Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

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Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process TableofContents

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 SelectionProcess ......................................................................................................... 2 InformationtoGather.................................................................................................... 6
Email ............................................................................................................................................... 6 WebFormsandPages ................................................................................................................... 7 OtherChannels............................................................................................................................... 9 LeadScoring................................................................................................................................. 10 CampaignManagement................................................................................................................ 11 CRMIntegration............................................................................................................................ 14 ProspectDatabase ....................................................................................................................... 15 Reporting ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Technology ................................................................................................................................... 18 ImplementationandSupport........................................................................................................ 20 Pricing........................................................................................................................................... 21 Vendor........................................................................................................................................... 21

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Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

Introduction
ThisGuideisintendedtohelpmarketersandtechnologistsselectdemandgenerationsystems.Thisis arelativelynewclassofsystemsthathelpmarketerstoacquirethenamesofpotentialcustomers(more commonlycalledleads)andnurturerelationshipsuntiltheleadsarequalifiedtoturnovertothesales department.ThesystemsworkprimarilywithemailandWebcontacts,althoughtheymayincorporate othermedia. Demandgenerationfunctionsarenotnew. Businessmarketershavealwaysrunprogramstogather leads,sendtheminformation, learnabouttheirneeds,andtosendthebestprospectstosales.Indeed, many marketingdepartmentsconsiderthistheirprimarymission. Theuseofcomputersystemstohelpis somewhatmorerecent,butmarketingdatabases,campaignmanagers,scoringtools,leadrouting systems,andmarketingresourcemanagementsoftwarearenowwellestablishedcategories. Evenmore commonareexecutionsystemstogeneratedirectmail,managecallcenters,placeadvertising,track resultsand,morerecently,tosendemailsandmanageWebsites. Demandgenerationproductscombinethesefunctionsinasinglesystem.Eventhisisnottotallynew: marketingautomationorenterprisemarketingmanagementvendorshaveofferedcomprehensive marketingmanagementforyears.Indeed,somemarketingautomation vendors(companiesincluding Aprimo,NeolaneandUnica)arelegitimatecompetitorsinthedemandgenerationmarket.Soaresome customerrelationshipmanagement(CRM)providerslikeOracle/Siebel,EntelliumandRightNow. However,allthesevendorsaimtomanagethecompletecustomerlifecycle,,whiledemandgeneration systemsfocusontheperiodbeforeacustomersfirstpurchase. Thus,theprecisecharacteristicthat distinguishesdemandgenerationsystemsisthattheyprovidethefullrangeofleadmanagement functions,andnothingelse.

HowtoUseThisGuide
Becausedemandgenerationsystemsareanewcategory,fewmarketersortechnologistswillhave previouslyusedone.Thismakesselectionespeciallydifficult.ThisGuidecontainstwosections designedtohelp:

SelectionProcessdescribesasystematicapproachtochoosingademandgenerationsystem.This methodologyisbasedonRaabAssociatesmanyyearsofexperiencerunningsimilarprojectsfor companiesofallsizesandindustries. InformationtoGatherpresentsalist,withdetailedexplanations,ofinformationyoumaywishto gatheraboutpotentialvendors.Thisprovidesaframeworkforaskingquestionsandcomparing vendoranswers. Itshouldhelpyoutojudgewhichitemsareimportantformeetingyourown businessneedsthemostimportantconsiderationinmakingawisevendorchoice.

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Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

SelectionProcess
Selectionofademandgenerationsystemisfundamentallysimilartoselectinganyothersystemor service:youdefineyourrequirementsandfindthevendorwhobestmeetsthem.Ifyourneedsare unusual,theremaybeonlyonevendorwhoqualifies.Butmostcompaniescanfindseveralviable candidates.Youcertainlyshouldtrytofindthebestfitamongthese,butbearinmindthatthevalue comesfromusingthesystem,notrunningareallygreatselectionproject. Spendingexcessivetime agonizingoveryourselectioniscounterproductive. Thekeytoasuccessfulselectionprojectisathoroughsetofrequirementsbasedonyourgoalsforthe system.Sotheselectionprojectactuallybeginswithadefinitionofthosegoalswhatexactlydoesthe companyexpectthesystemtoaccomplish,andhowdoesithopetousethesystemtomakethat happen? Themostpracticalwaytodefinethesegoalsistoidentifyasetofprojectsyouexpectthesystemto support. Thendefinetheprocessassociatedwitheachproject:notonlywhatthedemandgeneration systemitselfisexpectedtodo,butalsowhatothersystemsmustdo(forexample,providedataand receiveresults),andwhatpeoplethroughoutthecompanymustdo(approveprograms,generatecopy, followuponleads,closesales).Thiswillquicklyhelpyoutobuildthelistofpeopleanddepartmentswho willinteractwiththesystem,andmightthereforehavesomeinformationworthknowingduringthe selectionprocess.Itmayalsoidentifyproblemsthat mustbesolvedduringdeploymentor,intheworst case,makeaparticulargoalunattainable.Itsbettertoknowaboutthoseobstaclesinadvance,whenits relativelyeasytoadjustyourplans,thantouncoverthemlater. Mostcompanieswillalsorequireaformalfinancialjustificationforanewsystem.Ifthegoalissimplyto replaceacollectionofdisconnectedproductsandprocesseswithasingle,streamlinedsolution,you mightbeabletobuildthisjustificationoncostsavingsalone.Thismightevenletyouavoiddefiningthe typesofmarketingprogramsthesystemwillproduce,sincethesearepresumablythesameasthe existingprograms.Allyouneedtodoisspecifywhichtasksandsystemsthenewsystemwillreplace, andthesavingsintimeandeffortthatresult. Butifthenewsystemisintendedtoenablenewkindsofmarketingprograms,youllneedtospecifythe valueexpectedfromthoseprograms.Themathisusuallyprettysimple:thenewsystemwillenableus toproduceXnewleadsatacostofYdollarsperlead,replacingleadsthatnowcostZdollarseach.Or thenewsystemwillgenerateXnewleadsthateventuallyyieldYdollarsinsalesataprofitmarginofZ. Orthenewsystemwillreducethehandlingcostperlead,orreducethetimetoconvertaleadtosales. Thesetofprojectsidentifiedassystemgoalsprovidethebasisforthesecalculations.Thecalculations willalsoshowwhethertheseprojectscanrealisticallybeexpectedtogenerateenoughfinancialbenefitto justifythesystemcost. Thesecalculationsarethebasisformetricsthatyouwilluseafterdeploymentto tracktheactualvalueofthesystemandwhetheritisperformingasexpected. Thespecificprojectsintendedforthesystemwilldependoneachcompanyssituation.Butmostdemand generationprojectsfallintoseveralcommonareas:

leadgeneration,toattractandcapturenewsalesprospects.Demandgenerationsystemsaremost likelytoexecuteoutboundemailprograms.Buttheyalsooftensupportotherprogramsbyproviding Weblandingpages,managinginvitationsforsalesevents,andcoordinatingresponseviacall centers,directmail,andothermedia.Thejustificationforsuchprojectsistogeneratemoreleads, reducethecostperlead,orboth.

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Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

leadnurturing,tobuildrelationshipswithexistingleadsuntiltheyarereadytohandovertosales. Demandgenerationsystemscanautomatetheleadnurturingprocesswithstreamsofemail messages,offersofsupportingmaterialssuchaswhitepapersandproductinformation,andWeb formstocaptureinformationaboutleadinterestsandqualifications.Theseprojectsearnvalueby decreasingthecostofmanagingtheseleads,increasingtheproportionthateventuallymakea purchase,andreducingthetimebeforetheinitialpurchase. leadscoringanddistribution,whichmanagethehandoffofleadstothesalesdepartment.The demandgenerationsystemcangatherdetaileddataaboutleadattributesandbehaviors,allowing moreaccuratescoringofsalespotential.Itcanalsoautomatethetransferofleadstosalespeople, makingitfasterandcheaper.Thevalueoftheseprojectsisusuallyahighersalesratethatcomes fromacombinationofsendinghigherqualityleadsandofsalespeoplepayingmoreattentiontothe leadstheyreceive.Theremayalsobesomesavingsinthecoststomanagethetransferprocess. reporting,whichtrackstheresultsofmarketingactivities. Reportingbyitselfdoesnotcreaterevenue orreducecosts,butitdoeshelpmanagersmakedecisionsthatachievethesegoalsinthelongrun. Demandgenerationsystemsgathersomeinformationthatwasnotpreviouslyavailable,andprovide unifiedreportsonotherinformationthatwaspreviouslyscatteredamongdifferentsystems.These projectsmayyieldsomecostsavingsinreportproduction,althoughthemainvalueislongterm improvementinmarketingefficiencyandeffectiveness.

