‘If they are in my database, I already have their information anyway’.

This is an objection to Marketing Automation that I can completely understand and if all you are looking for is a lead generation tool, then possibly marketing automation is not right for you at this time.

Data capture is a big part of what Marketing Automation can add to your business. Through utilising landing pages and forms on your website this is a great way to gain visibility of WHO those unknown visitors to your website are. Yes not every person is going to fill out a form when they are on your website but you are still gaining more information than you were before as once they fill in that form and provide you with their name and email address, that is when they become tagged and you can see their digital behaviour with you.

The value it brings to the people that are already in your database is not through gaining their contact details, but through tagging them and being able to see what they viewed on your website previously, in their current visit and whenever they return. Imagine the value that would bring you, being able to see what everyone in your database is looking at on your website?

Therefore this is where the value is for those prospects that you already have the contact information for, if you data base size is 50 thousand email addresses, how valuable would it be if you could see what those fifty thousand people are looking at and therefore being able to tell when they are ready to buy.

‘Just because someone has landed on my website does not mean they are ready to buy from me’

This is completely correct and something that I wholeheartedly agree with. One visit to your website definitely does not mean that the visitor is someone that you want to be picking up the phone to.

The really exciting thing that Marketing Automation looks at is when one of your prospects is making multiple visits to your site and spending longer amounts of time on there. This is the time when your prospects are displaying those buying behaviours that signal when you should be picking up the phone to them or making contact. 

What you are also able to do is decide on what next best action will be triggered based on their visits to your website. If they have landed on a particular product page you can enter them into a segmentation list to ensure all further communication sent to them is relevant to them, or an alert can be sent to the most appropriate sales person for that particular product.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that once they start displaying these behaviours that they will pick up the phone to you themselves. Think how many times you have been the buyer and you have been about to make a purchase but something has come up, the phone rang or you had to dash off to a meeting. 

Marketing Automation provides you with the invaluable tools to gain the visibility of those prospects that are frequently engaging with you online but not making any direct contact. It allows you to get in contact with those prospects at EXACTLY the right time when they are most likely to buy from your company. What this then does is bring in more sales for your business and provides you with a higher ROI of your online marketing activities.

Email Marketing is Evolving

The results from the annual Marketing Week ‘Email Attitudes Research’ survey indicate that email marketing remains a favoured method of communication for businesses. 70% of respondents said they sent more emails over the last 12 months than the previous year and 45% have seen greater click-through rates.

Consumers surveyed in 2010 found one of the biggest issues with email to be ‘information overload’, whereas this year consumers are more willing to receive email messages due to better targeting. Although for many marketers ‘targeting’ is still considered a big challenge, finding difficulties in obtaining data.

Email appears to be retaining its status as a preferred form of marketing as businesses begin to see the potential of integrating email with other marketing channels. 45% indicate they have seen traffic from other channels increase when integrated with email campaigns. However there is still concern from marketers over data capture, which would allow them to create more tailored emails.

As the results highlight, targeted email marketing is the underlying success factor for marketers and consumers. Profunnel provides integrated email marketing solutions to strengthen tailored campaigns for better results. Through web forensics, website visitor behaviour is captured and warm leads are selected and sent through to marketers, developing B2B lead generation. With this information, email messages can be composed with relevant content for individual prospects. Recipients are more likely to open these messages which will consequently create greater opportunity to generate new business.

Please visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing

What is the Key to Business Success?

The current economic climate has created some issues for businesses. However in recent financial findings, some organisations are making real progress. In the latest financial year businesses such as Sports Direct have reported a significant rise in profits – so the question arises as to why some companies are prospering despite others failing. In retail, the crucial factor is to deliver the right product, while in B2B the simple answer is ‘timing’ – targeting prospects and current customers at the right time and with the right information.

In order to get the timing right, it is important for organisations to research and gather data about customer activity on their website. Often perceived as time consuming, with the right technology in place, marketing and sales teams can benefit greatly, leading to an overall improved revenue for the company.

You can read more about this here

By integrating Profunnel’s intelligent software, businesses can track visitor activity on their website – from the initial visit right through to their final purchase click – tracking when and where they access the site. The system will also improve your lead generation with real-time email alerts being sent to the sales team enabling them to spend their time on warm leads. From here, the sales team can create and deliver personally targeted email marketing campaigns – confidently aware that the prospect will receive relevant information, which is more likely to attract them to the company and keep them coming back.

Visit Profunnel to find out more information about Web Forensics.

The Key to Customer Engagement – Your Website

In a competitive B2B world, first impressions of your website are essential in turning prospects into customers. A successful website must engage its audience from the outset.

Information such as white papers and a regularly updated blog provide added value and give a reason for customers to keep visiting the site. But while content attracts visitors, businesses need to understand how to turn this website traffic into new customers.

The key to this is following your website visitors from their first visit through their whole journey - how often a lead visits your site, how long they spend there and what they look at gives companies an incredible insight and understanding of potential customers.

It’s here that using a quality forensics solution to understand visitor actions comes into its own, giving your team the information it needs to improve communications and ultimately sales. The latest technology goes far beyond just the basic analytics, delivering knowledge that can enhance business performance and put you ahead of the competition.

SEO is Only the Beginning

Web activity and maximising online visibility through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become a critical component in lead generation for businesses in all sectors. But strong SEO is only the beginning for companies.

While SEO is an important marketing tool, it cannot be solely relied upon to increase sales. Attracting visitors to your website is the first step of the new business chain – but once they are there, how do you make sure they keep on returning and ultimately purchase your product or service? The key to this is building understanding of these visitors – where they have come from, what they are interested in on your website, where they are in the buying cycle and more.

So how can you achieve this? Next generation web forensics (tagging & tracking individual activity) enables companies to really understand potential business, nurture it, communicate more effectively with individuals, and manage those relationships. Not all web forensics offers this ability, so now’s the time to get ahead of the competition, find out more about improving your Lead Generation

Free Profunnel Webinar on Latest Demand Generation Technology – 19th August at 1pm

We’ll be joining forces with US e-marketing specialist SalesFUSION next week to host a free webinar to discuss the cutting edge technology now available to sales and marketing teams in the UK.


Set to take place on 19th August at 1pm, the webinar will see Profunnel’s Managing Director Matthew Hall host the event alongside Kevin Miller, Executive Vice President Marketing & Sales of SalesFUSION, with the 45 minute discussion set to be followed by a live Q&A session to enable further analysis of the topics covered.


Areas that will be covered during the free webinar include insight into the latest advancements in web forensics (tagging & tracking individual activity); marketing automation; social media and pay-per-click tracking; email marketing; and CRM integration, allowing companies to identify, track and nurture website visitors, while delivering more effective online marketing and clearer ROI.


To find out more about how demand generation technology can help boost your sales, register for your webinar free place here.

Big Brother Watching?

It may seem a bit Orwellian, but the new era of web forensics can give you an incredible insight and understanding of your customers - and in the current market that knowledge may be just the edge you need to win business.

Web forensics is all about getting to grips with the ‘journey’ your customer makes through your website – how they are interacting and using the site to meet their requirements. It now goes way beyond the basics and instead allows you to tag individual visitors, tracking them through their activity and the sales process. This information is invaluable to sales people and marketeers, helping them understand individual motivations, target communication and increase conversion rates.

The key to success is to make sure your forensics solution gives the control and analysis your team needs to improve customer communication and sales – not just the basic analytics, but something much more powerful. You may feel like Big Brother watching visitors to your site, but the truth is that you will be able to deliver a better, more tailored service to each and every visitor.