Click To Lead

Final Post - eBook is complete!

2008-01-07T12:17:00.001-05:00

As promised three months ago, I went ahead and wrote (largely with the help of my blog entries) and published an eBook on software marketing and online lead generation.

I hope you enjoy it and please pass it along. It is free!

While I have enjoyed blogging and may continue down the road on a different topic, I am ending this one for three reasons:

1) There is only so much I have to say on the topic of software marketing and lead generation. And I have said it.

2) I know too many bloggers that reach the same point, yet continue to blog and waste the time of their readers. I don't care to do that. :-)

3) I have provided essentially the same message and material in the eBook. Writing the blog helped me get to the point where I could put everything together in a more coherent way.

Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and feel free to reach out to me at ortner@capterra.com to keep in touch.

Almost Finished

2007-10-03T14:41:00.000-04:00

When I started my blog in July 2006, my goal was very specific: to help educate our software vendors in the area of online lead generation and do it for at least one year. So I hit the one year mark a few months ago and I think I may be finishing soon. There's only so much one can write about this topic. Additionally, I have come across other bloggers who cover some of the more important aspects of what I discuss - such as Brian Carroll who coincidentally just wrote a great piece on the lead management process).

For the last few months, my posts have been primarily pointing to good resources and articles that I consider worthwhile reading for our software marketers. What I will probably do when I get a free moment is compile my posts into a free ebook that covers online marketing and lead generation for software companies. Then when I do, that will be my final post. In the meantime, I will continue to keep you abreast of good resources that I come across.

Afterall, I never wanted to blog just for the sake of blogging. There are enough people polluting the Internet with useless content. I have no desire to be part of that problem.

Software Websites That Get It

2007-09-21T11:14:00.000-04:00

I am constantly asked to reference software websites that put into practice the principles necessary for converting visitors to leads. Here are the five that I usually point to, in no particular order...

1) Syberworks
2) Autotask
3) Aimpromote
4) BuildIT Systems
5) Intuit

While they are not perfect, they are generally clean, simple, content rich and include clear calls to action. In other words, they get it.

Transitioning: How to End Each of your Web Pages

2007-09-12T17:55:00.000-04:00

I've commented before on the need to avoid dead ends at the bottom of each of your web pages. One way to help avoid this is by highlighting a call to action on every page. But I don't think this is enough. I also think it is necessary to make sure that every page flows to the next one. When designing your site, think of it as guiding a prospect through the buying process and not letting them get stuck at any point along the way. So each page must not only include stand alone information, but must also build momentum toward the next page.

Nick Usborne just wrote a good piece on this very subject.

Inc. 500 - We made it!

2007-09-05T16:16:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to thank all of our loyal software customers who helped us reach the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the United States. We're excited to make the list and couldn't have done it without you!

Six Keys to Lead-Generation Success

2007-08-29T11:02:00.000-04:00

Eran Livneh wrote a great piece on managing sales leads. Good reading for both your marketing and sales people. And his last statement is spot on...

"Your lead-generation program is only as strong as your weakest link. If any of the above is missing, your entire program will be compromised."

Content ideas for lead nurturing

2007-08-22T11:07:00.000-04:00

Brian Carroll does a pretty worthwhile blog on B2B Lead Generation that I think is worth subcribing to. His most recent post includes content ideas for lead nurturing.

The idea of including informative content pieces in your follow ups with prospects is not a new one, but a very powerful one that is probably underutilized by many vendors. I'm willing to bet that there is a negative correlation between complaining that many of your leads are tire kickers and how well you include useful content in your follow up efforts.

If you have any data to support or contradict this, I'd love to hear from you!

Magazines Experimenting With Pay Per Action

2007-08-15T11:22:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's finally happening. A few hundred magazines are stepping up to the plate and are allowing advertisers to pay per inquiry. I love it. It certainly shows confidence that their subscribers are actually reading and interacting with their ads. I'd predict that advertisers will be waiting in line for these opportunities. The real test will be if they work so my other my prediction will be that the magazines will have to create standards for the print ads to meet regarding calls to action and such.

