Price taf of_anonymous_buyer

A
White Paper

The Price Tag of the
Anonymous Buyer
Analyzing The Revenue Opportunity Many BtoB
Companies Are Missing By Failing To Identify
& Connect With Anonymous Web Visitors
More than 20% of the pipeline for BtoB organizations is at risk
today because marketers are unable to identify and connect with
early-stage buyers. According to recent research from DemandGen
Report, more than 40% of recent BtoB buyers started their research
anonymously on the web. As these buyers are operating in stealth
mode, they are forming opinions on vendors and possibly shortening
their lists of potential solution providers.

When you consider that approximately 58% of a company’s sales
leads are currently generated by the web, according to data from
SiriusDecisions, this begins to underscore the potential negative
impact on pipeline for those firms who are still unable to identify and
connect with anonymous visitors. The potential void is also growing
deeper, as SiriusDecisions estimates the volume of leads from the
Sponsored by web will increase to 71% by 2015.

For a perspective on the impact simply because it can’t identify
this information gap is having on anonymous website visitors. That
companies, consider the math for a risk is becoming greater by the day,
company with $50 million in annual as an increasing number of buyers
revenue. When you figure that 58% are beginning their vendor research
of its leads are being delivered via on the web.
the web, if that company is missing
Equipped with the right tools to
out on engaging with the more than
identify anonymous web buyers,
40% of companies that are starting
BtoB companies are able to plug
their research anonymously, it is at
this leak before the dam breaks
risk of losing more than $11 million
and becomes a flood. The following
in annual revenue today. That at-
white paper will present industry
risk revenue factor for the same
data, case studies and insights from
$50 million company will climb to
leading analysts to demonstrate
$14 million by 2015, when the web
how technology advances are
represents close to 3/4 of sales
making it possible for sales
leads generated.
and marketing professionals to
Based on those projections, that effectively track, identify and engage
$50 million firm is at risk of losing with anonymous website visitors at
more than 20% of its revenue, the earliest stages of their research.

Lost Revenue From Anonymous Web Site Visitors
2011 2014
$50 Million

40
75%
Annual Revenue
30 Total Leads Generated Through Web
58% Lost Revenue from Anonymous Visitors

20

$14
10 $11 Million
Million (40%)
(40%)
0

2 • A DEMANDGEN REPORT WHITE PAPER 2010

The Genesis of This new strategy puts sales teams
Anonymous Visitor at a disadvantage because they
may not know until it is too late that
Identification
a prospect is looking for the type of
Only 1% to 2% of website visitors solution or service their company
who are responding to a digitally offers. Often the project is not
delivered message and arrive to a budgeted or approved until after the
web site will ever share Personally research is completed and vendors
Identifiable Information (PII), in part are chosen.
because:
With this knowledge in hand, and
1) they don’t really want to share having exhausted all traditional
their personal information if they means of soliciting potential
don’t have to; customers, what are the next steps
2) they believe they can find for a company trying to traverse
the information they need by the hurdle of finding and signing
continuing to search on their new customers in the new world
own; and of customer independence? The
answer: Beat them at their own
3) they just don’t want to fill out
game — track them, identify them
another form.
and provide them the information
Therefore, companies that are they are looking for before the
depending on potential customers competition does.
to voluntarily identify themselves
are often finding themselves The web 2.0 movement has
lagging behind the competition in completely changed the way people
new deals. and companies buy and shop for
products. In a sense we are now
Fewer potential buyers are using the all digital citizens of the Internet,
traditional method of sending out especially with tools like forums,
RFPs to a group of vendors, then social media outlets, blogs, podcast
reviewing those RFPs to narrow and vodcast tools. What one
the field. Based on DemandGen digital citizen recommends another
Report research, a mere 22% of believes, since the information that
respondents said they still follow person heard is from someone
the traditional RFP path. The who is using the product/service
remaining 78% are narrowing the and is perceived as an expert. This
field long before the RFP process, is why it is so crucial to engage
by conducting anonymous web prospects early in the buying cycle
research and relying on information and find out what their needs are
from peers and others via social and begin engaging them with sales
media venues. interaction and thought leadership