Oncethetargetprojectsareidentifiedandtheirrequirementsaredefined,itisfairlysimpletospecifythe systemcapabilitiesneededtomeettheserequirements.TheInformationtoGathersectionlists functionalrequirementsbyprojecttype.)Youshouldbeabletoprioritizetheserequirements,whichisa criticalstepwhenweighingthevalueofdifferentsystems. Itsalsoextremelyimportantthatyourrequirementsincludesoftconsiderationssuchasusabilityand vendorsupport.Thesecanbehardertoassessthanspecificsystemfeatures,buthaveamajorimpact onprojectsuccess.Theymustbematchedtoyourcompanysbusinesssituation:acompanywith extensiveinternaltechnicalresourcesmayneedlessvendorsupportthanafirmwithfewresourcesa companyrunninglarge,complexmarketingprogramsmayneedasystemthattakesextraefforttosetup, butsimplifiestheseprogramsongoingoperations. Onlyafteryouvedoneathoroughjobofdefiningyourrequirementsshouldyouturntothetaskof choosingaspecificvendor.Thefirststepistodevelopalistofcandidates. ThevendorsintheRaab GuidetoDemandGenerationSystemsareonesettoconsider,andrepresentleadersinthefield. Other choicesincludemarketingautomationvendors(Aprimo,Neolane,Unica,etc.),CRMsystems (Oracle/Siebel,RightNow,etc.),anddemandgenerationspecialiststargetedatsmallerfirms.Aquick Googlesearchwillturnupdozensofcandidates. Useyourrequirementstobuildalistofkeycapabilities, andcheckthisagainsttheInformationtoGathersectiontodeterminewhichareuncommon.Thiswill giveyouashortsetofquestionstoaskpotentialvendors,andmakeiteasytoeliminatethosewhodonot fityourneeds. Onceyouvedevelopedasmalllistofqualifiedvendors,youcanresearchthisgroupmoredeeply. This iswheretheworkyouveputintodefiningyourtargetprojectspaysdividends.Youshouldknowenough aboutthedetailsoftheseprojectsthatyoucanaskthemostpromisingvendorstodemonstratehowthey wouldbesetupandexecutedinthevendorssystem.Thisisacriticalstepintheassessmentprocess becauseitmovesyoupastthevendorsdescriptionofthesystemsgloriestoaconcreteunderstandingof whatitsliketouseforyourtypesofprojects.Inparticular,itwillhelpyoutoassesshowwellthevendors balancebetweensimplicityandcomplexitymatchesyourownneeds. Yourvendorassessmentprocessshouldbecarefullystructured.Thiswillensureyougathercomplete informationandprovidedocumentationtoexplainthefinaldecision.Forthevendordemonstrations Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page3

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

themselves,prepareapackageofmaterialsdescribingthetargetcasesandsendittothevendorsin advance.Thispackageshouldcontainalltheinformationneededtosetupthecases,allowingthe demonstrationitselftomovequickly.Ofcourse,youllneedtobesurethatyouunderstandthework involvedinanystepstheyprepareinadvance. Alsoprepareascorecardforeachdemonstrationthatlists thekeyitemstocover.Membersofyourassessmentteamshouldfilltheseoutduringthedemonstration andthenreviewthemasagroupimmediatelyafter.Thiswillallowthemtocomparenoteswhiletheir memoriesarefresh,identifyanyconflictingimpressionsthatneedfurtherresearchtoresolve,andprovide arecordtouselaterintheprocess. Thedemonstrationswillfocusprimarilyonfunctionalityandusability. Youmayalsocovertopicssuchas technologyandsupportpolicies iftimepermits.Otherwise,youwillneedtoresearchtheseseparately. Yourtechnologyorprocurementdepartmentsmayhaveastandardlistsoftopicstoconsiderinasystem selectionproject.Youmayalsobeabletodrawondocumentationfrompreviousprojects,ordownloada templatefromanynumberofWebsitesdedicatedtothetopic,includingwww.raabguide.com. The headingsintheInformationtoGathersectionprovideareasonablycompletelistofareastoconsider. YourselectionprocessmayincludeaformalRequestforProposal(RFP).Ifyourfirmdoesnotrequirean RFPasamatterofpolicy,bearinmindthattheythattakeconsiderableworkforyoutoprepareandfor thevendortoreply. Unlessthereissomethingunusuallycomplexaboutyourdemandgeneration requirements,anRFPmaynotbeworththetrouble. IfyoudogoaheadwithanRFP,itsbesttodelay issuingituntilyouhavenarrowedyourlisttoasmallnumberoffinalists.Knowingthattheyhavea realisticchanceofwinningthebusinessgivesvendorsareasontoinvesttheresourcesnecessaryto answeranRFPindetail. Beforemakingafinalvendorselection,youwillalsowanttoaskforandtalktoreferences.Thesearea shockinglyunderusedresourceinmanyselectionprojects.Eventhoughvendorsusually(butnot always!)managetoscreenoutunhappyclients,theonestheydoletyouspeakwithcantellyouabout strengthsandweaknesses,surprisestheyfound,whytheychosethevendor,howtheyareusingthe system,andwhatitsliketoworkwiththevendor. Ifyourbusinessorrequirementsareunusual,you shouldaskthevendortoletyouspeakwithsomeoneassimilartoyouaspossible.Ifthevendorcannot comeupwithasimilarclient,youmaybeheadingintounexploredterritory.Thisisnotnecessarilya reasontorejectthevendor,butyoushouldknowthatyouretakingtherisk. Onceyouvegatheredalltheinformationaboutthecandidatevendors,youwillwanttorankthemand makeatentativefinalselection.(Thisistentativebecausefinalpriceandcontractnegotiationsarestillto come.)Unlessthewinnerissoobviousthatnodiscussionisnecessary,youllwanttoprepareaformal decisionmatrixthatscoreseachvendoronthedifferentbusinessrequirements. RaabAssociateshas hadgreatsuccesswithsuchmatricesinselectionprojects,andwehavefoundthatdetailsmatter:

theheadingsinthismatrixshouldmatchtheheadingsinyourrequirementsdefinition. buildthematrixthroughagroupdiscussionwiththeprojectteam. Thediscussionitselfisactually whatsimportant,becauseitprovidesastructuredwaytogathereveryonesinputandbuilds consensusaroundthefinalresult.Infact,whattypicallyhappensisthatthegroupchoicebecomes apparentevenbeforethefinalscoresarecalculated. assignweightstotheitemsbyfirstsettingthemforthegeneralcategories,andthenfortheitems withinthecategories. Thisensuresthebroadprioritiesarecorrect.Weightsshouldaddto100%, whichforcesthegrouptoexplicitlyconsidertherelativeimportanceofeachitem.Otherwise,teams tendtoclassifyalmosteverythingasessential. starttheweightingbyassigningthesameweighttoallitems(ifthereare50items,eachgets2%). Thenclassifyeachitemashigh,mediumorlowpriority,andgivethehighitemsgettwicetheoriginal weightandthelowitemsgethalftheweight.Onceyouvedonethis,makeadditionaladjustmentsas Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page4

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

neededtobringthetotalbackto100%.Remember:theactualweightsmatterlessthanthegroup discussionaboutwhatisimportantandwhy.

assignscoresonascaleof1to10.Thisprovidesletstheteamdistinguishbetweensystemswhere oneisjustslightlystrongthananother.Wevefoundthatusinga1to5scorealmostalwaysendsup withsomethingendingina.5. workthroughthematrixoneitematatime,assigningscoresforallvendorsbeforemovingontothe nextitem.Thishelpstofocusthediscussiononhowthevendorsvariedineacharea,ratherthanon thegeneralpreferenceforonevendororanother.

Oncethegrouphascompletedthescoring,thescorescanbeweightedandyoucancalculateatotal scoreforeachvendor.Thisiseasytosetonwithasimplespreadsheetprogram.Thewinnerwillrarely beasurprise,butifitis,orscoresarecloserthanthegroupexpected,itsworthgoingbackintothe matrixtounderstandwhatledtotheresult.Youlloftenfindthattheweightsneedadjustingor,lessoften, wanttoresetthescoresthemselves.Itusuallyturnsoutthatdifferentvendorsarestronginoneortwo keyareas.Thisletsthegroupfocusonthespecifictradeoff:whichismoreimportant,extensivereuseof marketingmaterialsorpowerfulemailcustomization?Thatsaproductivediscussiontohave. Thematrixorsomeotherprocesswillleadyoutoselectingyourpreferredvendor.Onlyatthispointare youreallyreadytoenterintothefinalvendornegotiationsonpriceandcontractterms,becausenowyou canlegitimatelyspecifythetermstheymustmeetinordertomakethesale.Theremayinfactbe relativelylittletonegotiatewithsmallerdemandgenerationimplementations,wherepricesarefixedand includeallthesystemmodulesandsupportservices.Aggressivenegotiationmayalsostartthe relationshiponasournote.However,largerdeploymentsdoinvolvecomplexcontracttermsandwill certainlyrequiresomediscussion.Inadditiontothesystempriceitself,itemstonegotiatemayinclude implementationservicesandtimeframe,trainingprovided,supportandservicelevels,systemmodules included,protectionagainstpriceincreases,terminationprocedures,andvariouslegalsubtleties.You mayhavenonnegotiablerequirementstoconformcontractlanguagewithyourowncompanypolicies andtoclarifyissuessuchasdataownershipandaccess.Softwarenegotiationsareacombinationofart, scienceandcontactsport,somakesureyouhavetheassistanceofanexpert.

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InformationtoGather
Thissectiondescribesinformationyoumaywishtogatheraboutpotentialvendors.Theinitialsections relatetofunctionalrequirementssuchasemailandleadscoring.Thelatersections(technology, implementationandsupport,pricingandvendor)arenonfunctionalconsiderationsthatwillalsoweighin yourdecision.Eachsectionprovidesanexplanationofthetypeofinformationtolookfor,whichfeatures arecommon,andwhytheymatter.TheheadingscorrespondtothevendortablesintheRaabGuideto DemandGenerationSystems(www.raabguide.com).

