Benchmark Survey: Marketo Benchmark on Marketing Custom Report For: Adam Grubb

Transcription

1 Benchmark Survey: Marketo Benchmark on Marketing Custom Report For: Adam Grubb

2 Dear Adam Grubb, marketing remains one of highest rated marketing tactics, even as social, mobile, video etc. transform the marketer's landscape. But how does your Marketing measure up? What are the best practices used by today s top performers? What are you currently doing that you should improve, and what are you not doing that you should start? Get the answers now -- here are your personalized benchmarks and recommendations. About this report The Marketo Benchmark on Marketing combines Marketo's thought leadership and years of experience gathered from 1,000s of customers with ongoing research into the practices of today s top performers in marketing. In this personalized report, results from SGC are presented alongside industry averages and results from Top Performers those companies with the fastest revenue growth, the highest performance metrics, and the best use of marketing to achieve those revenue goals. The report includes information and recommendations about: Top uses and challenges for marketing The prevalence and ROI impact of various tactics including testing, drip marketing, and social sharing sending frequency and volume by type of campaign Common practices in privacy and deliverability Budgets and resources required for marketing and more... The results offer you a fast and simple way to evaluate your current tactics and consider where SGC may look to improve performance. The insights to drive more revenue with less work At Marketo, we thrive on sharing best practices, educating marketers, and helping companies of all sizes to improve their revenue performance. Please contact us if you would like to learn more about how we can help SGC expand lead flow, improve sales effectiveness, and optimize marketing and sales investments. Also, if you find this report useful, please encourage others to fill out the Benchmark Survey the results get better and better each time someone fills it out. Here's to your best, Jon Miller VP of Marketing, Marketo jon@marketo.com

3 Marketing Goals and Challenges Companies use marketing for everything from education to building brands to driving revenue. However, satisfaction with marketing tends to lag its importance - perhaps because of ongoing challenges with getting noticed in the inbox, measuring results, and managing campaign complexity. Rank your top goals for Marketing You #1 Website traffic Lead generation #2 Lead generation Online sales #3 Branding and awareness Offline sales #4 Website traffic #5 Branding and awareness #6 Education Rank your top challenges with Marketing You #1 Click through rates Click through rates #2 Inbox overload Inbox overload #3 Incorporating social sharing Deliverability #4 Building and managing campaigns #5 Budget/resources restrictions #6 Measurement #7 Incorporating social sharing 2011 Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

4 Capabilities and Impact Today, there are more marketing solutions, tools and tactics available to marketers. Which work best for you? Which ones are most used by top performers? Do your Marketing capabilities increase your Marketing ROI? Testing An effective testing strategy can help increase open, click, and conversion rates by improving the relevance of your marketing messages. You can test subject lines, copy, graphics, calls to action, frequency, timing, and more. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use Some of your testing has delivered value, but you'd like to see more. Here are some suggestions: Start simple by testing subject lines and headers. It doesn t take a lot of time or creative work to create simple variants here, but the return can be significant. Test one element at a time, so you can actually measure the impact of the variance. Consider the time of day as well as the day of the week when testing your campaigns. Keep a log of all your tests so you can refer back to the specific variables that were tested and more importantly what you learned. Don't forget that small differences can be significant if your sample sizes are large. Here s a post with more information about testing statistics: The Ultimate Guide to Test Statistics at See sample test results in this blog post: The Secret to Marketing Success: Testing at Run tests on groups that are small but large enough to determine a clear winner. Then incorporate the winning variables into your larger mailing Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

5 Dynamic Content Although less popular than basic testing, dynamic content can increase relevance by customizing s based on various customer or prospect attributes. For example, s sent to customers in Manufacturing would include different copy and images than those sent to customers in the Financial Services industry. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use You see the direct connection between your use of Dynamic Content and bottom line results. Here are ways to increase the value your Dynamic Content delivers even more: Develop buyer and customer personas and align them with the content in any message. Don't customize for the sake of customization - focus on varying the content that your personas will most care about. Work on your data quality to ensure that the fields you use to customize messages are accurate. Plan ahead of time, since creating dynamic content requires more creative and testing. Review all versions created by dynamic content before sending to ensure there aren't mistakes. Consider customizing based not on demographic and firmographic information (such as industry), but on behavioral information as well: click activity, website behaviors, revenue cycle stage, lead score, etc. This can be even more important for improving the relevance of your s Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

