JD Peterson (SVP of Marketing, Scripted) and Michael Feng (Co-founder, DoxIQ) teamed up to discuss how to create engaging white papers, where they fit in a content strategy — and finally — how to measure their success.

1. SCRIPTED.COM
How To
Measure The
ROI of Your
White Papers
SCRIPTED.COM

2. Who We Are
SCRIPTED.COM
JD Peterson, Scripted.com
SVP of Marketing
Michael Feng, DoxIQ
Co-founder
jd@scripted.com mike@doxiq.com

3. SCRIPTED.COM
Who is Scripted?

4. SCRIPTED.COM
What is a White Paper?
A whitepaper is a persuasive,
authoritative, in-depth report
on a specific topic that presents
a problem and provides a
solution

5. SCRIPTED.COM
What is a White Paper?
• Typically 3-10 pages
• Not a pure product
pitch
• Deeper than a blog
post or article
• The best have a lot of
words along with
corresponding
graphics, charts, etc.
• May or may not be
“gated” with a form

6. SCRIPTED.COM
Content Market ing

7. SCRIPTED.COM
Content Marketing Goals
Content Goals
Brand Awareness
Customer Acquisition
Customer Retention
Education & Engagement
Brand Awareness
Lead Generation
Customer Conversion
Thought Leadership
Education & Engagement
B2B B2C

8. SCRIPTED.COM
Where Whi te Papers Fi t

9. SCRIPTED.COM
What’s doxIQ?
The modern document presentation layer, optimized for marketing
• Convert PDFs to a native document experience,
in the browser
• Capture leads on un-gated content
• Collect valuable data on each view
• Plug in real-time chat, sharing, & analytics into
your documents

10. 1. Are white papers still relevant today?
2. Do people actually read white papers?
3. To gate or not to gate?
4. How do I know if it’s working?
SCRIPTED.COM
Some Burning Questions

11. SCRIPTED.COM
Source: 2013 B2B Content Preferences Survey, Demand Gen Report.
1. Are white papers still relevant today?

12. SCRIPTED.COM
I share the following content types
with my colleagues:
Source: 2013 B2B Content Preferences Survey, Demand Gen Report.
1. Are white papers still relevant today?
“When we asked respondents
what type of content they share,
the results were a bit surprising.
B2B buyers were most likely to
say they frequently share white
papers”

13. 1. Are white papers still relevant today?
ASSET AUTHORITY AMMUNITION
Leads more likely
to submit info
SCRIPTED.COM
Champions use them
in board meetings

14. OPTIMAL CUSTOMER CHARACTERISTICS
FOR WHITE PAPER MARKETING
 Complex, lengthy sales process
 Education and nurturing required
 Multiple decision makers
 Traditional buyer base
SCRIPTED.COM
1. Are white papers still relevant today?

15. SCRIPTED.COM
How much of my
precious time and
money should I
devote to writing
these things?
2. Do people actually read white papers?

16. 2. Do people actually read white papers?
Our dataset after 5 months of private beta…
106k
UNIQUE VIEWERS
SCRIPTED.COM
900
DOCUMENTS
1 year
TOTAL TIME SPENT

17. View depth probability
SCRIPTED.COM
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
PERCENT WHO READ THIS PAGE
PAGE NUMBER
Many viewers depart immediately…
2. Do people actually read white papers?

18. Average seconds spent per page
SCRIPTED.COM
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
AVERAGE SECONDS SPENT
PAGE NUMBER
…but not much dropoff after page 3!
2. Do people actually read white papers?

19. 2 TYPES OF WHITE PAPER VIEWERS
Glancers Perusers
SCRIPTED.COM
2. Do people actually read white papers?
low ROI high ROI

20. UN-GATED GATED
Eyeballs Leads
SCRIPTED.COM
“The analysis I have done around
form versus no form has suggested
that there is a 50:1 ratio whether
people will download or not.”
– David Scott Meerman
“Most marketers have goals in
terms of the number of leads they
need to generate and you are
responsible to your boss.”
- Mike Volpe
Source: ”Should Your Content Be Behind Forms? [Debate],” HubSpot.
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/8499/Should-Your-Content-Be-Behind-Forms-Debate.aspx
3. To gate or not to gate?
TENSION

21. A GoldiLocks solution?
First page Last page
http://resources.instartlogic.com/d/WKhvs/Case-Study-Dollar-Shave-Club-Instart-Logic
SCRIPTED.COM
3. To gate or not to gate?

22. SCRIPTED.COM
FORM
LANDING PAGE
• Bounce rate
• Download rate
• Share rate
4. How do I know if it’s working?
EMAIL
CAMPAIGN
• Click rate
• Forward rate
Aggregate, high-level metrics

23. What happens after the click?
SCRIPTED.COM
4. How do I know if it’s working?

24. More shares may indicate higher
SCRIPTED.COM
interest within company
Person-level metrics
Overall
Engagement Score
Time spent
actually reading
4. How do I know if it’s working?

25. A Framework to Calculate
White Paper ROI
SCRIPTED.COM
4. How do I know if it’s working?
1. Capture person-level engagement
metrics with doxIQ
1. Prioritize sales calls to the highly
engaged leads
1. A/B test vis-à-vis random sampling
2. Compare conversion rates

26. SCRIPTED.COM
Common Fears
• Will people really read
it?
• Unsure how to
measure!
• Too expensive!
• Too hard to write!
• Not enough time
and/or resources!

27. SCRIPTED.COM
5 Simple Quest ions
• Is anybody reading it?
• Consumption stats: views, downloads
• Is it helpful?
• Customer feedback, media & influencer coverage
• What do people do after they read it?
• Multiple reads per visit, return visits, conversion events
• Are people sharing and/or discussing it?
• Social engagement, media & influencer
• Which content is resonating most with
buyers?
• Content scoring -> analyze which content is most consumed by your MQL’s
or Wins?

28. SCRIPTED.COM
Smal l Team, Big Content
Team
• Content Manager
Volume
• 35+ pieces of content
published per month
Content
• Blog Posts
• Articles
• White Papers
• Slideshares
• Webinars
Content Creation
Scripted Writers
In-House
20%
80%

29. Thank You!
SCRIPTED.COM
Time for
Q & A
SCRIPTED.COM