Email
ContentGeneration. Everydemandgenerationsystemgivesuserstoolstobuildandsendpersonalized emails.Typicallythebasicelementssuchassender,subjectline,andrecipientareenteredinaform, whilethebodyoftheemailitselfisenteredinagraphicinterfacesimilartoawordprocessor.Sometimes thereareadditionalformentriesforstandardlinkssuchasunsubscribeandforwardtoafriend.The entirepackagemaybebuiltfromatemplatethatdefinesstandardheaders,footers,graphics,linksand otherelements.Thesetemplatesareparticularlyhelpfulwhenyouhavemanyemailstomanage,bothin termsofsavingeffortandensuringconsistency. Onefeaturetocheckiswhetherthetemplatesare simplycopiedeachtimeyoucreateanewemail,ortheemailsreadamastercopyofthetemplateeach timetheyuseit.Havingamastercopymeansthatchangestothetemplateareautomaticallyreflectedin allemailsthatusethetemplate,evenifthechangeismadeaftertheemailwascreated.Thismakesit stilleasiertokeepthingsconsistent. Whentemplatesexist,theycannearlyalwaysbesharedacrosscampaigns.Individualemailsareusually sharableaswell,whichgenerallymeanstheyarestoredinaseparatefolderorlibraryandcanbe selectedwhenneededforindividualprojects.Aswithtemplates,thereisadifferencebetweensimply makinganindependentcopyofasharedemail,andreferringtoasinglemastercopythatcanbe centrallyupdated.Ingeneral,moresharingisbetter,especiallyinorganizationswithlargequantitiesof materialstomanage.Butsettingupthecomponentsandthenassemblingthemdoesrequireextraeffort comparedwithenteringthoseelementsdirectlyintoasingleitem.Socompanieshavingfewitemsorfew sharedelementsacrossitemsmayfinditiseasiertosimplycreatetheitemsindependently. Mostsystemsareabletodisplayasampleversionofanemail,soyoucanbesureitlooksthewayyou expect.Agoodsamplewillshowtheemailwithpersonalizedelementsfilledin,eitherforadesignated sampleleadorforrecordsselectedfromthegeneralleadpool.Samplingfunctionsmayincludethe abilitytoactuallysendthesampleemail(asopposedtosimplyviewingitinabrowser)abilitytosenditto standardlistorauserenteredsetofsamplenamesandabilitytoseeitrenderedintextandHTML versionsindifferentemailreaders.Manydemandgenerationvendorsrelyonoutsideservicessuchas StrongMailandPivotalVeracitytorendersampleemailsandtesttheirabilitytopenetratespamfilters.. Emailsetupmayalsoincludeformaltestingofalternativeversions,ora/btests.Thisgenerallyinvolves specifyingtwoormoreitemstotest,randomlysendingoneortheotherwhenamessageisneededwithin acampaign,andthencomparingtheresults.Facilitiesforsuchtestingaregenerallylimitedindemand generationsystems.Thetestingmaybeachievedduringtheemailsetupprocess,byspecifying alternativecontentswithintheemailitself.Oritmaybeachievedbysplittingthecampaignaudienceinto differentlistsandsendingdifferenttreatmentstodifferentlists.Thisessentiallycomesdowntocreating separatecampaigns.Thelatterapproachismorework,butmakesiteasiertovarytreatments consistentlyatdifferentpointsinthemarketingcampaign. Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page6

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

Personalization. Emailtextandheadersaretypicallypersonalizedbyinsertingtagsthatrefertodata associatedwithalead.Thisincludesattributesstoreddirectlyontheleadrecordand,inmostcases, behaviorsfromtheactivityhistoryaswell.Itmayextendtoadditionalsourcessuchassurveyresponses heldinaseparatetablecompany,opportunityandsalesrepdataimportedfromtheCRMsystemand datareadondemandfromanexternalsystemsuchasCRMoradatacompiler.Inaddition,most systemscancreateaddpersonalizeddatatoURLlinkswithinanemail,suchasanindividualIDor campaignIDusedtotrackresponse. Amoreadvancedandlesscommonformofpersonalizationallowsuserstoembedruleswithintheemail thatselectdifferentblocksofcontent.(Thisismoreaccuratelycalledcustomizationthan personalization.)Forexample,therulemightlookattheleadrankandsenddifferentmessagestohot, warmandcoldleads.Thissortofcustomizationallowsasinglecampaigntotailoritsmessagesto differentleadsituations,savingthemarketerfromcreatingseparatecampaignsandmakingiteasierto specifycustomertreatments.Ideally,therulesthemselveswouldbesharedbymultiplecampaigns,so thesystemcancoordinatetreatmentsacrossdifferentcontacts. ContentDelivery. Nearlyalldemandgenerationvendorssendemailsfromtheirownservers.Insome cases,theemailissentbyathirdpartyvendor,inwhichcaseyouneedtoexaminehowwellthetwo operationsareintegratedfromauserperspective.Theactualdomainmaybethevendorsowndomain, asubdomainofthevendordomainassignedtoaparticularclient,oradomaincreatedfortheclient alone.(Thiswouldnotordinarilybetheclientsownprimarydomain,whichisusuallyhostedelsewhere.) Controloverdomainsandsubdomainsisimportantbecausespamblockingsystemsmayblockadomain thattheybelieveissendingspam.Thedemandgenerationvendorsofferdifferentlevelsofservicein monitoringemaildeliverability,oftenrelyinginpartonthirdpartyspecialistssuchasStrongMailand PivotalVercacity. Emailismostoftendeliveredaspartofamarketingcampaign.Butitsimportanttobeabletosend emailswithoutcreatingacampaign,eitherfortestingorbecauseofaonetimeprojectthatdoesntjustify creatingacampaign. ResponseTracking. AsdiscussedunderPersonalization,demandgenerationsystemstrackemail responsebyembeddingauniqueIDinURLlinkswithintheemail.ThesystemthenextractstheIDwhen therecipientclicksonthelinkandvisitstheassociatedWebpage.Systemsvaryinhowmuchdatathey canencodeintheURLinthisway.Mostsystemscanalsoplaceacookie(asmallfilethatidentifiesthe computer)ontheemailrecipientscomputerwhentheyclickonthelink,allowingmarketerstotrack subsequentvisitseveniftheleaddoesnotidentifyherself.Ifoneoftheclientscookiesisalready present,perhapsfromapreviousanonymousWebsitevisit,thesystemwillfinditandconnectittoother informationaboutthelead. ListManagement. Alldemandgenerationsystemsprovidetoolstomanageemaillistsinaccordwith governmentregulationsthatrequireoptionstooptoutoffutureemails.Theseincludestandard unsubscribelinksthatcanbeembeddedinemailsandaddnamestodonotemaillists.Thesystems alsoidentifyundeliveredemailsandprovidedifferentdegreesofcontroloverhowthesearetreated.Most allowuserstocreateothertypesofsuppressionlists,whichmaybeappliedautomaticallyormanuallyto someoralloutboundemails.

WebFormsandPages
ContentGeneration. DemandgenerationsystemsbuildtwotypesofWebpages:landingpagesthatare typicallyrelatedtospecificmarketingcampaigns,andformsthatgatherinformationandpostittothelead recordinthesystemdatabase.Buildingalandingpageisgenerallysimilartobuildinganemail:vendors Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page7

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

provideagraphicalinterfacetolayoutthepagecomponents,oftenprovidetemplatestohelpstandardize thepages,usetagstoembedpersonalizeddata,andmaysupportruledrivencustomization.Theissues thatapplytoemail(reuse,viewingsamples,a/btests,etc.)generallyapplytolandingpagesaswell. Webformsintroduceadditionalissues.Usersmustbeabletoselectdataelementstoincludeonthe form,controlhowthesearepresentedtothevisitor,andpostthemtothesystemdatabase.Systems varysubstantiallyintheseareas.Someallowtheenduserstocreatenewfieldsduringtheformbuilding process,whileothersrequireasystemadministratortodothis.Someofferachoiceofstoringdatawithin thesystemdatabaseorseparately,attachedtothecompletedformitself.Thiscanbeusedtocapture specializedsurveyquestionsortoretainahistoryofanswerstoquestionsthatmaybeaskedmorethan once. Somesystemsstorethepresentationformat(e.g.,radiobuttonvs.pulldownlist)andavailableanswers aspartofthefielddefinition,meaningthesemustbethesameonallforms.Othersystemsdefinethese separatelyforeachform,meaningtheycanbechangedfordifferentsituations.Insomesystems,the answerselectedbythesitevisitorisstoreddirectlyinthesystemdatabase,whileothersystemscanstore adifferentvalue.Thisisaparticularlyusefulfeature.Oneadvantageissavingspacebystoringcoded valuesintheplaceoflonganswerstrings.Anotherislettingthesystempresentasurveyindifferent languagesandstillstoreconsistentresults. Mostsystemsletusersspecifywhichfieldsarerequiredfortheformtobeaccepted.Allletcanalso checkforcorrectdatatypeandsimpleformatssuchasemailandtelephonenumber.Someextendmuch furthertovalidateagainstreferencetablesofcompanynames,Webdomainsandstreetaddresses.Most letuserscreatecustomvalidationrulesofvaryingsophistication.Mostalsoallowtheformtopostdata elementsthattheuserhasnotentereddirectly.ThiscouldbeusedtocaptureacampaignIDorsearch term.ThepostedvaluemaybereadfromtherequestedURLorhardcodedwithintheformitself.(Note: therequestedURListheaddressofthepagebeingrequested.Itistypicallyspecifiedinahyperlink builtintoanemailorWebpage,andoftencontainsparameterssuchasacampaignIDorpersonal identifier.ThereferringURListheaddressofavisitorspreviousWebpage.Itshowsthesourceofthe visitorandmaycontainadditionalinformationsuchasasearchterm.) Everysystemcanappendforminformationtoanexistingleadrecordifthatleadhasalreadybeen identified.Theidentifymightbasedonavisitorlogin,readfromtherequestedURLor,lessreliably, inferredfromacookie.Otherwise,allsystemscancheckforanexactmatchonanemailaddress.Some productssupportadditionalmatchingrules.Thesemaybeprebuiltorspecifiedbyauser,andcanrange fromexactmatchesonacombinationoffields(whichwillmissmanyactualmatches)tosophisticated fuzzymatchingthatlooksatsubstringswithinfields,phoneticequivalents,andstatisticalsimilarity scores. Personalization. Beyondtheusualpersonalizationandrulebasedcustomization,formsmayvarythe questionstheyaskbasedontheexistingcustomerdata.Oneapproachisfortheusertospecifytheset ofquestionstoask,thepriorityforeachquestion,andthemaximumnumberofquestionstodisplayat once.Whenaformispresented,thesystemwillpresentthehighestpriorityunansweredquestions,upto thespecifiednumber.Asanswersaregatheredovertime,thosequestionsaredroppedfromtheform andnewquestionsappear.Theelaborateformsofthesesystemsusecentralizedrulestocoordinate questionsacrossallforms,andcanconsiderfactorssuchaswhenaquestionwaslastansweredin determiningwhethertopresentit. ContentDelivery. AlldemandgenerationvendorshostWebpagesandformsontheirownserver.But clientswhowanttohostthecontentelsewheremustlookcloselyatsystemcapabilities.Itsusually possibletoexporttheHTMLusedtogenerateaWebpageorform.Butsystemsvaryinwhetheritseasy orevenpossiblefortheseexternalpagestoreaddataforpersonalizationorpostsurveyanswertothe demandgenerationdatabase.Similarly,onlysomesystemsallowanexternalWebpagetoopena Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page8

