The B Series Part 6: The Metrics
Brainstorm created a proprietary online tool to track B Series activity including offer page visits, video views, downloads, survey data and much more.
39% increase in average daily hits
on BrainstormBrand.com during the
B Series promotion.
Objectives, Then Numbers
The B Series was created as the initial step in an ongoing awareness campaign targeted to a group of C-level marketing executives and decision makers with little or no previous knowledge of Brainstorm. Our goal for the multiple-component B2B campaign was simply to build name recognition and knowledge of our firm’s capabilities.
All statistics and results were measured with that primary objective in mind, but we were also interested in how each piece performed. Because of the nature of the campaign and the protracted sales cycle in our industry, an accurate ROI measurement isn’t yet feasible; however we created a unique offer landing page for each recipient and an online tool to track their individual responses. With a total response rate of 14%, unique visits to the offer site looked like this:
B Series Response Rates
What Worked
Our mass HTML email had a 22% open rate and 3% unique click-throughs; however, the fourth piece in the series, the personal email, was the most effective with 7.5% of recipients visiting the offer page. This strong response confirms that multiple touchpoints built name recognition. After several contacts, recipients felt comfortable opening an email from someone they didn’t know and clicking through to learn more about our company.
18% of the respondents
visited the offer site multiple times.
Visitor Activity
Once visitors were at the offer site, 29% watched a video, 50% downloaded the Web 2.0 Summary Sheet and 50% downloaded the MediaSphere.
Telling Numbers
In addition to traffic to the offer page, during the three initial mailers and the mass HTML email, average hits per day on our corporate website increased 50% over the preceding 15 days. After the personal email, average hits per day were up 79% over pre-campaign traffic. Across the two and a half-month promotion, average daily hits increased 39% overall.
25% increase in
direct traffic to BrainstormBrand.com
during the promotion.
What We’d Do Differently
Two weeks toward the end of the campaign were reserved for three of Brainstorm’s principals to make personal follow-up phone calls—not to hard sell, but to merely introduce themselves. It proved difficult to connect with a live person. We left voicemail and spoke to several people, but the results weren’t worth the effort of calling the entire list. Next time, we’ll follow up via phone with only individuals who have expressed a tacit interest by taking specific action while visiting the offer site.
Qualitative Metrics
Relying on percentages and numbers alone is ill-advised when measuring objectives. A myriad of variables affect the success of any consumer or B2B marketing campaign: need, timing, industry, execution, audience, and messaging are just a few.
Our initial effort exceeded our expectations by creating awareness and developing relationships that have resulted in new work and ongoing discussions with an audience previously unaware of us. We will continue to reach out to these individuals throughout 2008 in an attempt to build trust and relationship equity through various means.
B Series Resources
To read previous installments in this series or download one of the marketing tools from the offer, click on a link below or “B Series” under topics:
The B Series Part 1: Awareness Overview
The B Series Part 2: Strategic Design & Messaging
The B Series Part 3: The Componentry
The B Series Part 4: Personalization
The B Series Part 5: Offers and Incentives
Web 2.0 and Generation Me | 524 KB .pdf
The MediaSphere | 1.1 MB .pdf
Tags: Higher Ed Marketing, Design, Featured, Philanthropy, Healthcare, Branding, Process, Foundation Marketing, Marketing, Financial, B Series
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Interesting! This informative series should act as a catalyst for preparing and implementing future goals and objectives as well as the obvious benefit of customer awareness.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:56 am
@Mary Ellen, thank you. Yes, measuring success relative to objectives, benefits both Brainstorm and our customers as we share the data derived from the project. And, thanks for commenting.
January 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Thank you for your input. Qualitativ metrics really matter!
http://www.business-development-metrics.com/
April 20th, 2008 at 11:14 am
As you have shown if you personalize your emails it will increase your response rates. I always collect information on my recipients and then use that information to personlize the emails (even using autoresponders)