Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Maximizing Your Web Site's Effectiveness: Q&A with Karen Breen Vogel, CEO of ClearGauge

by Mack Collier

With the rise of social media, user-generated content, and widgets, there are more factors than ever to consider when designing a company Web site. Throw in SEO and choosing the proper design/layout for your Web site, and it all gets very confusing, very quickly.

Which means that Web site optimization experts such as Karen Breen Vogel are in very high demand. Vogel understands how to lead organic traffic to Web sites—but, perhaps more importantly, she understands how to give those users the content they are looking for when they arrive.

Here, in a conversation that previews the session she'll be leading next month at the MarketingProfs "Driving Sales" conference, Vogel cuts through the clutter and gives invaluable advice on how to build disciplined Web site optimization programs that build on strengths and business objectives.

Q: What are some of the ways that companies can change the design of its Web site in order to make it more effective?

A: A Web site is effective if it contributes to business results based on the specific goals of the business. In order to be effective it needs to attract the right users or traffic, [those] whose actions will correlate to the specific business goals. Which means, in the case of new-customer revenue goals, the design needs to support connecting to your target market segments on the search engines, since they are the primary source of traffic on the web.

This is done through a set of techniques and guidelines referred to as SEO or search engine optimization. They range from making sure the search engines can crawl and index your site pages to structuring copy, tags, and links optimally so that the search engine also determines your site pages are focused on particular themes and can provide a searcher a good place to land, resulting in a higher ranking in the natural results page, which then results in more qualified traffic to your site.

Q: So much of SEO seems to center on increasing Web site traffic. Is that enough?

A: A Web site cannot be effective...if it does not engage this qualified traffic in the actions that correlate to business outcomes. Engagement increases when a site is designed for the visitor's needs—not as a product sales pitch.

A site should behave like a great consultative sales call, providing self-segmentation options for the user on the homepage (analogous to asking what the visitor is most focused on) by place in the buying cycle, role in the decision process, pain point, or issue the visitor is trying to resolve, etc.

This allows the visitor to quickly get to the most relevant content and feel as if they have found a place to get their mission accomplished.

The site also needs to provide multiple places for interaction rather than just a "contact us." In general, the navigation bars and calls to action should be consistently located on each page so that the user can find things easily.

Site Search is also a great addition to many sites for those who do have many products, solutions and offerings that can be organized around parametric data and where a search is more productive than a navigation design.

Q: When a company examines its visitor and traffic statistics, what should it be looking for to indicate that visitors are finding value from the content on its Web site? How can a company tell whether its Web site is meeting visitors' expectations?

A: One KPI (key performance indicator) that is good for this is returning visitors/new visitors, which is a clear sign that visitors have found a reason to return.

Another way a company can tell if a Web site is meeting expectations is to just ask them. There are several intercept survey solutions available in the market that are great, and it is amazing how few companies deploy such a straightforward mechanism to ask visitors how their visit went.

Typically there are also key information-exchange offers built into the site, where the visitor is asked for a small (note I said small) amount of information in return for a value such as a whitepaper, tips sheet, case study, How-To directions—or to opt in for a valuable email offering. As conversion rates on these activities rise, this signals the site is accomplishing the goal of getting to the next phase of the relationship—the visitors are engaged enough to provide information.

Through most Web analytics tools, you can also set up content groups to watch how visitors spend their time by content group, which assists in understanding which content is most popular, etc. Using pageviews/visit stats can also be a decent metric, although sometimes when this is high or rising it is a sign the site is not easy to use and visitors are trying too many things to get where they want.

It does typically signal a site where visitors are staying longer, which most often is a good thing, unless there is a navigation problem.

Q: It seems like widgets are exploding in popularity. In terms of a B2B Web site, what are widgets, and how companies can make proper use of them?

A: Widgets are interfaces to web services or tool that can be distributed to locations on the web where users and target prospects congregate (i.e., not at your site) to engage them where they are. They also usually are added to a desktop as a consistent interface point to the service.