6 Segmentation Segmentation is the ability to target exactly the right message to the right customers at the right time. campaign results tend to improve when targeting fine-tuned audiences. That s why the best segmentation solutions combine demographic and firmographic attributes with behavioral and online data. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use You don't segment your s as frequently as other marketers and don't enjoy as much ROI as a result. Consider improving the strategic value of your marketing with more effective segmentation: Segment your audience based on demographic and firmographic attributes such as industry and title. Even more importantly, segment based on where the prospect is in the buying cycle: early-stage, midstage, late-stage, or customer. Prospects that are actively engaged with sales should get different message from those you are trying to develop. Consider segmenting your audience based on how frequently they interact with your messages (opens and clicks). This can help you know how often to send. Evaluate your lead database and create segments based on lead source or profile information for your marketing campaigns. Try more advanced ways to segment your lists by combining demographic information with behavioral data. Knowing what web pages the prospect has visited, what content they've read even what they ve said on social sites - can help you to send them the right message at the right time. Also consider a subscription center where your audience can subscribe to different topics and frequency of communications Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

7 Drip Marketing / Lead Nurturing Lead nurturing is the practice of keeping in touch with prospective qualified customers regardless of their timing to buy. Done right, it can result in 50% more sales qualified leads at 33% lower cost. Although lead nurturing often consists of interactions over many channels, many companies will incorporate drip marketing into their nurturing strategy. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use You don't use drip campaigns often nor consider them to be very valuable. However, on average all survey respondents indicated drip campaigns can impact their ROI. Here are some ways you can do the same: Create a normal and an accelerated nurturing program. Allow leads to choose which path they will participate in or use online behavior to determine if a prospect should be moved to the accelerated nurturing path. Test the order the prospect receives the messages you are sending. Each in your nurturing program needs to be updated and improved on a regular basis. Stay ahead of the drip, adding to your nurture campaigns before your prospects or customers consume all your nurture content. Check out the Marketo Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing at Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

8 Triggered s Individual customers receive triggered s when they demonstrate specific behaviors (or lack thereof). For example, if a prospect visited your pricing page but didn t fill out a contact form, then a triggered could invite him to a weekly event to learn more. According to some studies, the effective use of triggered s can improve open rates by over 50% and conversion rates by more than 350%. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use Triggered s aren't a part of your marketing, but you could improve your marketing ROI by integrating some best practices from Top Performers into your strategy. Automate send processes for repetitive s (for example, event confirmations). Utilize triggered s to notify key stakeholders when key actions occur. Listen to the way your segment responds and ensure your follow up is as relevant as possible. Trigger follow-up campaigns based on social media interactions Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

9 Include Social Sharing Even as social media marketing increases in importance, marketing is here to stay. In fact, leading marketers augment their strategies by embedding social sharing capabilities in their s. Such links enable customers and prospects to amplify your message to their social networks. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use Include share, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sharing options in your . Make sure these are customized to the landing page and not put in . Find out how in this blog post at Don't confuse follow us buttons with social sharing buttons. Thank those that share your content in social media to encourage this behavior. Track referral traffic from sharing activity Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

10 Text s from a Sales Rep In the B2B industry, s sent via individual sales rep addresses perform far better than traditional marketing s. Such campaigns deliver improved engagement rates because they leverage the power of the "human touch" and begin building a relationship between the sales rep and the prospect. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use You don't use Text s from a Sales rep - but Top Performers report this tactic can improve marketing ROI. Here are some ideas to get started and reap the benefits: Create personalized templates for the sales team and experiment with different calls to action (download offer vs. follow-up call vs. scheduling a meeting). Make it easy for sales reps to send s that will track engagement by the recipient Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