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

vendorhostedform.MostsystemsdoallowtheusertocreateafriendlyURLthatwillbedisplayed insteadoftheactualURLpointingtothevendorsserver. ResponseTracking. EverydemandgenerationsystemwillcapturethereferringURLandrelateddata suchasquerystring,date,andIPaddress.Allwilldepositcookiesthatidentifyrepeatvisitors,willuse thecookieIDtobuildavisitorhistoryinthesystemdatabase,andwillconnectthecookiebasedhistory withactualleaddataoncetheleadidentifiesherself.MostwilllookuptheIPaddresstoattemptto identifythecompanyavisitorworksfor(assumingtheyareWebpagefromacompanycomputer).Some willalsoblockvisitorsfromspecifiedcompanies,suchascompetitors,basedonIPaddressoremail domain.SomecanfurtherlimitaccesstoWebpagesandformstotheirintendedusers,basedonvisitor loginoranIDstringembeddedintherequestedURL. ActivitiesAfterSubmission. Formsubmissionisgenerallypartofalargercampaignflow,andcan triggeranyactionspecifiedwithinthecampaign.Somesystemsletusersattachspecificactionstothe formsthemselves,whichcanbehelpfulwherethesameformmaybereusedacrossmultiplecampaigns. Somesystemsalsoallowsubmissionofdifferentformstotriggeraseparate,sharedcampaign,which offersanalternativeapproachtocoordinatingcustomertreatmentsacrossmultipleprograms.Ingeneral, activitiesavailableafteraformissubmittedwouldincludesendingaconfirmationorfollowupemail, directingthevisitortoanotherWebpageorform,recalculatingtheleadscore,addingtheleadtothe CRMsystem,notifyingtheCRMsalesrepassignedtothelead,continuingwithinacampaignflowor switchingtoadifferentcampaign.Asalways,systemsvarywidelyinthenatureoftherulesthatgovern thesetreatments.

OtherChannels
PaidSearch. AnydemandgenerationsystemwillcaptureavisitorsreferringURL,whichisthekey informationneededtomeasureresponsestoapaid(orunpaid)searchmarketingcampaign.Afew systemsgoslightlybeyondthistoautogeneraterequestedURLstringswithcampaignIDs,whichare thenbuiltintothelinksinthepaidsearchads.Ideally,thesystemswouldgofurthertocapturemarketing costsandresultsbeyondtheinitialvisit.Thisiscurrentlybeyondthescopeofmostoralldemand generationproducts. DirectMail. Alldemandgenerationsystemscanexportamailinglistofselectedleads. Mostcoulddo thismoreorlessautomaticallyaspartofamarketingcampaign.Afewprovidemuchmoresophisticated directmailsupport,includingtheabilitytogenerateprintreadypersonalizedfilesandsendthesedirectly toselectedprintersforproduction. CallCenter. Beyondgeneratingleadlists,fewdemandgenerationvendorshavespecificfeaturesto supportcallcenters.Theseincludetransmittingfileswithpersonalizedcallingscriptsautomatedtextto speechmessagesandpersonalized,ruledrivenWebformsthatcallcenteragentsfilloutwhilespeaking toleads.Vendorswithsignificantcallcenterintegrationhavealsosetupflowstoeasilycapturecall resultsandmakethispartofthedemandgenerationactivityhistory. OnlineChat. Somedemandgenerationvendorshaveintegratedtheirownorthirdpartyonlinechat capabilities.Thechatsmaybeagentinitiatedorvisitorinitiated.Agentinitiatedchatsmayrelyonrule drivenalertsthatmonitorvisitoractivitiesandnotifychatagentswhenavisitorshouldbecontacted. Visitorinitiatedchatsrequireanonscreenbuttonorothermechanismforthevisitortorequestachat, andfeaturestoassignchatstoavailableagents.Thechatprocessitselfhasadditionalrequirementsfor logging,supervision,transcriptarchiving,andreporting.Chatresultsshouldbepostedtothedemand generationactivityhistoryandbeavailabletotriggerothermarketingandsalesactivities. Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page9

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

Mobile. Themostsignificantspecialrequirementformobilemarketingcampaignsistheabilitytoroute messagesthroughthephonecarriers. Somedemandgenerationvendorshaveestablishedrelationships withspecializedfirmsthatdothis.Otherwise,therequirementstogeneratesimple,personalized messagesaresimilartothoseneededforbasicemailcampaigns. Fax. Faxcampaignsarelikemobilecampaigns:themessagesthemselvesaresimple,butthetrickis gettingthemthroughthenetwork. Again,somedemandgenerationsystemshavebeenintegratedwith vendorswhospecializeintheseareas. Events. Demandgenerationsystemsareoftenusedtomanagesaleseventssuchasseminarsand onlineWebinars.Standarddemandgenerationfunctionscansendanemailpromotingtheevent,link respondentstoaregistrationform,andsendvariousremindersandfollowupmessages.Eventswith physicalcapacitylimitsrequirespecializedfeaturessuchastheabilitytostopandstartpromotionsbased onthenumberofregistrations,maintainwaitlists,andmanagemultipleversionsofthesameeventin differenttimesandplaces.Demandgenerationsystemsdonotgenerallysupportpaideventsorprovide administrationfeaturessuchasroomassignmentsorequipmentlogistics.

LeadScoring
ScoringData. Leadscoresaretraditionallybasedonattributessuchasdemographics(companysize, industry,etc.)andopportunitycharacteristics(oftensummarizedasBANT:budget,authority,needs, timeline).Tothis,demandgenerationsystemsaddinformationderivedfromuserbehaviors,suchas Webpagevisits,informationdownloaded,emailsopened,andsurveyscompleted.Thesebehaviorscan giveparticularinsightintochangesinleadattitudesastheygainorloseinterestinaproject.However, theycanalsobevoluminous,soleadscoringsystemsoftenrelyonsummarymeasures,suchasthe numberofsitevisitsinthepastweek,ratherthanscoringeacheventbyitself. Somedemandgenerationsystemssupplementdataprovidedbytheleadandbyleadbehaviorswithdata fromexternalsources.Thesemayprovideinformationaboutacompanythattheleadhasnotprovided, orhasnotreportedaccurately.Theymayalsorecordpublicevents(newproducts,financialresults,etc.) thatarerelevanttothesalessituationbutnotcapturedbystandardsurveys. ScoreCalculations. Thetraditionalapproachtoleadscoringistodevelopascorecardthatassigns pointsforspecifiedleadattributes.Thesumofthesepointsistheleadscore. Mostdemandgeneration systemstakeagenerallysimilarapproach,althoughtheyvaryconsiderablyinthedetails.Somesystems canapplypointcapstocertainbehaviors,soasingletypeofactivitydoesnotcreateaninflatedscoreif itisrepeatedfrequently.Somesystemscanreducethepointsassignedtoabehaviorbasedonhowlong agoitoccurred.Theamountofthereductionmaybespecifiedseparatelyforeachbehavior(precisebut considerablework),orasingledepreciationrulemaybeappliedautomaticallytoalleventrelateditems. Systemsalsovaryintheinterfaceusedtosetupthecalculations.Mostproductsusestandardsystem rulestospecifyasetofconditionsandthepointsawardedforeachcondition.Thesemayinturnbe embeddedinastandardmarketingcampaign.Thisapproachmakestheinterfaceconsistentwiththerest ofthesystem,butmayrequirecomplexrulesforconceptssuchaspointcapsortimerelated depreciation.Othersystemspresentthecalculationsonagridsimilartoatraditionalscorecard. Thiscan beeasierforsomeuserstounderstand,andmayallowspecialfeaturessuchaspointcapsand depreciationtobeincorporatedmoreeasily. Somesystemsallowonlyonescoreperlead,whileothersletusersdefinemultiplescores.Theseare particularlyusefulforcompanieswithmultipleproductsormarketingcampaignsthatneedtobemanaged separately.Somecancalculateanaveragescoreforallleadsfromthesamecompany,whichis Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page10

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

particularlyusefulprovidinganoverviewoftheactivitylevelforthegroupasawhole.Mostproducts storethescoresasnumericvalues,andthendefineleadranks(hot,warm,etc.)asscoreranges.Some vendorsusethescoringrulestospecifyscoringranksonly.Attheoppositeextreme,otherscalculate separatescoresfordemographics,BANTandbehaviors,andreporttheseindividuallyaswellasa combinedtotal. ScoreUpdates. Scoresmaybeupdatedaspartoftheflowofamarketingcampaign,ortriggered independentlybyachangeintherelevantdata.Mostsystemsreacttodatachangesimmediately, althoughsomeperiodicallyscanthedatabaseforchangesinstead.Scoresbasedonthetimesincean eventposeaspecialchallenge,sincethereisnodatachangetotriggertherecalculationwhenatime thresholdisreached.Systemswithspecialfunctionsforscoredepreciationshouldalsohavefeaturesto automaticallyrecalculatetimebasedscoresattheappropriatetime.Systemsthatbuilddepreciationinto standardrulesarelesslikelytodothis.However,mostcanmaintaincorrectvaluesbyusingascheduler torecalculateallscoresatregularintervals.Thisisunlikelytobeamajorissueinmostcases,sincethe recalculatedscorewouldalmostalwaysbelowerthanthepreviousscore,andthereforewouldprobably nottriggeracriticalmarketingcontact. ScoreDeployment. Scorechangescanusuallytriggeranystandardcampaignaction,includingsending aleadtotheCRMsystemorstartingitinanewcampaign.Theactionmaybepartofacampaignflowor associateddirectlywithscoreitself,dependinglargelyonhowthescoreitselffitsintotheflowofthe system.

