Enough Marketing Intelligence to Move Forward
At a software company, reports from sales indicated prospects had all but quit signing up for the company’s software trial. This was a free 30-day trial environment that let the prospective client company kick the tires, so to speak. A look at the data showed that the trial was a factor in a dismally low number of sales. Further investigation showed that the reasons behind sales abandonment of the trial included the trial being based in an older version of the user interface. Who wants a trial that doesn’t look like the current production version, and what salesperson would want to recommend it?
A plan was hatched to, at the very least, shift the trial environment to the latest user interface and create some supporting material that walked the users through key areas of the software. A commitment from sales to use an updated version was tentative. They seemed to take a wait and see approach. Having an up-to-date version seemed to be an imperative regardless of how much use it got. If the trial proved to once again be a factor in sales, part B of the plan was to double down and build out trials that focused on specific industries – such as pointing out warehouse integration for distribution companies and grant tracking for nonprofits.
With a new trial and supporting materials launched, marketing began watching the numbers. They stayed low – really low – compared to historical numbers. A deep dive into historical numbers showed a clear drop-off point in trial usage. It didn’t coincide with the change in the user interface, which took place over a year after the drop off. Looking at the numbers with a broader team from product management and marketing revealed that the drop-off coincided with a very successful demonstration campaign that provided a tour of the software in a webinar-style presentation. That had been so successful that industry-specific versions of the tour had also been rolled out, and it was still humming along nicely. Signing up for the demo had essentially replaced signing up for the trial. This intelligence didn’t eliminate the need for a trial environment that was up to date – some people would still ask for one – but it did mean putting the brakes on part B of the trial plan.
Assess the information you have now and decide if you have enough to move forward. You will never have all the information, but you have to pull the trigger at some point. Analysis paralysis doesn’t put money in the bank. No campaign is perfect, which is why iteration is a key principle of marketing. You need a baseline of marketing intelligence to move forward. Deciding what that is early in your project will help you set intelligence milestones toward your launch.
In the example above, the company didn’t just steamroll ahead with industry-specific trials based on assumptions. They built in an intelligence milestone between part A and part B of their plan. They also relied on talent from multiple groups to come together in analyzing the issue.
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