As every marketer knows, the big data conversation has taken off this year. Suddenly, we have more data at our fingertips than we know what to do with. Data and marketing are both powerful standing alone, but together, they’re unstoppable. Every aspect of marketing is influenced by data in different ways, which brings us to today’s question:
With so much lead insight available, it’s hard to know where to focus. Here are the sets of data most crucial to an effective lead management strategy:
Tracking where your lead originated gives important insight into behaviors, preferences and needs. For example, if they clicked an ad, they were probably searching for a product to solve a particular problem. Whether it’s PPC or a social network, keeping a record of lead source helps you nurture effectively and understand how to spend future marketing dollars.
What does a lead do when they spend time on your website? Are they reading your case studies, viewing your product pages or visiting your blog? Dissecting this helps determine when a lead is ready to buy and how serious they are about making a purchase. It also informs future content.
Especially useful in B2B, a sign-up form that collects professional data identifies buyers who are likely interested in your product because of their occupation. It guides you through the nurturing process and determines which email or newsletter to send them next.
This is important to include, because a C-level executive viewing your product pages is probably closer to purchase than an intern.
Don’t waste valuable form fields on information you can obtain yourself. Location, for example, is easy to determine with analytics, so devote your form to more compelling and insightful things that you’d have trouble discovering without a lead’s help.
As big data advances, so does consumer insight. Taking a look at leads’ social footprint – how they participate in digital community, even off your site – helps you understand their needs and influence. You can match this social data to your ideal buyer profile, and you might even figure out more effective ways to nurture to sale.
With data management, structure and organization are key. Later this month, we’ll provide some tools and best practices to get there, because learning to harness the power of data will take your lead management to new heights.
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