CampaignManagement
ProgramCreation. Thefundamentalroleofamarketingcampaignistomanageasetofrelated interactions.Thismightbemoreplainlydescribedassendingastreamofmessages,butcampaignsalso receivetheresponsestothosemessagesandadjustfuturemessagesaccordingly.Thecoreofthe definitionisactuallythewordrelated:acampaignismorethanasinglemessageandlessthanall interactionsbetweenthecompanyandtheleadrather,itisagroupofinteractionsaimedataparticular goal.Typicalcampaigngoalsmightbetoattractnewleads,educateexistingleadsaboutthecompany, orpromoteaneventsuchasanonlineWebinar.Becauseacampaignhasaspecificgoal,most companieswillrunmultiplecampaignsthataretargetedatleadsindifferentstagesofthesalescycle. Thismeansthedemandgenerationsystemmustalsoincludefunctionstomoveleadsfromone campaigntoanotherwhenappropriate.Inpractice,thisswitchingmechanismisusuallybuiltintothe campaignsthemselves,intheformofrulesthatevaluatetheleadssituationanddecidewhetherto continuewithinthecampaignorchangetoanewone.However,thisswitchingmechanismislogically separatefromindividualcampaigns,andsomesystemskeepisactuallyseparatebycreatingassessment functionsthatrunoutsideofcampaignsoraresharedacrosscampaigns. Eventhoughalldemandgenerationsystemsperformbasicallythesamecampaignmanagement functions,theydiffersubstantiallyinhowtheyhavestructuredthesefunctionsandevenmorewidelyin thetermstheyusetodescribethem.Insomecases,campaignsaredividedintoprograms,whilein others,aprogramisagroupofcampaigns.Thestepswithinacampaignmaybegroupedintoaflow, trackorprocess,andthestepsthemselvesmaybedescribedassteps,stagesoractions.Campaign managementalsogenerallyinvolvessomeconceptofalist,butthisisagainuseddifferentlyindifferent systems.Insomecases,alistdefinestheentryconditionsforacampaign,inothersitisthesetofleads currentlyactiveinacampaign,andstillothersitisanycollectionofleadsandmaybeindependentfrom campaignsaltogether. Whatevertheirdifferences,allmarketingcampaignssharesomegeneralfeatures. Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page11

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

entryconditionsdeterminewhichleadswilljointhecampaign.Entrymaybetriggeredbyaspecific eventdetectedinmoreorlessrealtime,ormayoccurperiodicallythroughdatabasequeriesthatfind leadsmeetingaspecifiedsetofconditions. stepsdefinetheactionstakenwithinthecampaign.Thesemaybetreatmentssuchassendinga messageordirectingtheleadtoaWebpage,ormaybeinternalprocessessuchascalculatinga leadscore.Astepoftenhasitsownentryconditionsthatdeterminewhetheritisexecutedfora particularlead.Althoughitspossibleforacampaigntohaveasinglestep,suchassendingamass email,mostcampaignsatleastincluderesponseprocessing,andthushaveaminimumoftwosteps. decisionrulesdeterminetheflowofeventswithinthecampaign.Decisionrulesareevaluatedafter thestepiscompleteanddeterminewheretheleadissentnext.Theymaysendtheleadtoanother stepinthecampaign,toanothercampaign,orterminateallcampaignsandsendtheleadtotheCRM system.Routingwithinthecampaigncanbequitecomplex:thedecisionrulemaychooseamong severaldifferentnextsteps,orsometimesevensendtheleadbacktoapreviousstep.Some systemspermitrandomroutingfora/btests. schedulesdeterminewhenthecampaignexecutes.Typicallythescheduleincludesstartandstop datesandanintervalwhichcouldbeanythingfromeveryfewminutestoonceamonth.Theinterval generallydeterminestheminimumtimingbetweenstepsinacampaign,althoughasinglestepmight triggerseveralactionsinsuccessionbeforewaitingforthenext interval.Eveneventtriggered campaignsmayspecifyanintervaltowaitbetweenreactingtoevents,sothesystemdoesnt bombardtheleadwithtoomanymessagesinquicksuccession.Schedulesmayalsospecifythe timesofdayanddaysoftheweekwhenthecampaignisactive,typicallytoensurethatmessages aredeliveredduringbusinesshours.

Marketingcampaignimplementationsalsodiffergreatlyintheiruserinterface.Complexcampaignshave traditionallybeenlaidoutusingaVisiostyleflowchart,withboxesforactionsanddiamondsfordecisions connectedbyarrowsforleadflows.Thishastheadvantageofprecisionbutcangetconfusingasoptions multiply.Itbecomesalmostunreadablewhenflowsloopbackonthemselvesorleadscanmigratefrom onecampaigntoanother.Onewaytosimplifysuchflowsistogrouprelatedstepsintoasingleboxon theflowchart,andallowuserstodrillintothisfordetailswhentheyneedto.Anotherapproachistoshow thestepsinthecampaigninalist,eventhoughaparticularleadmayskipsomeofthestepsorasingle stepmayitselfcontainalternativeactions.Yetanotheralternativeistoenvisionthecampaignashaving justthreestages:entry,execution,andexit.Activeleadsarecontinuouslyrecycledwithintheexecution stage,receivingdifferentmessageseachtimetheyareevaluated.Theleadsexitwhentheycompletethe campaignordecisionrulesdeterminetheyshouldmoveintoadifferentone. Campaignmanagementsystemsalsosharegeneraldesignissuesincludingcomponentsharing(rules, actions,messages,etc.)samplegenerationtoconfirmthelogicworksproperlysupportfora/btesting, capturingoffinancialinformationandcontroloverwhocanmakechanges.Mostdemandgeneration productsapproachthesesimilarlythroughthesystem:thus,ifemailsarebuiltfromsharedcomponents, campaignstendtobeaswell.Oneexceptionisa/btesting,whichisoftensupportedatjustonelevelof thesystem(withinthemarketingmaterials,duringlistselection,orduringcampaignexecution).As elsewhere,moreelaboratefeaturesaremostimportanttoorganizationsmanagingcomplexmarketing programs. CampaignSelection.Leadstypicallyenteramarketingcampaignbymeetingaspecifiedentry condition.Thismaybeaspecificeventdetectedinrealtime,oritmaybeacombinationofattributes identifiedthroughperiodicqueriesagainstthedatabase.Inmostsystems,theentryrulesforeach campaignareindependent,butsomeapplyasingleruletoidentifythemostappropriatecampaignfor eachleadamongalltheavailablechoices.Evensystemswithindependentcampaignrulesofteninclude Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page12

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

checksintheirentryconditionsthatensurealeadisallowedintoalimitednumberofnonconflicting campaignsatanyonetime. Systemsvaryinthecomplexityoftheselectionrulestheyletuserscreate.Alldemandgeneration productsallowtherulestoaccessbothleadprofilesandactivityhistories.Mostprovidepredefined functionsforcomplexconditionssuchasselectingonthenumberofeventswithinaspecifiedtimeperiod. Somelettheusersconstructsuchfunctionsforthemselves,whileothersdonotallowthematall. Manysystemsalsoletusersdirectlyassignleadstospecificcampaigns.Theseassignmentsmaybean actionwithinacampaignflowortiedtocompletionofaWebform.Mostsystemsalsoallowusersto manuallyassignaspecificleadoralistofleadstoacampaign.Userscanalsotypicallycallupthe currentlistofleadswithinacampaignandselectindividualleadstoremove. Demandgenerationsystemsgenerallydonotallowuserstospecifyalimitonthenumberofleadsthat canenteracampaign,oronthenumberofleadsthatcanbeactiveatanytime.Theprimaryexceptionis specialcampaignsdesignedforseminarsandsimilarevents,wherethereareknowncapacitylimits. Marketerswithotherreasonsforsuchlimits,suchaslimitedcapacityinacallcenteroraproductwith limitedinventory,willsometimes(butnotalways)beabletoimplementthembywritingcustomentry rules. Campaignselectionsaresometimesdefinedintermsoflists.Alistisusuallyselectedbyspecifyingrules similartootherselectionrules.Thedifferenceisoftenthatalistcanbesavedandreused,whiletherules themselvescannot.Mostsystemsallowuserstocreatebothstaticlists,whosemembersareselected onceandthenfrozen,anddynamiclists,whicharereselectedeachtimetheyareusedoratother intervals. Listsusuallyexistoutsideofcampaigns,allowingthemtobereused,butsomesystems associatelistswithasinglecampaignonly.Somesystemsletselectionrulesincludelistmembershipas anattribute,whileothersystemsdonot.Mostsystemsautomaticallyremoveduplicateleadentriesfrom alist,typicallybycheckingagainsttheemailaddress.Someallowmorecomplexdeduplication,either usingstandardrulesorrulesdefinedbytheuser.Listselectionoptionssometimesincluderandom samplingtosetupa/btests.Itsusuallypossibletoexcludemembersofonelistfromanotherlist.This mightbeusedtohonordonotcontactrequests,excludemembersofonecampaignfromanother,or suppressmessagestocompetitors. CampaignActivities. Demandgenerationsystemsdiffersubstantiallyintherangeofactivitiestheir campaignscanperform.Campaignscannearlyalwayssendamarketingmessage,droptheleadfrom thecurrentcampaign,addtheleadtoanothercampaign,orsendtheleadtotheCRMsystem.Mostcan notifyasystemuserortheassignedsalesrepaboutanactivity,assignatasktothesalesrep,sendthe leadtothenextstepinthecurrentcampaign,orwaitforaspecifiedperiodbeforecontinuingwiththe campaign.Somesystemscansendtheleadtoaspecificcampaignstep(notnecessarilythenextone), updatedataontheleadrecord,addorremovetheleadfromalist,assigntheleadtoaspecificsalesrep, andinitiateothertaskssuchasscoringordeduplication.Whenaspecificcapabilityismissingfromthe campaignsteps,thereisusuallyanalternativewaytogetitdone.However,thiscansometimesinvolvea relativelycomplexworkaround.Marketerswhoknowtheywillneedaspecifictaskshouldexplore carefullyhowaproposedsystemwouldaccomplishit. ContentManagement. Mostdemandgenerationsystems maintainacentralrepositoryofmarketing materialsandallowatleastsomeofthesetobesharedacrossprograms.However,administrative featureswithintheserepositoriestendtobequitelimited.Featuresthatarerarelyfoundinclude:checkin /checkoutcontrolstoensurethatthesameitemisnoteditedsimultaneouslybydifferentusers expirationdatestoensureobsoleteitemsarenotusedaccidentallyandsecuritythatspecifieswhich userscaneditwhichitems.Mostsystemsdoidentifywhocreatedeachitemandwholasteditedit,as wellasthedatesoftheseevents.Butnoneretainsafulleditinghistorywiththeintermediateversions. Itsusuallypossibletogetalistofwhichcampaignsusewhichitem,butnottoseedetailsonusage Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page13