Every business has a possible tool or set of information and a configuration of that data that should be valuable to its customers and prospects—putting it into this format (multiple dev formats available at Yahoo and Google [Google calls them Gadgets]) and then making it widely available is a way to leverage a network of desktop users on the internet.

Could be a Q and A, could be some type of calculator or register, a product finder, a modeling tool, etc. They are things users value and ritualize their use, and that will either eventually bring them to your site to get more value or allow you to convert them where they are.

Q: Can you give examples of when adding user-generated content to a company's Web site makes sense?

A: Product reviews by customers are great if the site has a focus on distributing products or providing product comparisons.

User-generated content can also be good in highly technical situations or where the user population can provide significant value around application of products or services more effectively to each other than the manufacturer or provider can, given their lack of real-life application experience.

Q: If you could give companies one piece of advice on how to convert Web site visitors into leads, what would it be?

A: Embrace the entire buying cycle—conversions can happen at each point. Be more relevant up front in the design, whether it be a site or a landing page—make it more about them (more customer-centric vs. product-centric) and then let real data be the guide (both behavioral (Web analytics) and attitudinal (surveys, usability, testing) on what offers and content convert more effectively. Gut feel is a bad approach and not necessary, given the data available based on online interactions.

Note: Hear Karen Breen Vogel live at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum, "Driving Sales: What Works, What's New, What Sticks," where she'll moderate a panel discussion on how companies can assess whether their Web site is working as hard as it might. Sign up here.

Mack Collier is a social-media consultant and writes for two of the fastest-growing marketing and advertising blogs on the Net: The Viral Garden and the MarketingProfs Daily Fix. Reach him via mack.collier@theviralgarden.com.

25 Metrics to Prove Marketing Drives Sales

by Roy Young

Driving sales is what B2B marketing is all about. Although the precise roles and responsibilities of Marketing may differ from company to company, your marching orders are the same: Help Sales produce more with less.

The most effective companies know that alignment of sales and marketing is a requirement for productive demand generation. The most enlightened CEOs and CFOs now understand that Marketing makes Sales more productive and a level of marketing spend is a better investment than an expenditure on more sales reps. And star sales reps know that Marketing helps them meet quotas.

All marketers want to know best practices and share experiences about driving sales. That's why the upcoming MarketingProfs B2B conference is titled "Driving Sales." (Whether your focus next year will be your Web site, email marketing, new media, search marketing, ROI measurement, integrated marketing, or customer insight, come to the October to learn how to drive sales in 2008.)

The conference sessions will cover a comprehensive range of marketing activities and choices, but one message will be consistent: Whatever your focus, you must apply specific metrics to demonstrate just how marketing improves sales productivity. Only with data can marketing be both accountable and empowered to add value to the organization. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to begin to help you do just that.

Here are 25 metrics you should select from to prove marketing drives sales and to track progress; they are categorized by the four stages of the sales (customer acquisition and retention) funnel:

  1. Top of the funnel (lead generation—5 metrics)
  2. Inside the funnel (lead management—7 metrics)
  3. Bottom of the funnel (closing sales—9 metrics)
  4. Retention funnel (customer retention, cross-sell, up-sell, and win-back—4 metrics)

The remainder of this article lists and briefly defines the metrics you can use in each of the four stages of the sales cycle. Relevant sessions for the upcoming "Driving Sales" conference are referenced throughout. To select the metrics most critical for marketing in your organization, consider sales goals and areas of greatest business leverage.

1. Lead generation to fill the funnel

The first phase of the sales cycle demands filling the top of the sales funnel with an adequate number of prospects.

  1. Profile of best prospects and decision makers: Marketing clarifies with Sales and others just who is the target for products and services based on a needs-based segmentation of the market (to improve your segmentation approaches, access the recording of Allen Weiss's online seminar from August 2, 2007). Your target must include a company profile and a profile of decision-makers within target companies. This is the most important activity for establishing the definition of a "qualified lead."
  2. Quantity of qualified leads: Only after the definition of "lead" is established, in terms of the type of organizations targeted and role of the individual contact name with budget and purchase decision authority, can the quantity of leads be considered. Are you keeping up with the competition?
  3. Cost per qualified lead: The ratio of the marketing spend divided by the number of qualified leads produced. The ratio can be used for all of marketing spend as well as for individual campaigns and media. Jim Lenskold is the instructor for a three-hour intensive session on this subject during Day 1of the conference.
  4. Leads to appointments: The ratio of Sales' success with setting appointments among leads generated.
  5. Knowledge about leads: Depth and breadth of information on leads passed along to Sales.