11 Custom Landing Pages from an The landing page is an essential part of many marketing campaigns. By directing clicks to a landing page customized for a specific rather than a generic home page, marketers can significantly improve their conversion rates. Great 5 Moderate 4 Little 3 No Noticeable 2 Change You Top Performer Decrease 1 Never 1 Rarely 2 3Often Always 4 5 Frequency of Frequency Use of Use You reported low usage and value from Customized Landing Pages - however, Top Performers rated Custom Landing Pages as a capability having an impact on ROI. Here are some tips to take advantage of this best practice: Build landing page templates to make landing page creation easy to implement. Optimize your landing pages to ensure the best results. Not sure where to get started? These landing pages should be optimized first: Lowest conversion landing pages High bounce rate landing pages High exit rate landing pages Lowest time spent landing pages Key pages (i.e., contact us, top offers) Ensure reader knows what content they will receive upon clicking on a link Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

12 Volume and Frequency What is the size of your total list / database? You indicated SGC has a database with 100, ,000 contacts. Here's how this compares Under 5,000 5,001-25,000 25, , , , , , ,001-1,000,000 1,000,001-5,000,000 5,000,001-10,000,0... Over 10,000,000 Don't know What percent of your list do you consider inactive? A key indicator of a healthy marketing program is the level of audience engagement. You indicated that 51-75% of your list is inactive. Here's how this compares. 30 (shown as %) 25 Top Performers (shown as %) Under 10% 26-50% Over 75% 10-25% 51-75% Don't know 5 Under 10% 26-50% Over 75% 10-25% 51-75% Don't know Rather than sending the same campaigns to inactive prospects, it often makes sense to run specific reactivation campaigns to attempt to "wake the dead". This is a great place to test and experiment - you can't "kill them again" Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

13 Frequency of Communications Please estimate how often an individual in your database typically receives various communications. One of the most common questions marketers ask is "How often should I my contacts?" The standard expert answers to this question are "it depends" or "test to find out". Although true, this advice is not as actionable as marketers might like. Fortunately, the Marketo Benchmark on Marketing can tell you what other companies are doing - including the Top Performers. Type of Product and Service Promotions Newsletters Automated Nurturing s Event Promotion Frequency Two Times Per Month Weekly Don't Use Monthly 2011 Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

14 Execution Metrics What is your average open rate? While Open Rate is widely known as an imprecise metric, it nonetheless provides a baseline for trending and can be of value to measure subject lines, monitor inbox delivery, and understand engagement. You indicated SGC has an open rate of 11-15%. Top Performers 16-20% 16-20% You have room to improve your open rate compared to the benchmark. Fortunately, there are many proven techniques you can use to improve open rates even further. These include: Use a consistent "From" label that recipients learn to trust. This can be a person from your company, your company brand name, or a combination such as Jon Miller, Marketo. Ensure your recipients know who you are and why you are ing them. If they don't know who you are, they are much less likely to read your message. Following the best practice for opt-in can make a big difference here. Test subject lines rigorously. This is perhaps the single most important item to test to improve marketing success. Find the time of day and day of week that works best. Although Tuesday to Thursday is often considered to be the best performing days, some companies are finding their best open rates for s sent over the weekend. In some cases, not following the same best practice that everyone else follows can help you stand out! Manage your list and remove contacts that have not opened your s in the last six months. This can also help your deliverability rates. Don't mail too often. If you send too many s, your list may start to feel fatigued and will stop opening your messages. What is your average click through rate (clicked / delivered)? The click rate is the fraction of all delivered s that get clicked on. The more people that are clicking your s, the more they are engaging with your brand and content. A high click rate shows that your s are causing your intend audience to respond. You indicated SGC has an click through rate of %. Top Performers % % Your click rate is below the industry average. Use the suggestions above to improve your open rate and the suggestions below to improve your click to open rate Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