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

volumeandresults.Marketerswithprogramsinmultiplelanguageswillfindminimalsupport:atbest, somevendorscouldcreatemultilanguageversionsofanitemusingruledrivencontentselection.Most ofthesefeaturesareimportantonlyinlargemarketingorganizations. ProjectManagement. Somedemandgenerationvendorsprovideamarketingcalendarthatshows whencampaignsarescheduledtoexecute.Theregenerallyshowonlythestartdateofrecurring campaigns.Otherwise,therearevirtuallynoprojectmanagementfunctionsinanydemandgeneration system.Projectschedules,tasklistsandexpensebudgetsarealtogethermissing,eventhoughtheyare commoningeneralpurposemarketingmanagementsystems.Somevendorsdoprovidelimitedapproval workflows,althoughthesearenomorethanatwolevelsecuritysystemthatassignsdifferentusersthe rightstoeditcontentandtoreleaseittoproduction.Therearenoseriouscollaborationfeaturessuchas itemmarkup,commenting,notifications,andmultistepapprovalflows. FinancialManagement. Mostdemandgenerationsystemscanimportopportunitydata,includingsales results,fromaCRMsystemandusethisinfinancialreporting.Afewofthesystemswillalsotrack campaigncosts,usuallyatahighlevelalthoughoccasionallyindetail.

CRMIntegration
Salesforce.comIntegration. AlldemandgenerationsystemseasilyintegratewithSalesforce.com. SomevendorshavefullyautomatedtheprocessofmappingSalesforce.comfieldsintothedemand generationdatabase,allowingtheintegrationtobesetupinminutes.Evenwhentheprocessisnotfully automated,theactualmappingtakeslessthanonehour.Therealeffortisdecidingwhichfieldsto include,whichmaytakedaysorweeksofdiscussion.Oncethemappingiscomplete,loadingthe existingdatafromSalesforce.comintoanewdemandgenerationdatabasecantakeseveralhours, dependingonthenumberofrecords.Aftertheinitialintegration,vendorswithautomatedmapping systemscanusuallydetectsubsequentchangesintheSalesforce.comdatastructureandadjustfor them.Vendorswithoutautomatedmappinghavesystemsthatcheckforchangesbutstillrequiremanual updatestoadjust. AlldemandgenerationsystemsimportdatafromtheleadandcontacttablesinSalesforce.com,and combineitinthedemandgenerationleadtable.(LeadsandcontactsinSalesforce.comaretypesof individuals.Thedistinctionismoreconceptualthantechnical:leadsaregenerallyunqualifiedprospects, whilecontactsareknownindividualsorcustomers.Multiplecontacts,butnotleads,canbeassociated withanaccount[i.e.,acompany].)ThesystemscanalsoimportactivityhistoryfromSalesforce.com. Most,butnotall,demandgenerationsystemsalsoimportdatafromtheSalesforce.comaccountand opportunitytables.Opportunitiesrepresentspecificsaleseffortsandarethesourceofinformationon revenueandsalesstages.Opportunitiesarealsolinkedtocontactrecords.Sincethecontactsarealso linkedtomarketingcampaigns,theyformtheconnectionusedtolinkthecampaignstoopportunity revenue. DatasynchronizationbetweenalldemandgenerationsystemsandSalesforce.comisbidirectional:that is,changesineachsystemarecopiedintotheother.Aspreviouslynoted,thesystemswillmapdata fromSalesforce.comlead,contactandsometimesaccountrecordsintoasingledemandgenerationlead table.TheyreversetheprocesswhencopyingdemandgenerationdatabacktoSalesforce.com.Update frequencyisgenerallycontrolledbythedemandgenerationsystem,althoughSalesforce.comimposes someconstraintsrelatedtodatavolume.Inpractice,thismeansthatsmalldemandgenerationsystems cansendchangestoSalesforce.comastheyoccur,whilelargersystemsmustsendupdatesatintervals thatcanrangefrom2to15minutes.DataisgenerallyimportedfromSalesforce.comslightly lessoften.

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ThedemandgenerationsystemswillalsosendactivityheaderstoSalesforce.com.Thesecanbe integratedwithSalesforce.comsownactivityhistoryorkeptseparate.Theactivitydetailsaretoo voluminoustoimporthowever,thedemandgenerationvendorsusuallyprovidealinkthatletsa Salesforce.comuserclickontheactivityheadertoopenawindowthatreadstheactivitydetailsdirectly fromthedemandgenerationdatabase.Mostdemandgenerationsystemswillalsoautomaticallycreatea newcampaigninSalesforce.comwhenanewcampaignisaddedinthedemandgenerationsystem,and willsynchronizemembershipinthecampaignsaswell.Someofthesystemswillalsorecognizeanew Salesforce.comcampaignandcreateanewdemandgenerationcampaigntomatch.Thematching campaignsmakeiteasiertosynchronizeactivitiesbetweenthesystems. Itsgenerallypossibleforeachsystemtoautomaticallyaddnewleadsastheyappearintheothersystem. However,thisisnotnecessarilydesirable,sincethenewleadmaynotberelevant.Inpractice,the demandgenerationsystemsallhavefunctionsthatallowcampaignsorbusinessrulestodeterminewhen anewleadwillbesenttoSalesforce.comtobeadded.Theycanalsousuallysendinstructionsto converttheindividualfromaSalesforce.comleadtoaSalesforce.comcontact.Somedemand generationsystemscanassignthenewleadtoasalesrepinSalesforce.com,althoughthismayrequire rulesthatlisteachsalesrepseparately.Keepingsuchrulescurrentcouldbeproblematic.Mostsystems letSalesforce.commaketheleadassignments,andthenimporttheresultinginformationsotheycanuse itforpurposessuchassigningemailmessages.Demandgenerationcampaignscanalsousuallyassign aSalesforce.comtasktoasalesrep.TheabilitytoexecutetaskswithinSalesforce.comisconstrained primarilybywhatSalesforce.comallows,notthedemandgenerationsystemstechnologies. Sincethedemandgenerationsystemsimporttheidentityofthesalesrepassignedtoeachlead,theycan alsosendtherepanemailoutsideofSalesforce.com.Allvendorscantakeadvantageofthistoissue alertsaboutleadbehaviors.Thesealertsareusuallydefinedascampaignactionsbutaresometimes specifiedseparately.AlertscanalsotaketheformofaWebpagepopup,whichrequiresthesalesrepto keepademandgenerationsystemwindowintheirbrowser.Somealertsareissuedinrealtime,while othersaresentaftertheevent.Mostdemandgenerationsystemscanalsosendeachsalesreparegular reportsummarizingrecentleadactivity,sotherepcandecidehowtoreact. SinceactivitiescapturedbythedemandgenerationsystemwillalsobesenttoSalesforce.comaspartof theregularsynchronization,itmaysometimesbequickertoletSalesforce.comissueitsownalertsbased onthosechanges. SomedemandgenerationvendorsalsoprovideapluginforMicrosoftOutlook.Somepluginssimply capturetheemailssentfromOutlookandaddthemtothedemandgenerationactivityhistory.This makesthemavailableforreportingandtodemandgenerationcampaignrules.Otherpluginsroutethe Outlookemailsthroughthedemandgenerationvendorsemailengine.Thisbothcapturestheemailin theactivityhistoryandletstheSalesforce.comuserleveragethepersonalizationcapabilitiesofthe demandgenerationsystem. OtherCRMIntegration. SomedemandgenerationvendorshaveintegratedwithseveralCRMvendors beyondSalesforce.com.Thisdependsprimarilyonwhattheirclientshaverequested.Standard integrationsaregenerallysimilartotheSalesforce.comintegration.Inothercases,theintegrationis limitedtobatchfileexchanges.

ProspectDatabase
DataStructure. Alldemandgenerationsystemshaveleadandactivitytables,andmosthaveaseparate companytable.Thesystemsvarymoresubstantiallyintheirsupportforcustomdata.Someallowonly customfieldsontheleadtable,whileothersallowcustomfieldsandcustomtables.Systemsalsovaryin Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page15

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

whethercustomdatacanbeaddedonlythroughbatchimports,oralsoviaWebformsandAPI integration.Customtablesarecriticaltoexpandingthesystemsbeyondthecorefunctions.Typicaluses includestoringopportunitydata,purchasehistory,campaigncosts,Webanalytics,surveyresponses,and eventattendance. DatabaseAdministration. Mostsystemsallowusersorsystemadministratorstoaddwhatevercustom fieldsortablesthesystempermits.Insomecases,thevendorsprofessionalservicesteammustmake certainchanges. DataCapture. ThesystemscapturestandardinformationaboutWebsitevisitors,includingthereferring URLandIPaddress.MostlookuptheowneroftheIPaddresstoattempttoidentifythecompanythe visitorbelongsto.Thesystemsalsoplacecookiesonthevisitorcompanytobuildacontacthistory. Theywilljointhistolaterdataifthevisitoridentifiesherself. DataImport. Allsystemsallowuserstoimportfilesofleads.Somesupportbatchimportstootherfiles. AWebservicesAPIissometimesavailabletoloadlimitedvolumesdirectly. CustomerDataIntegration. Mostdemandgenerationsystemsusetheemailaddressasaprimary customeridentifier.Newleadsarecheckedagainstthistoseeiftheyalreadyexist.Marketerswhose onlygoalistoavoidduplicateemailswillfindthisadequate.Butmarketerswhowishtousetheir databaseforotherpurposeswillfinditmissesmanyduplicates.Somesystemsprovidemoreextensive matchingcapabilities,includingfunctionstofindnearmatchesbasedonuserspecifiedrules.Thebestof thesesystemscouldbuildareasonablyaccuratemarketingdatabase.Otherswouldrequireuseof externalproductsorservices.