2. Lead management to move leads through the funnel

The second stage in the sales funnel requires Marketing to help Sales shorten the sales cycle (time from first contact with lead to converting to a customer). Too often, Marketing just hands off leads to Sales rather than spending time with Sales to nurture prospects. John Coe is the instructor of a three-hour intensive session on the topic of managing leads to improve sales productivity during Day 1 of the conference.

  1. Number of requests for proposals: From the pool of qualified leads, how many can Sales turn into requests for a proposal?
  2. Number of proposals leading to presentations: Of proposals written, how many lead to sales presentations?
  3. Time spent with prospects/customers: Sales is most successful in most businesses when spending time face-to-face with prospects; to maximize sales productivity, Marketing's job is to do all the behind-the-scenes work to ensure that Sales can maximize time out of the office.
  4. Number of sales calls or meetings/number of valuable calls or meetings: Of the sales calls or meetings, what percentage is valuable in advancing prospects through the sales funnel?
  5. Usage of marketing materials and messages: Many ways exist to track and document usage of marketing materials, but finding useful ways will document value of marketing materials and ways of making improvements in the management of messages and media. Tim Riesterer will discuss how to manage this effort systematically during Day 2 of the conference.
  6. Leakage—percentage of leads leaving the funnel: What share of leads are leaving the funnel? Do those who leak share anything in common so we can alter the definition of a qualified lead accordingly? Tony Zambito will address new ways of knowing about customers during a three-hour intensive session on Day 1 of the conference.
  7. Dollars invested to nurture leads: To maximize the effectiveness of marketing spend and sales resources, we want to keep prospects who will eventually close, and "leak" prospects who will never close. We don't want to waste valuable resources on poor prospects. This metric will track the effectiveness to determine which prospects to nurture and which to release from the funnel. Jim Lenskold will address this issue in his three-hour intensive on marketing ROI during Day 1 of the conference.

3. Closing sales at the bottom of the funnel

The third stage of the sales funnel makes all the prior marketing and sales efforts productive. All the lead-generation and lead-nurturing activity produces results—positive and negative—which will ultimately be measures for determining sales productivity.

  1. Sales from high-margin products: Sale, and often Marketing, is focused on top-line revenue and not bottom-line profit. This metric is a proxy for an indication that focus is where it needs to be: on profit.
  2. Sales from new products: This metric is an indication of future sales prospects.
  3. Number of meetings to close: What level of sales time and effort is required to close? Is there a better way to conduct sales meetings and time spent with customers?
  4. Time to close: A critical measure of sales productivity, influencing not just investment of resources but also cash flow.
  5. Close ratios: What percent of leads entering the top of the funnel and prospects at various stages in the funnel are converted to customers.
  6. Value of sales funnel: Management must have a forecast of future sales. Using close ratios, the forecast can be prepared.
  7. Size of orders: Larger orders may be more desirable than an equal amount of sales revenue coming from numerous orders; indeed, the reverse may be true. Is there an 80/20 rule with 80% of the business being generated by 20% of customers? What does this mean for the use of marketing and sales resources? What does it mean for risk associated with losing a valuable account?
  8. Marketing spend/sales: What level of marketing investment is required to meet the sales targets? What changes in marketing spend result in a different sales result?
  9. Market share: Using a careful definition of the market and competitive offerings, what is the company's share of revenue? Are you keeping up with trends—growth rates—in the market?

4. Retention funnel

The fourth phase is the customer-retention funnel. Most companies have a good deal of sales leverage from customer relationships and reversal of relationships with former customers. Consequently, Marketing and Sales resources are directed to build loyalty, customer references (word-of-mouth) and increases in share of wallet (cross-sells and up-sells).