15 What is your average click to open rate (clicked / opened)? The click to open rate focuses on how well recipients interact with your s once they are opened. It focuses on the call to action and design / copy more than the subject and from address (though those can matter as well). You indicated SGC has an click to open rate of 11-15%. Top Performers 11-15% 16-20% Your click to open rate is above the industry average. Now, you can improve your results even more by: Have a clear call to action. Tell the recipient what you want them to do in plain language. Use multiple links for the same call to action in the image, in a button, and in the copy (multiple times, each with different anchor text). Having more links has been shown to improve click rates. Create scarcity. A recipient is more likely to click if they feel your offer has a limited quantity or time available. You want them to think they are missing out if they don t click and take action. Test, test, test! If you can t think of anything else, try changing the color of your call to action button. What is your average unsubscribe rate? Unsubscribes happen even to the best marketers; the key is to keep them as low as possible by having engaging content and the right permission marketing practices. Top performers consistently see lower than average unsubscribe rates. You indicated SGC has an unsubscribe rate of 0.31% 0.4%. Top Performers 0.11% 0.2% 0.06% 0.10% Your recipients are more likely to unsubscribe from your s than the benchmark average. Use these tips to improve your unsubscribe rate: First and foremost, only send your s to recipients who have agreed to receive offers from your organization. This is a no-brainer. Send offers or newsletters at least once per month so your recipients are used to receiving your and you don't lose touch. Only the content your recipients requested. Over-mailing your customers can result in list fatigue, which can in turn lead to an increased unsubscribe rate. Most importantly, provide value in your messages. Be the trusted authority on a certain subject, continually offer great deals to your customers, and announce exciting news or updated product information Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

16 What is your average bounce rate range? Bounce rate is an important indicator of the quality and health of your marketing list. Even if an address was good when it came into your system, people often change their addresses - requiring a solid process to keep the list clean. A high bounce rate can also hurt your deliverability since many ISPs consider senders with high bounce rates as less trustworthy. You indicated SGC has an bounce rate of 2.1-5%. Top Performers 2.1-5% <= 2% Your bounce rate is at the industry average. You can improve with these techniques: Automatically remove recipients who bounce from your mailing list for future sends, but be sure to process soft bounces such as "out of office" messages differently. Provide a way for recipients to update their address. Consider calling or direct mailing high-value prospects whose addresses bounce to let them know and get a correct address. What is your average conversion rate from known name to Marketing Qualified Lead? Measuring how the prospect engages and then moves through the sales cycle from Marketing Qualified to Sales Qualified to Opportunity and ultimately Close Won is critical to understanding the effectiveness of all your Marketing programs. You indicated SGC has a conversion rate from known name to Marketing Qualified Lead of Don t know. Top Performers % % Like you, 56% of companies say that they "Don t Know" their conversion rate from known name to Marketing Qualified Lead. Fortunately, powerful and easy solutions such as Marketo s Revenue Cycle Analytics make it easy to measure, track, and improve this metric over time. Have the sales team re-think their traditional sales strategies - instead of having them actively talk and "sell" your products or services, encourage them to listen more to prospect needs and behaviors. Establish lead scoring thresholds to identify when leads should be passed on to sales and when they should be returned to marketing for further nurturing. Coordinate marketing and sales when identifying "interesting" behaviors that indicate hotter leads and establish sales alerts based on these behaviors. Make it easy for sales to sort leads by priority in the CRM system, enabling them to focus on the most sales-ready leads. Enable salespeople to view the companies in their specific territories that visit your website and to access the important contacts at each organization within the CRM system Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

17 Deliverability Deliverability remains one of most important factors in successful marketing - if your messages don t hit the inbox, they can't drive the results you seek. Many marketers find the topic intimidating because it is influenced by so many variables - variables than can't be condensed into a single metric or score. In the end, successful deliverability is a shared responsibility between the sender and the service provider. You should ensure your provider uses the latest technology compliant with today's current requirements. See how Marketo does it at At the same time, senders directly affect their own deliverability. Senders with long-term deliverability keep clean lists and follow opt-in best practices, such as refusing to purchase lists. They also create carefully targeted messages that are relevant and trusted by their subscribers. Learn more about deliverability best practices at Marketo s Deliverability Resource Center at What opt-in method do you use? You said SGC uses Opt-out. Here's how that compares. (shown as %) Top Performers (shown as %) Single opt-in Opt-out Double opt-in Don't know Other 0 Single opt-in Opt-out Double opt-in Don't know Other 2011 Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