Reporting
StandardReports. Alldemandgenerationsystemsprovideasetofstandardreports.Thesetypically sharecapabilitiesincludingtabularandgraphicdisplayformats,optionstospecifyparameterssuchasa daterangeandcampaignstoincludeabilitytodrillintoreportstoseetheunderlyingdataexporttoExcel andotherformatsandsubscriptionstoreceivereportsonaregularbasis. Despitethesesimilarities,thereissubstantialrangeinreportingfeatures.Itemsthatdifferentiatevendors includethevarietyofreportscontroloverreportcontentsabilitytocombineseparatereportsinto dashboardsoptionsfortimeseriesanalysisandcreationofaseparateanalyticaldatamart.Because accesstounderlyingdataisoftenhighlyconstricted,usersshouldexaminestandardreportingfeatures carefullytobesuretheyaresufficient. AdHocReports. Mostdemandgenerationsystemsdonotprovideanadhocreportwriter.The prominentexceptionisMarket2Lead,whichprovidesaccesstoananalyticaldatamartusingInformatica PowerAnalyzer.Otherwise,usershavesomecontroloverstandardreportsintermsofselectingtheset ofrecordstoreportonand,insomecases,thedataelementstoinclude.Theymayalsobeableto exporttheunderlyingdatatablestoanalyzeexternally. PredictiveModeling. Noneofthedemandgenerationvendorsinthisstudyprovideintegratedpredictive modelingorhavebuiltlinkstoexternalmodelingsystems.Thismaychangeasmoresophisticated clientsfindtheyrequirepredictivemodelstohelpoptimizecustomertreatments.Useofsuchmodelsis commoninconsumermarketingsystems. WebReports. AlldemandgenerationvendorsprovidebasicreportsonvisitstosystemgeneratedWeb pages.Typicalinformationincludespageviews,visitorsources,searchterms,uniquevisitors,repeat Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page16

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

visitors,andvisittimes.MostofthisdataisprovidedbytheWebpagerequeststhemselves,ascaptured inaserverlogoratag(actuallyasmallJavascriptprogram)embeddedintheWebpagethattransmitsit tothevendorssystem.Itiscombinedwithdatafromcookiesthatidentifyrepeatvisitsfromthesame computer. SomevendorscanalsoreportonvisitstoallpagesonaclientsWebsite,includingthosenotcreatedby thedemandgenerationsystem.Thisrequiresthateachpagecontainthesamesortoftagmentioned earlier.Itsusuallypossibletoplaceonetagonamastertemplatewhichautomaticallyincorporatesthe tagintoeachpageasitisrendered,insteadoftaggingeachpageseparately.Assumingamastertagis used,thesetuptakesonlyafewminutes.Itdoesrequireassistancefromwhoeverisrunningthe companyWebsite.AdemandgenerationsystemmayalsousedatafromthirdpartyWebanalytics productssuchasOmnitureorGoogleAnalytics.Inthiscase,itwouldbethesevendorstagsthatare insertedintotheclientWebpages. HavinginformationonvisitstoallWebpagesallowsthedemandgenerationsystemtoprovideseveral typesofinformation.OneisamorecompletehistoryofeachleadsWebactivity.Thisallowsmarketers andsalesrepstotrackandanalyzeWebvisitsindetail,andletsthesystemreacttovisitstokeypages. Aseconduseforsuchdataisidentifyingkeyevents,suchaspurchasesorstagesinthesalescycle,that aremeasuredbyvisitstoaspecifiedWebpage.Forexample,avisittotheecommercecheckout confirmationpageindicatesthatsomeonehasmadeapurchase,evenifthedemandgenerationsystem cannotreaddatafromtheecommercesystemitself.Finally,thedatacanshowthesequenceofpages thatvisitorsselect.Suchclickpathanalysescanbedoneforasinglevisitoraggregatedtoshowthe averageresultsforallvisitors.ThishelpsmarketersunderstandhowvisitorsaremovingthroughtheWeb siteandwheretheremaybeproblemsthatareleadingthemoffthedesiredpath.Suchreportsare standardoutputsofWebanalyticssystems,sosomemarketersmayalreadyhavethemavailable. EmailReports. Standardemailreportingissimilaracrossallsystems. Foreachitem,itshowshow manyweresentandthevariousoutcomessuchasthenumberdelivered,opened,clickthroughs, unsubscribes,etc.Userscantypicallydrillintothereportstoseedetailsontheindividualleads.Some vendorsdoabetterjobthanothersofshowingtheperformanceofasingleemailindifferentcampaigns (whenreuseispermitted)andtheperformanceofdifferentemailswithinasinglecampaign.Somewill compareresultstoindustrybenchmarks. KeywordReports. AllsystemscanreportonthesourceURLandsearchtermsofWebpagevisitors. Thiscanbeusedtomeasureresponsetopaidsearchadvertisingandtoevaluatetheeffectivenessof searchengineoptimization. Itcouldalsobeusedtocalculatethecostperclickofsuchefforts,butnone ofthedemandgenerationvendorscapturethecostsneededforthiscalculation.Thenextlevelof analysisistotracksubsequentperformanceforvisitorsfromeachsource. Webmarketersdothisby specifyingtheURLsofpagesthatindicatesignificantbehaviors,suchasacheckoutpagereachedwhen acustomerhasmadeapurchase.AswithotherWebreporting,thisrequirescapturingvisitstopages outsidethedemandgenerationsystem.OfthevendorsinthisGuide,onlyManticorecurrentlyprovides thiscapability. CampaignReports. Nearlyalldemandgenerationsystemscanreportonthenumberofleads generatedbyeachcampaign.Mostalsoimportopportunityresults fromtheCRMsystemandusethese toassociaterevenuewithcampaigns.Ingeneral,thisassociationinvolvesdeterminingwhichleadswere associatedwitheachopportunity,andwhichcampaignswereassociatedwiththoseleads.However, systemsvarysignificantlyinthedetailsofhowtheydeterminewhichcampaignsgetcreditforwhich opportunitiesandinhowmuchcontrolusershaveoverthosedetails.Systemsalsovarysubstantiallyin thewhethertheycapturecampaigncostinformation,andinwhatlevelofdetail.Themostextensive implementationscaptureexpectedaswellasactualvaluesforrevenues,costsandunitsales,downto thelevelofprogramsandofferswithincampaigns.WhereCRMcampaignsaresynchronizedwith Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page17

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

demandgenerationcampaigns,informationoncampaigncostsmaybeimportedfromCRM.Only systemsthatcapturebothcostandrevenuecanproducecampaignreturnoninvestmentreports. CRMopportunitydatamayshowtheprogressofleadsthroughdifferentopportunitystages.Demand generationsystemsthatimportthismayprovidefunnelreportsthatshowhowmanyleadsreacheach stage,averagetimeineachstage,averagetimetomovefromonestagetothenext,andsimilar statistics. LeadReports. Alldemandgenerationsystemscanprovidebasiccountsonthenumberofleadsintheir database.Somecanshowadditionaldetailssuchasnumberofleadsaddedbytimeperiod,distribution ofleadscores,andmarketingcontactsbyleadrank.Suchreportscanprovideinsightsintooverall marketingperformancebyshowingtrendsinthenumberandqualityofleadsbeinggeneratedandinhow welltheyarebeingnurtured. ContentReports. Demandgenerationsystemsvarywidelyinthelevelofreportingoncontents.Reports tolookforinclude:whichcampaignsuseeachitemhowofteneachitemissent(foranemail)or accessed(foraWebpage)andresultsbyitem(responserateforemails,completionratesforforms, etc.).

Technology
Integration. Therearetwofundamentalwaysthatexternalsystemscanaccessademandgeneration system.Oneistoquerysystemdatadirectly.Vendorsgenerallyavoidthisbecausethequeriescould harmoperationalperformance.TheonlycurrentexceptionisMarket2Lead,whichallowsqueriesagainst itsanalyticaldatamart.Sincethisisseparatefromthesystemsoperationaldata,performanceisnotan issue.Mostvendorsdoletusersextractcopiesoftheiroperationaldataandreportagainstthat. TheotherformofexternalaccessistouseanApplicationProgramInterface(API)whichletsanexternal programcallthesystemsownfunctions.Mostofthedemandgenerationvendorsofferorplantoofferan APIofsomesort.ThespecificfunctionsavailablethroughtheAPIswillvary.Mostareusedforlimited taskssuchasaccessingaspecificleadsdataoraddingaleadtoacampaign.Theremayalsobeformal orpracticalconstraintsonthedatavolumestheAPIcanhandleortheresponsetimesitcanprovide. SomeAPIscanbeusedtoadddatatothesystem.SystemsthatallowanexternalWebformtopostdata typicallydothisthroughanAPI. Scalability. Scalabilityisgenerallymeasuredbydatavolume(i.e.,thenumberofleads)andofusers. Mostdemandgenerationimplementationsaresosmallthatneitherislikelytobeproblem.Ifanissue doesarise,itislesslikelytobetheabilityofthesystemtophysicallyprocesstherequireddatavolumes thanwhetheritprovidesthefunctionsneededtomanagelargenumbersofcampaigns,leadsorusers. Forexample,marketingdepartmentswithmanyuserstypicallywantfinegrainedcontroloverwhichusers canperformwhichtasks,andmayfurtherwanttolimituseraccesstoparticularcampaignsormarketing materials.Demandgenerationvendorswhohavenotservicedsuchclientsmaynothavebuiltinthis levelofdetail. Theonesituationwhereevenphysicalscalabilitycouldbeanissueiswhenasystemisaskedtoprocess amuchhighervolumeofdatathaneverbefore.Anorderofmagnitudeincreasemayrevealbottlenecks orinefficienciesthatwerepreviouslyundetected.Marketerswhosesystemswouldbevastlylargerthan thelargestexistinginstallationforagivenvendorshouldtestthisthoroughlybeforemakinga commitment,oratleastensuretheyreceivedetailed,bindingservicelevelguaranteesthatincludeaclear exitpathifthesystemdoesnotmeettheirrequirements. Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page18

