Transcript Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results - Info

Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results
Vendor Landscape Plus:
Lead Management Automation
Info-Tech Research Group
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Executive Summary
• Understand the technology: Lead management software automates key
marketing processes to generate new business and retain clientele.
• Assess appropriateness: LMA is for B2B or B2C organizations whose core
marketing task is generating sales leads.
• Navigate an increasingly complex vendor landscape:
• Selecting a vendor has become increasingly complex due to the plethora of
vendors that have entered the market.
• Focus on pure-play vendors for robust and rich LMA capabilities.
• Start with your requirements to weed out unnecessary functionalities.
• Identify leading vendors and compare capabilities.
• Engage vendors in RFPs and demos to pick the tool that will enable the specific
use cases you defined at the outset.
Info-Tech Research Group
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LMA is appropriate for B2B or B2C organizations whose core
marketing task is generating sales leads
LMA is appropriate for organizations that
meet the following criteria:
Generating sales leads is a core
marketing task.
Ideal LMA Candidates
• B2B or B2C organizations
The organization has 1 or more
FTE in marketing.
• Sell large ticket item(s)
• Have complex buying process
• Have high lead volume
Marketing spend on lead
acquisition is greater than
$10,000 / month.
A CRM system is
already in place.
• Have long sales process
• Web site is the main point of
prospect generation and
conversion
• Direct sales force or call
center is where all leads are
assigned to
The corporate website and/or
e-mail is the primary client
communication vehicle.
Info-Tech Research Group
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The LMA market is largely fragmented, but slowly maturing
Info-Tech has segmented current LMA solution providers into four groups:
Pure-Play
Cross Channel
CRM
Niche
Info-Tech Insight
Fragmentation and clutter in the LMA marketplace makes it a ripe buyer’s market. When all else is
equal, most vendors in the space must compete on price, resulting in greater value for end-users.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Only Pure-Play vendors focus on providing a complete
LMA solution
Cross Channel, CRM and Niche vendors offer limited LMA
functionality in comparison to their Pure-Play counterparts.
Lead acquisition,
generation, scoring
and nurturing
Pure
Play
Cross
Channel
Mature B2B & B2C solutions that focus on
campaign management and execution, not on
gathering and nurturing leads.
CRM
Large consumer management systems, such as
Salesforce.com, that offer LMA as an add-on to
their current feature set.
Niche
Vendors that lack a complete LMA solution but
instead focus on specific aspects of lead
management, such as lead acquisition.
Completeness
of LMA solution
Fragmented systems
that perform disparate
LMA functions
Vendors that focus on lead generation and
nurturing, not long-term management of ongoing customer relationships.
Info-Tech Research Group
Pure-Play vendors are the focus of
this Info-Tech solution set due to
their offering of a solution that can
generate, score, and nurture leads
throughout their lifecycle.
Vendors in the Cross Channel, CRM,
and Niche segment will also be
covered, albeit briefly as their LMA
offerings are slimmer and are often
part of a larger Marketing
Automation solution.
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Vendors were scored on a number of specific criteria, and
ranked accordingly
Features
Affordability
Usability
Vendor
Viability
Geography
Support
Manticore
Market2Lead
Marketo
Pardot
Eloqua
RightOn
Interactive
Silverpop
Marketbright
Info-Tech Research Group
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Pure-Play vendors can be segmented into four distinct groups
based on affordability, usability, and breadth of features
Champion
Contender
Vanguard
Emerging Star
Info-Tech Research Group
Have significant presence in the market
and invest regularly in R&D to be trend
setters. Offer excellent value-forperformance in features, high quality
support, competitive pricing – or a
combination of these.
Provide a comprehensive product suite,
support their product with regular
updates and may or may not compete on
price. Competitors have the potential to
become future industry leaders.
Service niche segments of the market, or
are rising stars in the industry. They have
identified certain core strengths, or
product innovations, that act as their
competitive advantage.
Less established vendors who are starting
to gain a foothold in the marketplace,
these vendors are still considered “bestof-breed” and thus included in the vendor
landscape.
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Marketo offers a tightly integrated Salesforce.com solution
and invests heavily in internal R&D
Champion
Employees:
Headquarters:
Website:
75
San Mateo, California
www.marketo.com
Overview
• Founded in 2006, Marketo services mid-size and enterprise level customers
across the globe.
• Major industries include High Tech, Financial Services, Healthcare,
Communications, and Professional Services.
• The price and scope of the functionality Marketo provides makes it a great fit
for organizations with marketing spend in excess of $500,000.
• Marketo recently raised $18 million in new funding to pursue its goal of
scaling the business to meet the needs of larger enterprises.
Strengths
“
“
People are just more successful using
Marketo. [Marketo] grows their
buisness, and they will tell their
friends about it – which grows our
business.
-Marketo
• Marketo is viewed as a thought leader in the industry, evidenced by the fact
that the organization’s resources receive 85,000 visitors a month.
• According to client testimonials, Marketo’s usability is unmatched in the
industry.
