Landing Page Case Study: Measurement & Lead Nurturing Lessons

    Posted by Tracy Lewis on Jan 14, 2013 7:39:00 AM

    In June 2012, PR 20/20 released the ebook, The B2B Marketer's Guide to Going Inbound, as a resource for marketers to generate and nurture high-quality leads through the use of technology, and inbound strategy and tactics.

    The ebook was promoted within a blog post with calls to action to download by filling out a form on a separate landing page. To date, the ebook has been downloaded 262 times by marketers and agency professionals alike, driving significant leads to PR 20/20 and its sister site, Marketing Agency Insider.

    Below we outline strategies employed and lessons learned during campaign execution.

    Call-to-Action Tracking

    Within the blog post, there were two calls to action prompting readers to download the ebook. The first was a text link that appeared above an image of the ebook cover. The second was a call-to-action button positioned at the end of the post.

    CTA screenshot

    We set up both links as separate events within HubSpot Enterprise so that we could better understand conversion rates and visitor behaviors.

    Of the two, the text link was clicked 73.9% of the time, whereas the button was only clicked 26.2%. Our belief is that the text link was more popular because it appeared higher in the post, not necessarily because it was a text link. However, additional tests would need to be run to test that hypothesis.

    A/B Test of Landing Page Copy

    On the ebook landing page, we ran an a/b test that looked at the impact of copy length on conversion rates. In version one of the page, we included short bullets, outlining the ebook’s table of contents. In version two, we provided much more detail in those bullets. See the screenshots below to compare.

    Landing Page Sample

    Landing Page SampleAs you’ll see, in both pages, copy length was the only variable that changed. Other factors, such as headline, image and form remained consistent.

    After running the test for several months, we found that there was not a statistically significant difference in the two variations. Version one converted at 65.8%, whereas version two converted at 70.9%.

    We have plans to run additional tests on this page in the future. In fact, we’re currently experimenting with HubSpot’s smart fields within the landing page form. Smart fields pre-populate information previously gathered from a user, eliminating unnecessary form fields, to make repeat conversions easy.

    Targeted, Automated Lead Nurturing

    In addition to optimizing CTAs and landing pages for conversion, it’s also important to think about the process that will occur after a lead submits a form.

    Since our ebook was a thought leadership piece, in which people may not necessarily constitute a sales-ready lead for PR 20/20, we connected the form with an automated lead nurturing campaign

    In the form, we asked if the person’s company provided marketing services to clients.

    Form FieldFrom here, we set up smart lists that automatically tag contacts as either a “company” or “agency” within our HubSpot portal. Audiences then receive tailored emails based on their status.

    For example, companies get a set of three emails that offer additional resources, and then prompt the person to contact PR 20/20 for marketing support. Agencies, on the other hand, get one email that introduces them to Marketing Agency Insider, an educational site for agencies developed by PR 20/20.

    By segmenting audiences in this way, and tailoring the message accordingly, we’ve seen strong email click through rates, and very few unsubscribes.

    Key Takeaways

    When working with calls to action and landing pages, the key is to have the systems in place that enable you to not only track performance, but also to make adjustments based on historical data. Keep in mind that in many cases, testing and optimization is an iterative strategy that can take time to execute properly. However, small updates collectively can drive a large impact.

    Finally, we’ve found that the more targeted you can make the experience, the better. Technology, like smart lists, fields and CTAs, makes personalization easier than ever before.

    Share your call to action and landing page experiences, best practices and lessons learned in the comments section below.

    About the Author: Tracy Lewis is a consultant at PR 20/20, a certified Gold HubSpot partner and inbound marketing agency that combines content, public relations, social media and search marketing into integrated campaigns. She is also the community manager for Marketing Agency Insider.

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    Topics: landing pages, lead nurturing, lead follow up, marketing analytics, PR 20/20

    How to Generate Leads Using Blogs and Social Media

    Posted by Pete Caputa on Mar 26, 2008 1:06:00 PM

    Here's the slides from my Intro to New Media Marketing presentation this morning. And here's feedback from attendees. And Linda's take on the event.
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    Topics: how to start a blog, blogging for business, marketing analytics

    Internet Marketing eBook

    Posted by Pete Caputa on Mar 6, 2008 2:01:00 PM

    HubSpot just launched an 11 page free internet marketing eBook. If you're a small business owner, marketing or sales professional and are frustrated with not generating enough leads from your website, you should go read it online or download it.

    Here's the sections: 

    1. How the Internet Has Transformed Business
    2. Outbound vs Inbound Marketing
    3. B2B Marketing Research
    4. Organic vs Paid Search
    5. On Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    6. Off Page SEO or Link Building
    7. Starting a Blog
    8. Convert Website Visitors into Leads
    9. Web Marketing Analytics
    10. Other Internet Marketing Resources.  

