B2B Marketing ROI

A web clinic conducted in June by MarketingExperiments provided an in-depth look at multivariate testing and landing page optimization in action. This summary illustrates the impact of friction vs. incentive and how to find the right balance.

Friction is defined as psychological resistance to a given element in the sales process. This resistance is created by requiring visitors to fill out a form or take a similar step to obtain an item of value. That item of value is the incentive, or an appealing element introduced to stimulate a desired action.

Since completely eliminating friction would result in no information for your sales efforts, it is important to find the right form length, call to action and incentives to provide maximum conversion and prevent drop-off. MarketingExperiments examines how the item offered, the landing page layout and the difficulty of a form can impact conversion rates.

The report is definitely worth the read for marketers who rely on landing pages to convert visitors to prospects.

A recent Subscriber Experiences report from Return Path shoes that marketers are missing the boat on targeted e-mail marketing.

The study claims that 85% of marketers don’t personalize emails from the initial interaction. It also finds that it can take an average of 9 days for a new subscriber to receive their first email.

With modern email marketing technology, there is no reason for these oversights to occur. With automation software, it only takes a few simple clicks to ensure prompt, personalized messages are delivered to your subscribers. Here’s what you can do to make sure your prospects are feeling the love:

Choose an email tool that allows you to set up automated rules.
Web-automation suites often include email functionality in their features package. Using one system to integrate your subscription forms with your emails means you can segment lists based on a prospect’s subscription selection and deploy the appropriate email within minutes, automatically.

Use autoresponder emails.
If you know there will be a delay between the time a prospect submits a request and the time they receive the material, set up an autoresponder email that will act as a thank you message and acknowledge their submission. This works especially well if a customer is requesting support or follow-up by phone, which may take longer than email responses.

Personalize emails with dynamic tags.
Similar to a mail merge, most email engines allow you to dynamically insert prospect information like first name in to a template. Though the email may not be completely unique and targeted, adding tags to insert a few key pieces of personalized information like name or company can go a long way to making an email appear less generic. Additionally, tags can be used to make a message appear to be sent from a prospect’s assigned sales representative, helping to build key relationships.

It takes a lot of work to get a prospect to your website. You probably put hours of effort in to crafting a compelling white paper or creating a fancy flash demo to lure visitors in to filling out your form. So once you’ve got them there, don’t let go! Urge them along by offering other items that may interest your target audience. This can be additional white papers, a special offer or a link to a free trial.

Guiding prospects to valuable items that require the visitor to complete another form allows you to use conditional fields, meaning you can collect a new round of prospect data points the second time, third or even fourth time around. This progressive profiling helps to build a more well-rounded customer profile for your sales team.

Even if you don’t have a large library of “locked-down” content to offer your prospects, providing links to other sections of your website can help you continue tracking your visitors and gain additional insight in to their level of interest. Additionally, providing links in the email you send your prospects upon form completion provides another opportunity to reengage those who have already left your site.

It all boils down to this: there is no reason to have your “thank you message” consist of nothing but a thank you. Encourage your prospects to continue the interaction by offering up additional opportunities for them to explore your company. If you are truly providing valuable content, it can only lead to a positive exchange of information for everyone involved.

There’s been a lot of talk lately on how social networking websites have become a popular way for B2C companies to engage their consumers while gathering feedback on their products. As B2C companies start to jump on this bandwagon, marketers question the validity of social networking in the B2B context. Undeniably, word of mouth is a powerful marketing tactic: a recent study by market research firm Keller Faye Group concluded that it was the leading influencer of business purchase decisions. Which leads us to ask how social networking websites can be used to facilitate two-way dialog in such a way that replicates word of mouth on a grander scale.

An argument against the use of social networking in B2B is that this business model does not allow for the same kind of “buzz” around a brand as in the B2C model, which can leverage the power of viral campaigns. For these to work, the initiative must excite passion on a wide scale - a prerequisite that is not consistent with a B2B product. It is safe to say that YouTube videos, dancing elves and other character personalization games would not be a fit with the B2B model. However, to say that social networking would not benefit these companies would be neglecting the opportunities that exist when you facilitate a dialogue among your customers. Granted, the conversation will take place among fewer individuals, whose similarities will lie not in their personal passions but in their business tasks. It’s the same idea, though: through a web-based dialog customers are simultaneously interacting with your brand while providing a large-scale, low-cost online focus group.