• The company is growing quickly, and Info-Tech estimates it currently has
25% of the market share in LMA.
• Salesforce.com integration is much deeper than that provided by other
vendors, especially in terms of managing custom form fields.
Weaknesses
• Marketo suffers from a 50% churn rate in the industry as its functionality
lacks the depth of vendors such as Pardot and Eloqua.
• Marketo lacks the backing of larger technology companies as the solution has
only been available for 2 years.
• More stringent on price than its competitors, the solution is not available for
less than $14,400/year and costs can scale quickly.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Silverpop provides a robust product offering with a complicated
user interface that will require end-user training
Contender
Employees:
Headquarters:
Website:
380
Atlanta, GA
www.silverpop.com
Overview
• A legacy player in the e-mail marketing space, Silverpop launched its LMA
solution in 2007 with its flagship product, EngageB2B.
• The organization currently caters to 250+ clients, primarily in the enterprise
category with greater than $25 million in revenue.
• EngageB2B is a larger, more robust offering than smaller players in the LMA
space, but comes with a steep learning curve and greater time to value.
Strengths
• Recently eliminated the need for an IT professional to aid with field mapping
through Salesforce.com.
• A large set of APIs allows Silverpop to connect with almost any CRM product.
• Ability to import zipped folders including images, and text documents directly
into the solution for campaign creation.
• Unique functionality, such as send time optimization, has proven to generate
significant results for clients reliant on e-mail marketing.
• Content creation pages provide embedded links and resources, especially in
terms of marketing best practices, guiding users towards optimal creation.
• Integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media campaigns,
allowing recipients of marketing campaigns to automatically publicize
promotions.
Weaknesses
• Contracts are offered on an annual basis, and ramp up with increases in the
lead database, resulting in an increasing operating cost over time.
• Pre-populated templates are not available, resulting in a slower time-to-value,
especially for smaller customers.
• Support is lackluster, further decreasing the time-to-value for potential
clients.
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Your chosen vendor should reflect the goals of your organization;
use these scenarios to guide the selection process
If you are…
Most interested in a simple user interface
Most interested in Salesforce.com integration
while retaining maximum functionality
Most interested in Salesforce.com integration at a
low cost
Concerned about support and implementation
Concerned about data checking and multiple
language support
Interested in having maximum functionality at
unlimited cost
Then consider…
Pardot, Marketo
Marketo, Silverpop, Eloqua
RightOn Interactive
Manticore
Market2lead
Silverpop, Eloqua
Looking to minimize integration time with a CRM
provider
Marketbright, Silverpop
Concerned with vendor strength and viability for
the long term
Manticore, Eloqua, Pardot
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Conduct product evaluations to assess the viability
of a solution with your organization
Request for Proposal Template
Issuing Request for Proposals (RFPs) is an important step in the software selection process. Info-Tech’s "LMA RFP
Template" comes pre-populated with examples to assist you.
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Scoring RFP responses puts hard numbers behind vendor claims
LMA Vendor Evaluation Matrix
Gathering and judging the
various responses to your
RFPs can be difficult and time
consuming. Use Info-Tech’s
“LMA Vendor Evaluation
Matrix” to:
• Determine which features
are desirable and provided
in the solution.
• Determine each feature's
level of importance to your
organization.
• Document cost
information from each
vendor.
• Score and compare
potential Lead
Management Automation
solutions.
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Have finalists demo their products for you
LMA Software Demo Script
RFP responses alone will not give you a sense of
the look and feel of a product (i.e. ease of use).
This template contains suggested demonstrations
in the following categories for a Lead
Management Automation solution:
• Campaign Setup
• Landing Page and Form Creation and
Optimization
• Segmentation
• Lead Scoring
• Reporting
• Data Validation
Lead Management Automation product
demonstrations enable selection teams to think of
product features and functionality within the
context of their organization and to get a feel for
products, ensuring a more educated evaluation.
Referral calls are a critical aspect of getting some
“real” information about a vendor’s performance.
Push vendors for client contacts and, if possible,
source your own referrals to expose discrepancies
in claims about support, functionality, and cost.
Use Info-Tech’s “LMA Software Demo Script”
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Summary
• LMA solutions automate key marketing processes to generate new business and
retain clientele.
• The LMA market is highly fragmented, and each vendor segment provides a
unique level of LMA with varying levels of CRM integration and usability.
• Pure Play vendors offer the most complete LMA functionality and provide the
organization with the ability to:
• Generate leads through prospect driven actions as well as other
marketing campaigns, such as e-mail distributions.
• Nurture leads through the sales funnel by automating communication.
• Score leads and pass them through the funnel towards the organization’s
sales representatives.
• Cross-Channel, CRM, and Niche vendors, conversely, offer limited LMA
functionality, and provide the organization with only a few of the
aforementioned lead capabilities.
• Pardot and Marketo lead the vendor landscape thanks to their favorable cost
structures and ease of use.
• Ensure shortlisted vendors are brought into demonstrate products Understanding an LMA product’s interface and capabilities is critical to
successful campaign creation further down the road.
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