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

ServiceModel.AllthedemandgenerationvendorsinthisGuideoffertheirsystemsonthesoftwareas aservice(SaaS) model,meaningthevendorcontrolsthehardwareandsoftware.Thisapproachis increasinglypopularbecauseitremovesmuchoftheburdenofrunningthesystemfromtheclient.Some organizationsarereluctanttoadoptitbecausetheyareuncomfortableallowingcriticalcorporatedatato resideexternallyorbecausetheywanttotightlyintegratedemandgenerationwithothersystems. Concernsoverexternaldatacanusuallybeaddressed:mostITdepartmentsarewillingtoacceptan externalsystemsolongasitmeetsadefinedsetofsecurityandreliabilityrequirements.Integrationisa moredifficultchallenge,becauseaccesstothesystemisinfactlikelytobeconstrained,particularlywhen largedatavolumesareinvolved.(Asnotedabove,integrationtypicallyreliesonAPIsthatmaylimitthe natureandamountofactivitytoensureadequatesystemperformance.)Clientswithunusualfunctional requirementsmayalsofindaSaaSsolutiondoesnotmeettheirneeds:becausethesystemscanonlybe modifiedbythevendor,traditionalcustomizationisnotanoption. SaaSimplementationareoftendescribedasanmultitenantmodel,meaningthatseveralclients (tenants)sharethesamesystem.Exactlywhatissharedmayvary.Theapplicationsoftwareisnearly alwaysshared,sincerunningcustomizedvariationsaddsignificantcostandriskforthevendor. Hardwareisusuallyshared,althoughsomeclientsprefertorunontheirownservers.Thedatabase instanceissharedslightlylessoften(meaningdatafordifferentclientsisheldwithinthesametables).A shareddatabaseinstancemeansthedatastructuresforallclientsmustbeidentical,althoughitsstill possiblefordifferentclientstoseedifferentlabelsforthesamefield,tocreatetheirowncustomfields, andeventoaddcustomtables.Similarly,thesharedapplicationsoftwarecanusuallybeconfiguredto actdifferentlyfordifferentclients.Someclientsworrythatashareddatabaseposessecurityrisks, althoughthisissuecanusuallybeaddressed.Sharedhardwareanddatabaseinstancesprovide significantcostsavingstothevendors.Somewillsupportdedicatedresourcesforclientswhoarewilling topayextra. Security. Security,asthetermisusedhere,describeshowthesystemcontrolswhateachuseris allowedtodo.Theusualapproachintodayssystemsistocreateusergroupsthathavedifferentsetof rights.Thesegroupsareoftenarrangedinahierarchieswhomembersinheritrightsfromhigherlevels, andthenmodifythemtomorespecificcircumstances.Forexample,agroupofmarketingplanners mighthaveasetofrightsrelatedtomarketingbudgets,whilesubgroupsbelimitedtoplansfordifferent regions.Thisallowsadministratorstomanagecomplexpolicieswithrelativelylittleworkandaminimum opportunityforerrors.Userscanoftenbelongtomultiplegroupstofurtheraccommodateindividual situations. Securityfeaturesindemandgenerationsystemsarequiteprimitivecomparedwiththismodel.Some systemsassignrightsonauserbyuserbasis,whileothersuseonlytwoorthreegroupswhosemembers aretreatedidentically.Mostsystemsassignrightstoclassesofitems,suchasallemails,ratherthan individualitemsoritemswithspecificcharacteristics,suchasemailswritteninFrenchoroffersavailable inJapan.Incaseswherethereareonlytwoorthreeclassesofusers,therightsforeventhemost restrictedgroupmustbequitebroadsothoseuserscanbesuretohavethecapabilitiestheyneed. Marketingorganizationswithasmallnumberofuserswillhavenoproblemwiththislevelofsecurity, sincemostuserswillinfactbeperformingmanytasks,anditseasyformanagerstotrackuseractivities directly.Largemarketingorganizations,whereresponsibilitiesaremoreclearlydividedandwhose companymayhavestrictsecurityrequirementsofitsown,mayrequiremoreprecisecontrol.Manyofthe demandgenerationvendorsareworkingtoexpandandrefinetheirsecuritysystemstoaccommodate suchneeds. UserInterface. AllthedemandgenerationsystemsareaccessedviaInternetbrowsers.Mostvendors canworkwithanymodernbrowser,althoughone(Eloqua)worksonlywithInternetExplorer.Noneofthe vendorsprovidesfordisconnectedoperationoraspecialinterfaceformobile(smartphone)browsers. Thisshouldnotbeanissueformostmarketingactivities. Copyright2008RaabAssociatesInc. www.raabguide.com entryasof:10/21/2008 page19

Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems: Selection Process

Globalization. Dataandmarketingmaterials inmostofthedemandgenerationsystemsarecompatible withUTF8charactercoding,whichmeanstheycanbeinanylanguage.Theuserinterfaces,however, areavailableonlyinEnglish.Someofthesystemshaveadditionalfeaturestailoredtoglobal installations,suchassupportformultilanguageversionsofmarketingmaterialsandcampaigns,tracking oftheleadslanguageofchoice,andtrackingeachuserslocaltimezone.Ingeneral,aswithsecurity, thesefeaturesareverylimitedcomparedwithsupportforglobaldeploymentsinothertypesofsystems. HostingFacilities. Allofthedemandgenerationvendorsrelyonthirdpartydatacenterstophysically hosttheirsystemsandconnectthemwiththeInternet.Mostcanprovidedetailedinformationonthe security,backupanduptimepoliciesofthesevendors.Anyshouldmeetmostcompaniesstandard requirementsintheseareas.

ImplementationandSupport
Implementation. Allvendorswalktheirclientsthroughtheprocessofsettingupthesystem.The physicaleffortinvolvedisminimal:openingabrowserandmappingtoSalesforce.comoranother supportedCRMdatabase.Mappingisautomatedforsomevendorsandmanualinothers,butineither caseittakesonlyafewminutessolongastheclientsimplyimportsalltheCRMfields.Whattakestime isdecidingwhichfieldstoimportand,ifcustomfieldsareinvolved,howtorelatethembetweensystems. BeyondtheCRMintegration,implementationalsorequiressettingupemails,Webpagesandcampaigns, aswellasthenewbusinessprocessesneededtosupportthesystem.Mostvendorscitearangeoftwo toeightweeksfortheinitialimplementation,dependingoncomplexity. Largevendorstendtohavestaffdedicatedtoimplementations,whilesmallervendorsrelyontheir accountmanagersandgeneralsupportstaff.Allvendorshaveamethodologyofsomesortofguidethe process.Implementationusuallyincludesacouplehoursofformaltraining,followedbypersonal assistanceasneeded.Mostimplementationishandledremotely,althoughonsitesupportisusually availabletoclientswhoneeditandarewillingtopayextra. Somevendorsofferformalpackagesof deploymentservicesincludingdifferentlevelsofassistance.Mostvendorscansupplementtheirinternal resourceswithpartnerstosupportalargedeploymentproject. Training. Somevendorsofferformalclassesfornewandexperiencedusers.Theseareusuallyonline andmaybefreeorpaid.Manycompaniesofferlibrariesoftrainingmaterials,templatesandcasestudies thatclientscanaccessasdesired.Ingeneral,thelargerandoldervendorshavemorecomprehensive trainingprograms. Support. Allvendorsprovidetelephoneandemailsupportduringbusinesshours.Somestafftheir supportcentersaroundtheclock,whilemostoftheothersprovideatleastinformaloffhoursemergency supportviapager.Mostvendorshaveaformalcasetrackingsystemtohelpmanagetheirsupport process. AdditionalServices. Somevendorsprovideprofessionalservicessuchasconsultingonmarketing processesandanalysis.Afewwillexecutemarketingprogramsfortheirclients.Mostrelyonbusiness partnersforsuchservices. Community. Mostofthevendorsprovideanonlineforumwheretheirclientscanaskquestionsand shareinformation.Mostalsohaveacompanyblog. Thelargeronesrunlocalorworldwideuser conferences.

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Pricing
PriceBasis. Pricingisalwaysrelatedtothesizeofaclientssystem.Specificparametersalways includethenumberofleads,andsometimesextendtomessagevolume,numberofusers,andmodules purchased.Somevendorschargeseparatelyforimplementationservices,training,andenhanced supportlevels. Prices. Somevendorspublishtheirpricesandothersdonot.Publishedpricesstartaround$1,500per monthforsmallsystems.Forlargerclientsandvendorswithcomplexpricingschemes,itssafeto assumethatsomenegotiationispossible. FreeTrial. Manyvendorsoffersomeformoffreetrialtoqualifiedprospects. Thesetrialsinclude assistancewithsettingupandusingthesystem.

Vendor
Address. Thisshowsthevendorsheadquartersaddress.Somefirmshaveadditionallocaloffices. Telephone. Thisshowsthevendortelephoneandfaxnumbers. Internet. ThisshowsthevendorWebsiteandemailaddresses. YearFounded. Thisshowstheyearthecompanywasfounded. Ownership. Allthevendorsinthisgroupareprivatelyheld. NumberofEmployees. Thisshowsthenumberofemployees. YearProductReleased. Thisshowstheyearthecompanysdemandgenerationproductwasreleased. Somefirmshadearlierproductswithotherfunctions. NumberofClients. Thisshowsthenumberofactiveclientsreportedbythecompany. Industries. Thisshowsthemainindustriesofthecompanysclients. Alldothemajorityoftheirbusiness withhightechcompanies.Somearebranchingintootherindustries. ReferenceAccounts. ThisshowsclientslistedonthevendorWebsite. Itgivessomeideaofthenature ofthecompanysclientbase.Manyvendorsserveonlydivisionsorsmallergroupswithinlarge companies. PartnersandAlliances. ThislistsfirmsshownonthevendorWebsiteaspartners.Itdistinguishes betweentechnologypartnersandserviceagencies.

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