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    Topics: SEO, blogging for business, search engine optimization, marketing analytics, ppc, inbound marketing

    Measurable Marketing

    Posted by Pete Caputa on Feb 23, 2008 5:05:00 AM

    Uber Online Marketing Genius, Mike Volpe, Hubspot VP of Marketing, wrote a post about "Scientific Marketing". He posed some really good questions: 
    • Why does sales think all the leads are so crappy?
    • How come it is so hard to measure all my different marketing programs?
    • How can I use a Blog to better market my company?
    • How valuable is my web traffic?
    • What do all these web stats actually mean for my business?

    At WhizSpark, I attempted to apply engineering to event promotion. I did it pretty well. Promoting a successful networking event, I found, was just a matter of getting enough people with a vested interest to invite their contacts. If I had 20 people promoting it, it seemed to always work. When I had a 100 people promoting an event, we had several hundred people in attendance. Eventually, I built up a really good email mailing list and depending on the event, all I had to do was send an invitation. Of course, the bigger the mailing list, the better the results. HubSpot conducts online marketing webinars all the time with several hundred people in attendance. 

    Event Promotion is Predictable. Measurable. Engineerable.

    In a similar fashion, sales has always been pretty scientific. If a salesperson contacts enough prospects, they'll make enough sales. Depending on the sales cycle, number of prospects touched, # qualified, and historical conversion percentages... sales should be predictable. Measurable. Engineerable.

    Shouldn't advertising be the same way?

    Obviously, the engineers at Google thought advertising should be. And they created Adsense. And made online advertising measurable and pretty damn scientific. Certainly Engineerable.

    Shouldn't marketing be measurable too? It seems to me that measurable marketing is the next frontier.But, how do you measure SEO, blogging, webinars, activity on Digg or LinkedIn, leaving comments on other blogs?

    Isn't this stuff more art than science? No. Not at all. I'm not saying that creativity isn't necessary. And these activities should be treated as opportunities to meet, interact with and educate potential prospects. Not as places to blast your positioning statements or litter with links. I'm just saying that a marketer should put their right brain on too.  

    So, how do you go about measuring it? What are the important criteria?If I take a very web centric view, here's the questions I'd want to answer: 

    • How much qualified traffic can I possibly get to visit my website?
    • How much qualified traffic am I getting now? How much traffic are my competitor's getting?
    • How much of my traffic is converting? Notice I didn't say lead. I think some conversions don't warrant a sales call. For example, someone might sign up for an email newsletter or leave a comment on a blog.
    • How much traffic is converting into a lead? I'd qualify a lead as someone who registers for a seminar/webinar, downloads a white paper, or more explicitly requests someone to contact them.
    • What marketing activities cause conversion events? If someone signs up for an email list, then attends a webinar one month later, I'd say that the webinar is a marketing event that should be done again. If webinar x causes 24% of your site visitors or email list members to convert, and white paper y causes only 2%, then do more webinars.
      If blog post z garners 15 comments from 25O RSS reads with 4 resulting in a repeat site visit and other conversion event after viewing your product description page... than blog post z.1 is something that should write. Similarly, activity by marketing or anyone else in a company, that happens on external blogs, social media and social networking sites, should be measured too.
    Many marketers might stop there. However, measurable marketing creates an amazing opportunity for "Marketing to be accountable to sales" and "Sales to be accountable to Marketing". Remember. Marketing is a Science now. So, we need to know what marketing activities results in leads and sales. Along these lines, here's the questions I'd ask next:
    • What marketing activities are generating highly qualified leads?
    • What sources of leads are converting at the highest rate in the shortest amount of time?
    Many really good marketers with strong ties to sales results would stop there. However, if a marketer puts the CFO's hat on for a brief stint, they'd probably ask a few more questions:
    • What sources of leads are buying our most profitable products?
    • What sources of leads are repeat buyers/ bring in clients that are retained the longest?
    • If I spent x amount of time + y amount of dollars on marketing to z lead source and z lead source converted into client buying revenue r  and profit p producing product and client stayed for n years, what is my true customer acquisition cost?
    • What's my most profitable marketing activity? Which marketing activities are not as profitable?
    And of course, if the marketing person wants to put their CEO, Board Member or Shareholder hat on (and you should probably issue stock to any marketing person that can pull this off for your business), here's the question that measurable marketing can answer: 
    • What marketing activities are best for the bottom and top lines of the business?
    • How much can I grow the business if I invest x dollars into marketing activity z?
    Is your business doing measurable marketing yet? What exactly are you waiting for?
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    Topics: measurable marketing, marketing analytics