The question becomes where and how to create a platform for this conversation. This post from Barry Hannigan’s blog gives examples of how larger technology companies have implemented social media into their corporate websites, facilitating knowledge exchange through an internal platform. By contrast, other B2B firms place content on websites geared towards social networking, such as ITtoolbox Community Hub, where IT professionals can discuss different vendors through blog posts, topic-based groups and online forums. Should you decide that an external approach would be more appropriate for your company, Rob Murray’s article on SearchEngineLand.com gives guidelines for participating in social networking sites.

Whether your company decides to facilitate a dialog internally through your own website or through an external social network - the key is to leverage the ability of this new technology to generate user feedback. Never before have such large scale consumer research opportunities been available at such a low cost, and B2B firms should latch onto this trend while it still represents a competitive advantage, rather than a necessity for their company’s survival. Even though social networking will never mean the same thing as it does for B2C companies and we’ll never hear of Cisco-Ize Me, there are still great opportunities to improve your company by learning what it is your customers are talking about.

Part of responsible email marketing is ensuring that you’re always in compliance with CAN-SPAM laws. Earlier this week, the FTC made some changes to the CAN-SPAM requirements.

The new rule provisions address four topics:

• An e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender
• The definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements
• A “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address”
• A definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons
  

Michael Goldberg posted a great summary of what these changes mean for marketers on the Outperformance Marketing blog.

Based on the new modificaitons, Goldberg explains:

In a multiple-advertiser email, a single advertiser can assume the role of sole “CAN-SPAM sender.” The Final Rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission establishes that, when there are multiple advertisers in single email, a single advertiser can assume the role of sole CAN-SPAM sender if (a) the advertiser meets the requirements of “sender,” as defined under the CAN-SPAM act of 2003, (b) is the only advertiser identified in the “from” line, and (c) complies with all of the other original sender requirements imposed by the Act, including the requirements surrounding a “valid physical postal address.”

Senders must provide recipients with an easy, unburdened way to unsubscribe from a commercial email. Specifically, the Federal Trade Commission requires advertisers to allow consumers to opt out of subsequent commercial email messages from that advertiser without requiring payment, information beyond the consumer’s email address, “or any other obligation as a condition for accepting or honoring a recipient’s opt-out request,” including requiring a consumer to visit more than a single Internet Web page.

“Person” will be defined, for purposes of CAN-SPAM, as an individual, group, unincorporated association, limited or general partnership, corporation, or other business entity.

A “valid physical postal address” has been defined as “the sender’s current street address, a Post Office box the sender has accurately registered with the United States Postal Service, or a private mailbox the sender has accurately registered with a commercial mail receiving agency that is established pursuant to United States Postal Service regulations.”

What didn’t change?

You still have only ten-business days to honor all opt-out requests.

Less than a week after Salesforce.com announced it’s partnership with GoogleApps, increasing the offerings of it’s on-demand CRM suite, Microsoft announced Dynamics CRM Online, a full marketing, sales and service suite on an Internet-based model.

“At Microsoft, we’re revolutionizing how companies deploy marketing, sales and service solutions to users within their organization,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at Microsoft. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers the power of choice to customers, with a familiar and productive user experience and a multitenant platform that enables fast on-premise implementations or ‘instant-on’ deployments over the Internet.”

Targeted toward small-to-mid-sized businesses, Dynamic CRM Online integrates with Microsoft Office and boasts a $59 per user per month price point, slightly lower than Salesforce.com. Focused on creating a flexible and affordable tool, Dynamics CRM has performed well with 500 participants in the Microsoft Early Access Program, offering more storage capacity and configurable entities than Salesforce.com, as well as incorporating workflows.

Learn more about Dynamics CRM Online here.

This week, CRM giant Salesforce.com announced a partnership with Google Apps.

The convenient new platform allows communication through popular Google tools Gmail and Google Talk. Sales teams will also have access to applications such as Google Docs and shared calendars. The partnership aims to create an efficient way to manage schedules and maintain up-to-date versions of documents and sales tools.

This partnership embodies the trend of technology moving away from installation-based softwares, as two of the largest advocates of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) join forces.