Common wisdom says it is much less costly for many businesses to generate revenue from existing and past customers than it is to generate revenue from new customers. These metrics will help you determine whether that's true for your business.

  1. Breadth and depth of customer relationships: What is the level of customer loyalty, given the relevant measure of retention? What is the lifetime value (in terms of revenue and profit) of customers?
  2. Net Promoter Score: Widely used as a meaningful gauge of the extent to which customers will refer you to others like them, which will drive future sales. Based on customer satisfaction survey data, the NPS is determined by asking customers the likelihood that they will recommend you to others they know.
  3. Share of wallet (cross-sells and up-sells) among existing customers: How much do customers spend with you in the categories of your offerings? Are you meeting all their needs that you can meet? What are the revenue consequences of additional products and services sold to existing customers?
  4. Win-back opportunities and successes: Are marketing resources effective at renewing relationships with customers who have lapsed or expired?

* * *

The business case for marketing in B2B organizations is made with statistics that prove improvement in sales productivity.

While metrics should not be confused with the actual work required to achieve performance results, you must use quantitative data to demonstrate Marketing's progress to justify your budget, win additional resources, and help guide decisions for future impact in driving sales.

Select your key metrics from this list to elevate the power, influence, and business impact of Marketing in your organization.

Note: Roy Young, president of MarketingProfs, is leading a panel of three Marketing Champions on Day 2 of the Conference. They will tell their stories about how they have made a difference in their organizations by driving sales. Find out more or register for the event here.

Roy Young is president of MarketingProfs.com and coauthor of Marketing Champions: Practical Strategies for Improving Marketing's Power, Influence and Business Impact (Wiley, 2006). For more information about the book, go to www.marketingchamps.com or order at Amazon.

Published on September 4, 2007

Web Marketing 101 for Small Businesses

By Sean Carton , October 15, 2007

Have you ever picked up a magazine about a hobby you knew absolutely nothing about but wished you did? You page through it, looking at the amazing stuff people are doing, drooling over the pictures, wishing you could do what they're writing about. But no matter how hard you try, you can't understand half the words on the page. You can read the steps it takes to make what's written about, but unless you've reached a basic level of proficiency with the material, it may as well by hieroglyphics.

For me, "Make" magazine is a great example of this. It's packed with really cool projects, but it assumes the reader has a heck of a lot of basic knowledge most of us aren't born with. Reading some of the projects posted to its blog always fills me with a sense of envy and confusion. They make it look so easy. But while the hardware hackers on the site might be stymied over exactly which microcontroller to use for their next robot project, I'm the kind of guy for whom soldering is a skill right up there with brain surgery. Cool stuff to be sure, but I'm not going to be able to do any of it anytime soon.

I thought about this recently after reading Fred Aun's article about how small businesses struggle to use the Web for marketing. Examining a recent Opus Research study, Aun reports that while most small businesses want to market on the Web, they have no idea how to start, how much it costs, or how to create a successful program. I got the feeling from reading this article that many small business owners that look at Web marketing feel like me reading "Make": it sounds like a great idea, but how the heck does one get started?

I'd like to help. Today I present Web 101 for small businesses:

  1. Decide why you need a site. If it's to drive sales, you need to look into various e-commerce options. Try checking out Amazon and Yahoo for easy ways to get started. If it's to drive leads, you need to provide an easy way to allow people to contact you through the Web and enough information on your site to get them to contact you in the first place. If it's for recruiting, you need to tell a good story about why people would want to work with you. If it's because the competition has a site, then that's a good motivator to get started.

  2. Figure out who you're trying to reach. If it's prospects, you need to provide information to help them along the buying decision process. Basic stuff like the prices of your products, where you're located, and what makes your stuff better is a good place to start. If you're trying to serve current customers, think about what kinds of questions they ask you (or your employees) on a regular basis. Collect those questions, answer them, and put them online. If you're trying to reach new employees, you need information on your site that sells them on why they should work for you.