    Measuring the Impact of Social Media on Your Business

    Posted by Pete Caputa on Feb 9, 2008 8:13:00 AM

    Most small and mid sized businesses are just dipping their toes into blogging. With keyword research and a good analytics package, it's not hard to plan and measure how blogging will impact the bottom and top lines for a business. If it's an ecommerce site, blogging is a no brainer. If you're a b2b company trying to generate leads... again... a no brainer. If you're b2c and people are passionate about your types of products (ie you sell wine not hammers), also a no brainer. If you're a realtor, you should be talking to Real Estate Tomato about how to start a real estate blog... umm... yesterday. (Of course, you shouldn't underestimate what's required to be successful with a blog - no matter who you are or what you sell.)

    All that said, social media is still the wild west. There's no best practices. There are very few services that assist business owners in a meaningful way. The only businesses that are taking advantage of social media are big brand name F1000 companies. They have the budgets to deal directly with the big social networks and the budgets to tap the big ad agencies who deal with the big social networks.

    Everyone else is sorta left figuring this out themselves. I've been able to successfully generate leads from social media activity. So has the internet marketing company I work for. We teach our clients best practices for the sites that actually drive traffic directly, and support our clients' SEO strategy. We also give them the tools to analyze effectiveness in terms of traffic, leads and soon: sales across their SEO, PPC, blogging, and blogosphere/social media activity. This informs what works and what they should do more of. For example, if Digg reaches your audience, you should learn how to use Digg. If you're trying to reach a younger crowd, join facebook. If you're trying to reach CEOs, start answering questions and endorsing people on LinkedIN.

    But, this list could go on and on. How does someone know where to focus their efforts and how do they measure what's working before the leads come in? As this map indicates, you could literally spend all of 2008 registering and learning social media services. There certainly isn't a comprehensive tool within the reach of the average mid sized business to track all the leading indicators of social media success or failure. However, is it really necessary to track the leading indicators? If you have a website that converts visitors into leads and you can successfully generate traffic from social media sources and measure which social media sites send visitors with a high likelihod of converting to a lead... then... I'm left with the conclusion that you should just find yourself a social media advisor. I'm sure that 1 out of 50,000 people are like me (or the guys at Read/Write Web) who spend too much time tracking the social media landscape, who can interpret it and translate it for the average business owner so they know what to do first.

    And if in doubt and you don't want to find an advisor, start with LinkedIn. If you're in business, chances are that your best prospects are on there.

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    Topics: blog advisor, social media advisor, lead generation, social media marketing, marketing analytics, linkedin, blogging, blog coach

    Breast Milk Marketplace Idea

    Posted by Pete Caputa on Jan 21, 2008 10:43:00 AM

    I've moved my blog over to the Hubspot Internet Marketing platform. I was using typepad, which has pretty much useless web analytics.  Hubspot's analytics are exactly what a marketer needs. Hubspot marketing analytics ranks keywords by the number of visits and leads each term attracts, making it real easy for marketers to see which keywords generate leads.

    The funny thing about my blog is that there are about 4 posts (out of 2200) that attract a disproportionate amount of traffic. And those 4 are not related to internet marketing. They are all posts that were "That's funny. I think I'll post about that" posts. Despite their direct irrelevance, there's an internet marketing lesson in disguise here.

    One of the posts was about buying and selling breast milk.
    (I'll link to it, once my blog posts are moved over to  Hubspot.)


    Then, this morning, I received an email from my wife, by way of Jennette Frem at Mothers & Company. The email asked us to vote for Mother's Milk Bank of New England to win a $10k business startup competition at Ideablob (Ideablob profile at Mashable). The milk bank's goal is to collect breast milk and donate it to premature babies. (Certainly a very worthy cause. Both my wife and I voted. So should you.)

    Whew! That was a lot of background. What's the internet marketing lesson in disguise?  There's too many. But, the main one is...

    The Milk Bank should do a little keyword research. Based on my web analytics, I think they might find that there's a lot of demand for a milk marketplace where people can buy and sell. A marketplace might create the kind of market liquidity (no pun intended) necessary to finance purchase of the equipment needed to pasteurize milk and even fund ongoing operations. I now know from first hand experience that breastfeeding has numerous health benefits for babies. And many mothers have difficulty breastfeeding. I also have heard of mothers who produce more milk than their babies can handle. Despite the high price of formula, I bet that the number of babies being fed with formula is at a record high. If there were a way to buy SAFE breastmilk, I bet it'd be a best seller.

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    Topics: SEO, search engine optimization, marketing analytics

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