entering a traditional sales cycle
“Where BtoB conversion rates can be could be identified. Now the buying
1% or less, the best of breed visitor cycle begins long before the sales
cycle ever does. Anonymous
tracking products can return 10% to
visitor tracking discloses actionable
20% more profit opportunity from the insights for companies at each
same click.” stage of a product purchase cycle.
And where BtoB conversion rates
—Christopher Jeffers, CEO of netFactor
can be 1% or less, the best of
breed visitor tracking products can
return 10% to 20% more profit
assets. This reverses the roles so opportunity from the same click.”
the seller is now perceived as the
expert and the buyer is more willing Anonymous Visitor
to engage with you. Tracking: How it Works
That is where anonymous visitor Most BtoB executives are familiar
tracking comes in. “Today’s with and often using Google
business buyer is enabled by the Analytics, which has helped
Internet where providers, product move the education curve in the
information and content are right direction. Companies now
abundant,” said Christopher Jeffers, understand that a few lines of
CEO of netFactor. “Not so long JavaScript inserted into a web
ago product and pricing data were page will elicit valuable analytical
effectively controlled and buyers feedback. Beyond that, though,
most companies are not familiar
with the intricacies of anonymous
visitor tracking and how it works.

Anonymous visitor tracking
technology extends that intelligence
by identifying the business visitors
to a web site and their activity in real
time. Visitors can be identified by
their companies’ names, addresses,
phone numbers, web sites and
geographical locations. The
technology also tracks individual
page views, keyword searches,
length of time per page and how
they entered the site (search engine,
landing page, etc.).


looked at can put you one step
“To have the granular ability to create ahead of the competition,” said
a personalized report gives our sales Steven Croft, Senior VP, Sales and
Marketing for Cypress Software.
representatives a lot of power. The
initial sales call can be a lot more “To have the granular ability to
create a personalized report gives
professional and the rep can truly start
our sales representatives a lot
a good dialog with the prospect.” of power,” noted Croft. Using
—Steven Croft, Senior VP, Sales and VisitorTrack from netFactor,
Marketing for Cypress Software Cypress sales reps are now able
to get “more swings at the plate”
with each potential customer. “The
Best-of-breed visitor tracking initial sales call can be a lot more
applications provide additional professional and the rep can
features for sales and marketing truly start a good dialog with the
users. These include alerts and prospect.”
reports, which can be customized
That initial sales call also can
so individual sales team members
take place in real time at the very
only receive leads that fit their
beginning of a prospect’s search
sales criteria, such as geographic
efforts. The anonymous visitor
location, size and type of company
tracking technology is designed
and type of product or service being
to deliver an immediate email alert
searched.
based on the BtoB marketer’s
A limited set of visitor tracking predetermined criteria. Cypress
offerings also fully integrate also is taking advantage of
contact-level data such as name, VisitorTrack’s Trigger capability,
titles, email and phone for the which sifts through all site visitors
preferred business contacts at and sends only the relevant leads
the visiting company. In this to each sales representative. The
way, the most appropriate sales criteria for that Trigger alert are
and marketing action can be customized by the individual sales
easily initiated to highly targeted person or company executive and
prospects through sales, direct can be changed on the fly. With the
mail, telephone and email. Trigger functionality of VisitorTrack,
they only get the leads relevant to
For Cypress Software, anonymous
their own criteria, and they get it
visitor tracking allows individual
instantaneously.
sales representatives to identify
potential leads within their specific This type of knowledge becomes
territories. “Knowing exactly who especially important as the field
is on your site and what they have narrows during prospects’ research


process. During the initial research Four Ways to Benefit
phase, 42% of prospects will from Anonymous
consider four or more suppliers.
Visitor Identification
But by the time they have
conducted their own research, only The overarching benefits of
26% get quotes from four or more anonymous visitor identification can
suppliers, reported Chief Marketer be broken down into four specific
in a report titled Adjusting to the areas: 1. Real-Time Sales Follow-
Web-Influenced Buy Cycle. up; 2. Campaign Management;
3. Integration of Sales and
Salesworks Systems, a consulting
Marketing; and 4. Business
firm for BtoB software companies,
Intelligence.
now recommends netFactor’s
VisitorTrack to its clients. “When 1. Real-Time Sales
they see it they think it’s magic,” Follow-up
said Colin Greig, Director of Online
Marketing. “They are immediately It may be obvious but is necessary
interested when they hear about to state that the ability to follow up
it, but when they see the demo on on warm sales leads immediately
their site they are in shock. We are will greatly improve the chances of
definitely showing them something securing a sale. Industry experts
they have never seen before.” predict that the contact rate of a
lead drops 100 times from five
With anonymous visitor tracking, minutes to 30 minutes.
cold leads can become warm
leads in real-time. “A prospect’s With VisitorTrack, Cypress Software
interest drops down dramatically is able to filter warm leads to the
within 24 hours after they have right sales representatives (more
been on a site,” noted Croft. “If quickly and nimbly). “Our sales
we reach out within one hour, we executives utilize the Multi-Triggers
believe we still have 90% of their capability within VisitorTrack to
interest.” One fact that all sales obtain instant email notifications for
people agree on is that a warm pre-determined specific traffic visits
sales lead beats a cold lead any on our web site, as well as visits
day of the week. to ongoing marketing campaign
landing pages,” said Croft. “By
allowing them to filter the Triggers
to their exact geographic territory,
they are now able to receive only
the lead activity that they are
accountable for, which accelerates
the prospective client follow-up.”