What I'd like to make it clear is that this is not a test of whether Pay-Per-Action works. Advertisers getting in line is a sign that it does. Rather it is a test as to whether magazines are a good lead generation channel.

Will TV, radio and billboards follow suit?

Predicting the Next Software Decade

2007-08-08T16:01:00.000-04:00

M.R. Rangaswami is such a great proponent of the software industry. I wasn't able to attend his Enterprise 2007 Conference last month, but he did shares the results of a pretty interesting survey that was conducted. Enjoy...

Pay-Per-Click Versus Blind Request Leads

2007-08-03T11:53:00.000-04:00

I recently had a conversation with a friend in a different industry regarding online lead generation. Their two primary options were (1) Pay-Per-Click with the search engines and (2) industry-specific sites that encouraged buyers to solicit bids, which were in turn sent as "blind requests" to a handful of competing vendors.

Capterra is unique in that we offer our vendors both, but of course we only operate in the business software space. He asked me which method our vendors prefer, to which replied it depends on how Internet-savvy the vendor is. Those that are novices to online marketing prefer the RFIs, mainly because they are so tangible. But those that truly get online marketing prefer Pay-Per-Click for the following reasons:

1) PPC means the user is actively doing their own research, has read something about you specifically and clicked through to your website - where you control their experience and convert them to a lead.

2) You can respond more quickly to someone who submits their details over your own form than if they go through an intermediary.

3) PPC is less competitive. Lead gen services will send the lead to 3-8 vendors, typically. Whereas if someone contacts you, they may have also contacted 1 or 2 other vendors, but that's probably it.

Can anyone think of other reasons?

Automated Alerts To Boost Conversions

2007-07-27T15:04:00.000-04:00

MarketingSherpa has done yet another cool case study describing how Autobytel doubled conversions through more timely responses to leads. While car sales are certainly different than software sales, I do think there is enough in common (expensive purchase guided by a salesperson) to warrant considering similar tactics when online leads are generated. I personally think the key is to strike the right balance between generic and useful. Possibly a simple "Thank you" email to the prospect letting them know a sales consultant will be following up shortly and also including a recent success story and a link to the site while simultaneously texting the salesperson letting them know they have a lead? Timeliness of response can pay huge dividends, as the case study demonstrates.

Why is all of this important?

2007-07-20T14:52:00.001-04:00

I'm in the middle of preparing a presentation to be given to some software CEOs and it made me pause to think again as to why the concepts I discuss in my blog are so important to software companies. The reasoning is found in these 4 assertions:

1) Leads are the engine for driving sales growth in the software industry.

2) Most leads are generated when buyers conduct research. (As MarketingSherpa noted in a recent study, 4 out of 5 B2B buyers claim THEY find YOU. So you better be where they are looking.)

3) Most software product research is now performed online.

4) Many (I'd guess it is the vast majority but I have not performed a rigorous study) software marketers/salespeople do not employ proper lead generation and management practices.

I don't know of anyone who disagrees with any of these points, but if you do I'd love to hear from you.

So how do we fix #4? I hope my blog is a small piece of the answer.

Whether To Remove Phone Number From Your Online Form

2007-07-03T18:23:00.000-04:00

I have always advocated an online form that is as short as possible - typically 4 fields: name, email, phone, company name. Well I just read a post by Jason Stewart that is making me think that even that is too long. He mentioned that conversions doubled - yes that means a 100% increase - when they stopped asking for phone number on the online form. This is amazing to me. Certainly, phone number provides some value if the prospect does not respond to your email. But if you immediately send a good email response to that prospect and they don't respond, what is the likelihood that that prospect will respond to a phone call, assuming the phone number is even accurate? And is that percentage high enough to offset the twice as many prospects you would have if you removed the phone number?

