How to get more customers smartly?

If we divide the company's customer base based on the two dimensions of average order value and order frequency, we can get a four-quadrant chart with five customer groups: A, B, C, D, and E.

One of the core demands of an enterprise is to find more potential customer group A, convert them into customer group B, and strive to transfer customer group B to customer group E and keep them in position E as much as possible.

After using content as bait to acquire potential customers, you need to use potential customer nurturing strategies to turn potential customers into customers, and then convert customers into high-frequency, high-unit-price customers.

Customer group A refers to leads. Companies need to collect as many potential customers in group A as possible so that they have more chances of converting them into actual consumers.

Potential customer cultivation is to convert more A to E and maintain it for as long as possible. During this process, a complete customer experience must be ensured to improve customer satisfaction.

Different companies have different management models for the five customer groups A, B, C, D, and E, depending on the products and services they sell, their target customers, and their business processes. The conversion of potential customer group A (the area covered by the red area in the figure) to B is an important step in potential customer cultivation. B, C, D to E requires the collaboration of the customer success department.

The potential customer cultivation strategy focuses on the conversion of new customers. It is possible that hundreds of leads can only generate one conversion, especially for some B-end and high-priced B2 large C customers, who may spend a lot of energy following up but ultimately fail to make a deal.

1. Definition of clues

When the leads are presented in the form of data, the first step is to identify the “good” leads, that is, which are Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and which are Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs).

There are generally two forms of analyzing clues: qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis.

• Qualitative analysis of clues: labeling, generally there are three forms of labeling: factual labeling, analytical labeling, and predictive labeling.
• Quantitative analysis of leads: Lead scoring is generally completed through four steps: lead matching (explicit lead scoring), lead interest (anonymous lead scoring), lead behavior scoring, and purchase stage/time period scoring.

To define clues, we can focus on qualitative analysis, i.e. labeling, to clarify the nature of the clues.

A label is data extracted from information to describe its characteristics. Each label of structured data is usually a manually defined feature identifier, described with highly refined features, and is a qualitative analysis of clues. Label analysis generally starts with three types: factual labels, analytical labels, and predictive labels. Factual labels and analytical labels exist objectively and belong to statistical portraits, while predictive portraits emphasize the accuracy of predictions.

1. Factual Labels

Factual labeling, that is, labeling based on the user's factual behavior, can be done through 4W, namely WHO (who); WHEN (when); WHERE (where); WHAT (what was done). The specific analysis is as follows:

(1) WHO

WHO, namely user identification, is used to distinguish users. The main ways of identifying users on the Internet include Cookies, registration IDs, WeChat , Weibo, mobile phone numbers, etc. The acquisition methods range from easy to difficult . The degree of datafication of customer information varies from company to company, and the method of user identification can also be selected as needed. For companies with high average order value, when they enter the lead stage, they generally already have basic demographics, company information, and BANT information, and user identification is relatively simple.

(2) WHEN

WHEN (time), the time here includes two aspects: time span and time length. "Time span" is generally calculated in days, referring to how long it has been since a certain behavior occurred; "time length" is used to identify how long a user stays on a certain page. In user behavior , it is generally believed that recent behavior will better reflect the user's current characteristics, so past behavior will appear as a decay in label weight, the so-called "time decay factor".

(3) WHERE

WHERE refers to the contact point where the user takes action, which includes content + URL. Content refers to the object label that the user acts on; the URL indicates the specific location where the user behavior occurs. The content determines the label, and the URL determines the weight.

(4) WHAT

WHAT (what was done) refers to the user's behavior and the type of user behavior, such as online search, WeChat reading, watching live broadcasts , participating in offline activities , downloading white papers, product trials, etc. Weights are added according to the depth of the behavior.

Starting from 4W, we can simply outline a label weight formula for user behavior:

Tag weight = time decay (when) × URL weight (where) × behavior weight (what to do)

To give an intuitive example, the user label reflected by "User B tried the product on the product page today" may be "customer acquisition"; while the label reflected by "User A collected a content marketing article on WeChat a week ago" may just be "Content Marketing 0.448". These different user labels and their corresponding weights will play a guiding role in subsequent marketing decisions.

2. Analytical Tags

Analytical tags are further processing of clue data. The most typical method is the RFM model , which analyzes the value of a potential customer from three dimensions: the most recent consumption (Recency), consumption frequency (Frequency), and consumption amount (Monetary).

(1) Recent consumption R (Recency)

The time of the customer's most recent purchase. Customers whose most recent purchase was made are the group most likely to be most responsive to the goods or services offered.

If the number of customers whose last purchase was very recent increases, it means that the company is a steadily growing one; otherwise, a warning should be issued.