2. Campaign Management:
Nurturing is Necessary
Knowing that individuals are
conducting pre-project research
in stealth mode, companies must
be proactive, identify potential
customers before they identify
themselves, then provide them with
the pertinent information that will
influence their buying decisions. The
nurturing process, in this scenario,
begins before the potential
customer is even identified.

Because potential customers are
Cypress also takes advantage of highly informed, they expect the
VisitorTrack’s Hot Lead Alert, which companies they deal with to be
identifies a lead as a “hot lead” if at least as informed, if not better
the Internet visitor touches a site a informed. “Today's buyers expect
certain number of times. “Our reps you to know and understand
use it every day,” said Croft. their unique business issues,”
reported ITSMA in its report titled
Greig estimates that the VisitorTrack
How Customers Choose Solution
technology identifies approximately
Providers. “The more you know
35% of site traffic as business
about where the leads are coming
users. So for a site that has 10,000
from and their behavior, the better,”
visitors per month, the technology
noted Chris Koch, Associate Vice
can deliver 3,500 potential business
President of Research and Thought
leads every month.
Leadership, ITSMA. “Our research
shows consistently that buyers want
content that is targeted at them.”
“VisitorTrack technology identifies
approximately 35% of site traffic The most valuable pre-contact
nurturing comes in the form of
as business users. So for a site that relevant content that companies
has 10,000 visitors per month, the can deliver via outbound marketing
technology can deliver 3,500 potential campaigns using a number of
vehicles including white papers,
business leads every month.” webinars, case studies and
—Colin Greig, Director of Online Marketing research reports. With the help
for Salesworks Systems of anonymous visitor tracking,


companies can be better-informed 3. Integrating Sales and
about what type of content Marketing Efforts
prospects may be seeking.
Sales teams may want to thank
Being able to identify the type of their marketing counterparts for
information potential leads are providing the relevant content to
looking for provides insights for help generate new leads, as the
companies looking to improve number of people using the web
the deliverables offered on their for initial research continues to rise,
sites. “Anonymous visitors provide and they are looking for relevant
excellent sources of trending content. As many as 85% of
information at an aggregate level,” survey respondents said thought
said Ian Michiels, Principal Analyst leadership content is somewhat
at Gleanster. “If you can isolate how important to critical in determining
anonymous visitors search and which providers to put on the short
identify what they are looking for, list, according to 2010 research
then you can develop better content from ITSMA.
that may persuade visitors to register
or make themselves known.” With compelling content delivered
by the marketing department, in
the form of information and thought
leadership content on a company’s
Turning to Online Sources website, more potential leads will
conduct detailed and continuous
searches, thereby allowing the
visitor identification technology to
deliver warmer leads to the
sales force.

“Buyers are trying to push sales
people out of the earliest stages
of the buying process, by using
search and, to some extent, social
media,” said Koch. “Even the
stodgiest old C-level executive
is doing multiple searches per
day – 80% are conducting at least
three per day.” Anonymous visitor
tracking brings sales people back
into the mix at the beginning of the
search process.

Source: Enquiro, "Integrated Persuasion: Online and Offline"


4. Business Intelligence: campaign from two months ago,
Convert Information look at the pages that lead visited
Into Action and follow the crumbs behind
it. It (VisitorTrack) becomes a
Collecting the information is the compliment to my lead generation
first step – using it effectively is yet program.”
another challenge. “You must have
the right experience and culture in How to Begin
place to consume web trends and a Successful
actually adjust content or strategy
Implementation of
based on these trends,” said
Anonymous Visitor
Michiels. “You can collect a lot of
data but then you need to ask and
Tracking
answer the question: What do you Anonymous visitor tracking can
do with it and how do you make it be a key component in a BtoB
actionable?” marketer’s efforts to locate more
leads sooner and close deals faster.
For BtoB marketers, one of the first
That said, it is one component
steps is using the data to improve
of a company’s complete
website performance, which will in
marketing and sales strategy, not
turn improve the lead generation
a standalone lead-generating
process. Using anonymous
solution.
visitor tracking, these companies
can discover which keywords Visitor tracking can be considered
prospects are using to find out a pre-marketing application
information about their products or that provides a stronger set of
services. They can then adjust the marketing-qualified leads that can
content to reflect those keywords. then be fed into the marketing
automation application. In the
When planning marketing
context of the Demand Waterfall
campaigns, specifically SEO or Pay
presented by SiriusDecisions,
Per Click (PPC) efforts, companies
VisitorTrack is providing denser
can make better investments
water that flows through the funnel
based on more specific knowledge
faster. Leads are driven through the
about how potential customers
pipeline faster and more efficiently.
are searching and the kinds of
companies that are responding. Before implementing visitor
tracking, BtoB marketers would
“We also use it to do backwards
be wise to take a step back and
research,” said Croft. When
ensure that all of the company’s
following up with a qualified lead,
marketing efforts are aligned for
for example, “we can look at a