So I leave this up to every vendor to test, but now I have to decide what will be my default recommendation to our vendors. You can probably guess which way I am leaning.

Managing Sales Leads

2007-06-29T18:07:00.000-04:00

I finally started reading Managing Sales Leads by James Obermayer and I'm getting sucked in. If your job function has anything to do with lead generation then I highly recommend it!

That's all I got this week...

The Importance of Case Studies

2007-06-22T16:38:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned this before, but I can't stress enough how important good testimonials and case studies are to converting not only visitors into leads, but also for pushing leads closer to sales. They should be displayed prominently within the website and used as collateral for email marketing campaigns. Getting prospects to read these stories can really help make them psychologically ready to consider buying your product. Knowing that their peers have chosen you and succeeded is very compelling.

Along these lines check out this piece on testimonials and this piece on case studies. Both offer some great tips.

Case Study in Web Design Flaws

2007-06-13T13:51:00.000-04:00

One of our customers recently canceled their Capterra subscription (I hate to call out previous customers so I won't name names) due to lack of performance. What is amusing is that not only are they software company but they market themselves as a web design firm. So wouldn't one think that their own website would have a great, lead-optimized design? Unfortunately, not the case. Here is a top-5 list list of their current design flaws:

1) No clear calls to action.
2) Paragraphs of text too long to read.
3) No customer testimonials.
4) Painfully long online form.
5) Online form difficult to access.

I figure if they are getting all these things wrong and they do website design, then it is probably safe to say that many software companies get these things wrong. In fact, from my experience, with the exception of the final point, they are probably the four most common mishaps I find among our vendors.

The Power of Testimonials

2007-06-07T17:24:00.000-04:00

I spoke recently with a colleague who mentioned that he was in the market for some construction management software. His mindset was not that of an innovator - he just wanted to use what everyone else was using. Luckily for the vendors that aren't in the top two or three in market share, it isn't easy to get good market data on this sort of thing.

So what could marketers do to earn his business? Try peppering your website with customer testimonials! Our beliefs (some more than others) are heavily dependent upon the judgment of larger groups. The desire to conform is very strong for many of us, especially in the adoption of new technology.

Seeing that many other similar to you have chosen a particular vendor's software is a powerful draw to many of your prospects. Make testimonials highly visible within your website and realize the impact it may have on your ability to convert those visitors into leads.

Share Your Expertise

2007-05-30T18:15:00.000-04:00

One idea that I think can work well for many vendors is to more proactively share their expertise as content within their website. Every software company brings a unique perspective to the marketplace based on their experiences with their customers. These "lessons learned" are often invaluable to future prospects. Writing about these experiences and then publishing them online in the form of best practices, success stories, or even press releases can not only drive more web traffic, but can also help position your company as a thought leader on given topics and help you get more press. Savvy salespeople and customer service people are usually in the best position to share this sort of information. It's up to you as the marketer to coax it out of them.

The Importance of Landing Page Design

2007-05-23T16:16:00.000-04:00

I recently spoke with a software company that wasn't seeing any of our clicks convert to leads. They were linking to their product page and their homepage. I asked them to switch their links to this page and low and behold they started generating leads right away. So what sets this page apart? Without doing any testing, my guess would be a combination of these four things:

1) clearer calls to action (free demo) highlighted right at the top
2) side by side comparisons are easier to read
3) features in an easier to read list
4) less text overall

Now it's still early for this switch so we'll have to collect some more data to be sure, but this is just a little more evidence that the right landing page can be the difference between failure and success.

Sandhill Conference Review

2007-05-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my prior week's post, I attended the Sandhill Software 2007 Conference in Silicon Valley last week. It's easily the best software conference I've ever been to. It attracted some great keynotes such as Steve Ballmer and Ed Zander. The seminars were also very good. I particularly enjoyed Anil Gupta from The Applications Marketing Group as well as David Meerman Scott.