  3. What kind of information does the site for your small business need to contain? If nothing else, put your address and phone number in a prominent place! I know this sounds incredibly basic, but you'd be amazed how many sites make it difficult for potential customers to find or contact them. While you're at it, try putting a map on your site, too: it won't do you any good if you can't get people through the door. Google now allows easy embedding of their maps into Web sites: go check out Google Maps to learn more.

  4. How much should you spend? This is the eternal question. The answer shouldn't be, "How much you got?" Break out your spreadsheet and work some ROI (define) calculations. What are your sales now? What kind of return are you getting from traditional advertising? If you're looking at online advertising to promote your business, a quick trip to Google AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing will allow you to see how many clicks your ads might generate based on how much you can spend. From there, it's not tough to figure out how much additional revenue you could generate based on a conservative 1 percent CTR (define) on the ad and a conversion rate of 1 to 2 percent.

    For example, if you can get a $2.50 CPM (define) on the ads you want to buy and you can spend $3,000, you'll generate 1.2million impressions. At a 1 percent CTR, you'll generate 12,000 clicks. If 3 percent of those clicks convert to sales, you'll generate 360 sales. Is that enough to pay for your advertising? You need to figure that out based on per-sale profit. Work the numbers to figure out how much to spend.

  5. Build the site. Who will build the site? Can you do it yourself? Can you find a freelancer? Do you need a bigger Web firm or your ad agency (if you have one)? The answer really depends on your budget, your skills, and the time you have to devote to the project. Remember, though: when it comes to design, you really do get what you pay for. Don't cheap out unless you want to make a bad impression and drive people away.

  6. Promote it. How will you promote the site? This is a toughie because there are a lot of options out there. "Entrepreneur.com" has some excellent links to resources for small businesses. You'll also want to look at this article for some links to free services that help you figure out what keywords you'll want to use to promote your business via search engines. And no matter what you do online, consider direct mail to your current customers (a postcard is a good place to start) to get them to visit your new site and begin generating word of mouth.

  7. Measure. Once you get things up and running, keep on top of the traffic to see if the investment's been worth it. How do you do that? Google Analytics is a good place to start. It provides tons of information -- and it's free.

  8. Follow up. Finally, you need to figure out how you'll integrate your new site or new online campaign into your business. Who will update the site? Who'll answer incoming inquiries? How will you keep them coming back? Many of the answers to these questions will depend on your business, but remember: unless the site's care and feeding (and the following up of leads and ongoing e-mail marketing efforts) become part of someone's job description, it ain't gonna happen. Make sure someone's explicitly assigned to your online efforts. Otherwise, it'll get lost in the shuffle.

There's no reason for small businesses to be scared of moving their marketing online as long as you take a reasoned and disciplined approach. Start by answering some of these questions and see where you stand.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Avoid the Spiral of Doom

Once your company achieves market domination—or, at least, a relatively comfortable position—it's tempting to think about resting on your laurels for a while. But Olivier Blanchard of The Brand Builder blog warns against getting too conservative in your thinking: "Every company I've ever worked with (or for) that shifted its focus from innovation and market leadership to playing it safe and letting their competitors take chances with new technologies, designs or business endeavors, saw their brands erode faster than beachfront property in a hurricane."

Blanchard lays out the usual, and all-too-predictable, cycle, which he dubs the brand erosion spiral of doom:

  • Decide that innovation is too risky or time-consuming and let competitors test the market for you.
  • Lose relevance when the competition launches new products or services six to 18 months before you.
  • Sales drop off, contracts aren't renewed, margins erode. You’re competing at lower price points with second-tier players.
  • Quality slips when you swap vendors for cheaper suppliers and outsource customer service. Increased returns, inconsistent deliveries and back orders lead to lost customers and referrals.
  • You spend liberally on marketing to counteract a tarnished image, money better spent on improving products and services.
  • You write large checks to re-brand with a new logo and tagline.
The Po!nt: Writes Blanchard: "Don't assume that innovation and great ideas are too expensive to develop or too complicated to put into action. That kind of thinking is not an option. Don't settle for being reactive when you should be proactive."

Source: The Brand Builder Blog. To read the entire post, go here.