longer can be saturated with keywords, as a method for climbing to the first page, or the coveted top three spots on Google. One big marketing trend for 2013 will be a greater focus on high-quality website copy that is focused on the consumer’s needs.

Building Stronger, Lasting Customer Relationships

All of the first four trends are designed to strengthen relationships between customers and the businesses they frequent. Social media marketing is designed to connect with consumers on a personal level, marketing automation is used to capture leads that have come in contact with a site for further nurturing, lead scoring builds an in-depth profile of each leads, and quality content builds trust. All of this done to create brand loyalty and build relationships that goes beyond a typical sales pitch, which is the fifth and final marketing trend for 2013.

Lead Liaison

The Five Biggest Benefits of Quality Lead Scoring

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The Five Biggest Benefits of Quality Lead ScoringLead scoring is a sales and marketing methodology used to rank prospects against a scale that represents high-quality leads. Savvy marketers are quickly discovering the impact quality lead scoring can have on generating leads with a higher potential for conversion, which is critical in today’s competitive global marketplace.

These are the five biggest benefits of quality lead scoring:

Quality Lead Scoring Simplifies the Lead Evaluation Process

Using an automated lead scoring system will make it easier to quickly qualify leads based on pre-determined criteria. Quality lead scoring is based on attributes and behavior of typical customers, so there is solid basis for comparison. By using an automated process to rank each lead, marketing can quickly determine which leads require additional information and which leads are ready to make a purchase.

Lead Scoring Provides a Detailed Profile of Potential Leads

Quality lead scoring defines leads based on both behavioral and demographic characteristics, which offers sales and marketing a clear and detailed picture of a lead’s needs and interests. This information is invaluable when nurturing and guiding a lead through the marketing funnel.

Good Lead Scoring Strengthens the Relationship with a Lead

The better insight into a lead’s needs and interests the better  marketers have the ability to personalize content that is shared with the lead, which creates a more meaningful connection. Providing leads with useful and relevant information prior to making a sale strengthens trust in the brand and creates loyalty.

Lead Scoring Processes Provide insight into the Lead’s Buying Process

Leads that marketing automation generates from a website will be at different stages within their buying process. Some could still be investigating the need for a product or service, while others may be on the verge of making a decision. Lead scoring helps decipher at what point the lead is at in their journey, so the right follow-up is done to convert them into a customer.

Lead Scoring Methods Produce Higher Quality Leads

Leads need to reach a certain ranking which shows they are not only interested in a product or service, but they are currently ready to make their decision, before they are given to the sales department. Due to this systematic screening process, the chances of the sales team converting a lead improves exponentially.

These five factors are the main reasons why so many business leaders are tapping into the world of marketing automation by using the benefits of lead scoring to their advantage. Every company wants the inside scoop on their potential customers and lead scoring does exactly that.

Checkout Lead Liaison if you’re interested in seeing how we use unparalleled lead qualification technology by combining lead scoring, lead grading, recency, buy signals and total activity to better qualify leads.