18 How much do you agree or disagree with this statement: My audience trusts my s. Trust is a critical component of success. If your audience trusts your s, they are more likely to open them, less likely to unsubscribe, and are much less likely to mark your messages as spam. My is Trusted % Agree / Strongly Agree Unsubscribe % Bounce % 54% 0.11% 0.2% 2.1-5% Top Performers 100% 0.06% 0.10% <= 2% You Agree 0.31% 0.4% 2.1-5% Top Performers report a higher level of trust and a lower unsubscribe rate than the average. You indicated that SGC generates contacts for marketing via Other. Here is how this compares. 100 (shown as %) 100 Top Performers (shown as %) Website Forms Sponsorships 3rd Party Lists Data Vendors Referrals Other Don't know Website Forms Sponsorships 3rd Party Lists Data Vendors Referrals Other Don't know It's great to see that you are primarily using high-quality methods of acquiring contacts for marketing. This can help improve your deliverability and increase how much recipients trust your messages Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

19 Technology What is your primary method of managing your Marketing? You said SGC uses In house as your primary method of managing Marketing. Here's how that compares. (shown as %) Top Performers (shown as %) service pro... Marketing autom... Full service agency In house None 0 service pro... Marketing autom... Full service agency In house None What CRM solution does your organization use? You said SGC uses None for your CRM solution. Here's how that compares. (shown as %) Top Performers (shown as %) Salesforce NetSuite Oracle/S... Goldmine SalesLogix ACT&apos Built In-... SAP Microsoft... Other Unknown None 0 Salesforce NetSuite Oracle/S... Goldmine SalesLogix ACT&apos Built In-... SAP Microsoft... Other Unknown None 2011 Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

20 Resources How effective are you at making the most of your time and financial resources to optimize your marketing? What are you doing to strategically improve your results and deliver incremental ROI? How many employees in your organization help execute Marketing programs? SGC has 2-5 employees involved with marketing. Here's how that compares. (shown as %) Top Performers (shown as %) > 50 None > 50 None How much of your team's time is spent on Marketing? Here's how your team spends their time, compared to their peers. Your Time Top Performers Hours Per Month Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

21 How much do you spend on Marketing per month (in US dollars)? SGC spends Don't know per month ($USD) on marketing. Here's how that compares. (shown as %) Top Performers (shown as %) < $1,000 $1,001 - $5,000 $5,001 - $10,000 $10,001 - $20,000 $20,001 - $50,000 $50,001 - $250,0... Over $250,000 None Don't Know < $1,000 $1,001 - $5,000 $5,001 - $10,000 $10,001 - $20,000 $20,001 - $50,000 $50,001 - $250,0... Over $250,000 None Don't Know 2011 Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)

22 Summary and Best Practices Top Tips to Improve Your Marketing 1. Group your target customers. Use demographic information or BANT characteristics to segment your audience. Develop profiles for each of your target audience groups. 2. Customize content for your unique buyer personas. Craft multiple messages for each profile. Dynamic content will ensure each delivers information that engages your prospects and can significantly improve your effectiveness levels. 3. Standardize your send information and style. the likelihood that recipients recognize your by using a consistent from name and corresponding address. Also, standardize your branded s with one shared style, so each feels familiar. 4. Test for the best. Optimize your s with testing to find the right subject lines, images, and content for your buyer personas. By creating personalized templates for your sales team, you can experiment with different calls to action, such as download offers, follow-up calls, or scheduling a meeting. 5. Deliver a straightforward call to action. Each should communicate one clear call to action. Otherwise, recipients can become overwhelmed. However, it is advisable to repeat the call to action multiple times. 6. Develop trust with opt-in functionality. Go beyond following CAN-SPAM rules to ensure every recipient has opted-in to your Identify the best time to send. Consider the time of the day as well as the day of the week when executing your campaigns. 8. Ensure deliverability by proofing campaign content in different readers and troubleshooting content that may activate spam filters. 9. Optimize your list segmentation with more advanced tactics that combine user demographics with online behavioral data. 10. Implement improvements with automation. Take your efforts up a level by exploring more complex automated workflows for lead nurturing, such as triggers that send out s based on lead score. 11. Speed up your sales cycle by creating content for every stage. Develop standard s that communicate your key messages throughout all stages of your buying process. These take the form of everything from educational s vs. solution-oriented s. 12. Schedule maintenance. Set aside time for keeping your database up to date and clean with deduplication, especially after you send s Marketo, Inc MKTO (6586)