“Salesforce.com is thrilled to be offering Google Apps integrated with our Salesforce applications and Force.com Platform-as-a-Service to the millions of businesses looking to manage their entire office in the cloud,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. “The combination of our leading CRM applications and Google’s business productivity applications pushes forward the transformation of the industry to cloud computing. The end of software is here.”

Many marketers I talk with dismiss the benefits of having a Site Search function on their website. This oft overlooked feature offers numerous benefits for both your company and your customer. Let’s look at a few.

Simplify Your Client’s Surfing Experience
Site search not only makes your client’s life simpler, it helps your support staff as well. One of the most popular reasons for current clients to visit is to find answers and support for product related questions. For sites with an extensive Knowledge Base or Help section, navigating through the directories can be time-consuming and frustrating for clients. Often, they feel they are in an emergency situation and need an answer fast. That’s when they pick up the phone and call you (or your support staff), asking for help in a panicked tone. If they were able to search your website for the exact answer they wanted, this call may have been prevented.

Audit Your Website Functionality
Often marketers are so busy building new pages, creating email blasts and tending to every day tasks that they don’t have the time to sit back and evaluate their current website from a visitor’s perspective. If this sounds familiar, a site search can help you gain an overall look at the functionality of your layout and design. It’s not uncommon to take for granted that it’s easy to navigate through your pages when you’re the one who built them, but are your prospects able to find what they need? If you review your site search logs and notice that an overwhelming number of visitors are searching for the same keyword, perhaps it might be worth displaying that information or page link more prominently on your homepage or navigation. This will prevent customers from wandering off if they can’t easily find what they are looking for.

Gain Prospect Insight & Increase Sales
Viewing what your prospects search for can be a very valuable tool during the sales cycle. It’s a no-nonsense way to see what their priorities are in choosing a product. Knowing your prospect’s exact needs in their own words can help the sales team mold future conversations to showcase product features that the lead will find most desirable. They will feel that it’s as if the product was uniquely made for their situation. Nothing shows intent like a search for pricing, letting the sales rep know this is not a casual visitor browsing the site and it may be time to start making a deal.

With the introduction of sophisticated products that can track a lead’s every move, down to their search queries and attempts at giving you an invalid email address, it can be all too tempting for the sales team to pounce on prospects and come on a little too strong. Marketing automation suites can provide worlds of knowledge with minimal effort by displaying recently active prospects, sending daily email digests and alerting the sales and marketing team if a designated form is completed.

If a prospect realizes they are being closely tracked, it can be a real turn-off, completely negating the advantage you had by monitoring their movements. There’s a fine line between knowing your customer’s needs and becoming a prospect stalker.

In an age where we are cookied on most pages we visit and sites posing as social communities are feeding our hobbies and habits to advertising partners, where is the line? The key is to show your prospect you understand their challenges, as they relate to your product, without being as obvious as stating that you observed they visited the Benefits section of your website earlier this afternoon. Though most people are aware of tracking technology, they don’t like to be reminded of it.

This applies to both sales calls and email marketing. For another take on this topic, as it relates to email marketing, visit BeRelevant for Can a campaign be too targeted?.

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of buzz around the marketing blog-o-sphere about the importance of quality customer service. Many of these discuss how the customer service department is gaining rank and the sales department is losing it. This could hold true when you consider that it’s widely believed that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers - you have to keep your core clients satisfied.

The way I see it is that everyone in your company should be focused on providing excellent customer service - before, during and after the sales cycle. A helpful, customer-focused approach should start with the sales staff and continues every time you touch a prospect or customer throughout the product (or service) life-cycle.

Additionally, while it’s much easier for us all to relate to B2C service horror stories (who doesn’t hate sitting on hold while your computer displays the “blue screen of death?!”), it’s just as important for B2B companies to focus on great customer support. Building your reputation and harvesting relationships in your target industries will ensure more business is headed your way. This is even more important for companies like software as a service (SaaS) providers, who often operate on a subscription basis and will want customers to renew. Companies should be prepared to offer resources such as online user guides and easy-access email or phone support just as you’d expect from your own service providers.

Check out these musings on the importance of keeping your customers happy from around the web:

• Demand Blog discusses the new power players: Marketing and Customer Service
• Seth Godin shows us that a simple policy is sometimes the best policy
• Melinda Krueger, the Email Diva, forecasts that Customer Service is the New Black
• Get Satisfaction has dedicated not only a blog, but also a whole company to the subject and recently hosted a summit on the topic