success. When it comes time 2. Integrate Marketing
to implement anonymous visitor and Sales
tracking, focusing on three primary
strategies will help: It’s worth repeating: sales and
marketing must be aligned. Initially
1. Ensure a Commitment the onus is on marketing to bring
From the Top Down the sales team onboard by showing
them the value of engagement
“You can’t do this with scale and in the early stages of the buying
efficiency unless it is a corporate- process. Conversely, “sales
driven philosophy,” said Koch. people must be willing to open up
“It really has to come from the and share their information with
very top.” marketing about what they are
At Cypress, the CEO made a hearing about buyers,” said Koch.
renewed commitment to sales and “The bottom line is that the sales
marketing as a combined effort, team needs to be convinced that
which created the opportunity for content is the beginning of the sales
Croft to implement visitor tracking cycle,” Koch added.
as well as a number of other new
marketing projects. “By bringing 3. Acknowledge That
me in a few years ago, now he Content is King
does not have to worry about
sales management and marketing Recent data from Gleanster
campaigns and both of us can found that prospective buyers
move at 100 mph,” noted Croft. “I overwhelmingly consider a
have put a lot of programs in effect company more seriously if it offers
smart thought leadership content.
and this is one of them.”
“Their thought process is ‘You have
to be smart and show me that you
are smart before I will talk to you,’”
Michiels explained.

To be on board with the
commitment to content, BtoB
marketers should make a
concerted effort to locate,
create and disseminate relevant
information on a regular basis. This
can be accomplished by creating
a dedicated internal content
department and/or soliciting
outside resources to help bring the
content to life.


Before anonymous visitor tracking
was introduced, companies had no
means of identifying the sources
of hundreds and thousands of
anonymous web clicks. By gaining
access to contact information,
location and page activity for those
previously anonymous visitors,
BtoB marketers can take action to
save more than 20% of potentially
Conclusion lost sales.

Every company should take the A recent discovery for many BtoB
time to do the math and consider companies, anonymous visitor
the substantial percentage of sales tracking goes beyond the abilities
that is at stake without automated of Google Analytics and other
visitor tracking in place. As many similar technologies. It can provide
as 71% of leads may be generated customized real-time alerts, emails
by the web by 2015, according to and reports of companies and
SiriusDecisions. At that point a $50 contacts to sales representatives
million company that is not using who can then reach out quickly and
visitor tracking could be at risk of intelligently to newly discovered
losing $14 million in sales. warm sales leads for hidden
prospect opportunities.
An affordable investment,
VisitorTrack is easy-to-implement When aligned with a company’s
and presents no technology total sales and marketing strategy,
barriers. Most companies cannot anonymous visitor tracking will help
afford to pass on this type of to create strongly qualified leads
solution if they want to compete where there were previously none,
in the fast-moving web-based putting BtoB marketers ahead of
retail environment today and in the the competition and poised to save
foreseeable future. potentially lost sales and capture
new leads.


About netFactor
netFactor Corporation provides a suite of products to drive new levels of
sales performance from Internet marketing for the Business-to-Business
market. The company’s core VisitorTrack® technology platform integrates
web analytics, business intelligence and marketing automation into a
powerful SaaS application for lead generation from anonymous visitor
tracking – it’s like “Caller ID for Your Website®”. netFactor is privileged
to serve customers and resellers across multiple industries including
software, telecom, healthcare, technology, financial, professional services,
manufacturing and transportation. For more information on netFactor
Corporation’s performance-driven products and services for Internet
marketing, please visit http://www.netFactor.com

About DemandGen Report
DemandGen Report is a targeted e-media publication spotlighting the
strategies and solutions that help companies better align their sales and
marketing organizations, and ultimately, drive growth. A key component of
the publication’s editorial focuses on the sales and marketing automation
tools that enable companies to better measure and manage their multi-
channel demand generation efforts.


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