Congrats to the founder M.R. Rangaswami on a great show!

Sandhill Conference - Free Passes!

2007-05-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

I'll be attending what appears to be a pretty big software conference produced by Sandhill in Santa Clara next week. The keynote speakers are Hasso Plattner of SAP and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. Should be interesting. Please drop me a line at ortner@capterra.com if you plan to be there or if you are interesting in attending. I'm allowed to bring 3 customers at no charge to you. I'd love to meet up.

- Mike

Managing Sales Leads - Book Recommendation

2007-04-18T11:36:00.000-04:00

I was tipped off by MarketingSherpa to what looks like a good read - Managing Sales Leads: Turning Cold Prospects into Hot Customers by James Obermayer. I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list and I figured I would give you a heads up in case you wanted to jump into it. If you do, would love to hear your thoughts.

Website Design - Starting All Over

2007-04-11T17:06:00.000-04:00

While many of the software companies I speak with are just a few tweaks away from a vastly improved website, there are also plenty of companies in need of wholesale changes. It's very hard to know where to even begin when it appears that their website has been simply pieced together over time. It's even harder to actually tell them this.

So where to begin? As always, ask yourself what the goal of your website is? For almost every software company I speak with the goal is to convert web visitors into leads. Then ask yourself, how can I entice visitors to give us their contact details so we can follow up with them? Free trial? Free consultation?

Then with these questions in mind, consider all of the content pieces that you would like to include in your website and ask yourself how they fit in with your goals. This will help you to understand the emphasis you should place on each as well as navigation paths that you will want to build into your website.

Also, check out this article on web design written by Susannah Ross. It's a decent read.

Remember, if you have decided to start over, you have already made the most important step - realizing that your site is...well, awful.

What about Tomorrow?

2007-04-04T13:53:00.000-04:00

I just spoke with a marketing/sales person (who shall remain nameless) at a vendor that has a very long form on their Contact Us page. I mentioned to him that they are probably losing a lot of prospects at that form since people are less prone to complete a long form as opposed to a short form. They like it long because he believes that helps qualify the prospect - only those that are serious and ready to buy today will complete it. While I do agree with this to a degree, it was what he said next that still has me shaking my head. He went on to state that "and these are the only people we want to hear from."

Really? While I can (sort of) see you not wanting to hear from people that aren't remotely serious about ever buying a product and just happen to be doing some very preliminary research, but what about those that are serious and ready to buy today but simply get annoyed by very long online forms? Don't you want to reach them? Or how about those leads that are serious but are planning to take take a few weeks/months to make a decision. After all, aren't they the vast majority of leads?

How many business software buyers start their research and make their final decision in a day or two? How hard is it to automate an email marketing campaign (potentially supplemented with a phone call or two) to cultivate leads over a period of weeks or months, which happens to be the buying cycle for the majority of major software purchases?

Go Slap Your Salespeople Around

2007-03-28T10:06:00.000-04:00

We typically receive two types of complaints from potential software buyers who submit their needs to Capterra:

1) In the intro email, vendors do not address the specific needs that the prospect has entered in the form. For example, here is an excerpt from a complaint we received recently..."So far I have received 7 responses to my posting. Only two of them gave any indication that they had looked at my specific requirements and could meet them. The form letters from the other vendors don't actually help me to know if they meet my needs or not."

2) The prospect states that they would like to be contacted by email, but the vendors decides to just go ahead and call without any email. Again, here is an excerpt from a recent complaint..."In filling out an RFI with Capterra I asked that vendors with products matching my requirements contact me by email only. It was therefore rather uncomfortable to receive a phone call from one of the companies responding to the request. Even worse was the fact that this company's product wasn't even what I was looking for!"

How difficult is it to pay attention to the potential customer's needs starting from the very first contact that you ever make from them?

So go slap your salespeople around...or stop letting them cost you sales by no longer giving them leads so early in the process!