(2) Consumption frequency F (Frequency)

The number of purchases made by a customer during a specified period. The customers who buy most frequently are also the most satisfied customers.

If you believe in brand and store loyalty, then the most frequent shoppers will be the most loyal. Increasing the number of times a customer buys means stealing market share from your competitors.

(3) Monetary amount

The customer's purchase amount can be divided into cumulative purchases and average purchases per time

Spending amounts are the backbone of all database reports and can also verify Pareto's Law - 80% of a company's revenue comes from 20% of its customers.

The three variables can be displayed using a three-dimensional coordinate system. The X-axis represents Recency, the Y-axis represents Frequency, and the Z-axis represents Monetary. The eight quadrants of the coordinate system represent eight types of users. Based on the classification in the above table, they can be described using the following graphic:

3. Predictive Tags

Predictive tags need to make predictions based on factual tags and analytical tags.

The production process of predictive labels: feature extraction → supervised learning, sample data → evaluation → label output, is a classic machine learning process.

2. Clue Scoring

Among all the leads with real contact information, only a few are reasonable leads (interest does not mean they will buy), and even fewer are actually converted into transactions (even if I want to buy, it doesn’t necessarily have to be you). At this time, it is necessary to know how to select the best leads. The lead scoring mechanism can identify leads with a high possibility of conversion.

The purpose of lead scoring is to help understand whether the lead contains the right people (explicit scoring) and whether these people show the right level of interest (implicit scoring).

The key to effective lead scoring is planning methods to capture, measure, and evaluate information. The approach emphasizes three areas: people, process, and technology.

• People: refers to the participation of efficient executives and sales personnel.
• Process: Sales and marketing need to agree on the definition of a lead and how the lead is handed off from marketing to sales.
• Technology: refers to the corresponding software that captures information, facilitates the handover of leads and process feedback.

This article takes the clue scoring process as the main line and analyzes effective clue scoring methods.

Lead scoring can be done from the following four dimensions to determine who you should cultivate, who can be quickly followed up, and clarify the stage of different leads:

• Lead matching: also known as explicit lead scoring, it collects explicit or shared information through online forms and registrations. It can start from four aspects: demographics, company information, BANT, and negative demographic matching.
• Lead interest: Also known as anonymous lead scoring, it measures the interest of leads in products and services based on tracking their behavior (such as online behavior), such as the lead’s IP address.
• Clue behavior: If compared to solving a case, clue behavior is the traces pointing to the truth. There are two aspects to start with: direct behavior and contextual behavior.
• Buying Journey Stage: Buying stage and time is a way of measuring where a prospect is in the sales cycle: Is she just beginning the process, or is she ready to make a decision?

1. Clue matching: explicit clue scoring

Lead matching, also known as explicit lead scoring, collects explicit or shared information through online forms and registrations.

Through registration information and network data, we can clearly define the lead portrait from four aspects: demographics, company information, BANT, and negative demographic matching.

(1) Demographics

When profiling and defining leads, it’s important to focus on demographics—quantitative identifiers that characterize the population of leads. Create a lead incubation channel based on the data.

Demographic data includes: title, role, years of experience, position experience, location, etc.

(2) Enterprise statistics

Business statistics describe the characteristics of an organization and can help find ideal customers.

Enterprise statistics include: company name, company size, company location, operating income, number of departments, number of products/services, service area, number of industry products/services, financing status, etc.

(3) BANT (Budget Authorization Requirement Time)

By studying BANT (Budget Authorization Need Time), you can find out where your potential customers are in the buying process.

Compared with demographic data and firmographic structure analysis, BANT is an upgraded version of lead quality assessment.

• Budget: Can the lead afford your product or service?
• Authority: Is the lead authorized to purchase your product?
• Need: Does your product/service solve a pain point?
• Time: What is the lead’s purchasing timeline, and does it align with your sales cycle?

(4) Negative demographic match scoring

Also consider scoring based on negative demographic matches — when a lead’s email address is unofficial, their phone number is invalid, the company doesn’t exist, or the purchase persona is incorrect, you can deduct points from the lead.

Incubation efforts should be focused on leads that are likely to result in closed deals.

The specific degree of refinement of the four dimensions mentioned above may vary depending on the company's industry.

2. Lead interest: anonymous lead scoring

Lead interest scoring, also known as anonymous lead scoring, is based on tracking lead behavior (such as online body language) to measure their interest in products and services.

Anonymous leads: Leads from whom you have not yet obtained information, but who have communicated with you regarding content or websites. Through marketing automation, it is possible to identify the attributes of anonymous leads who visit your website.

For example, the IP address of the lead, implicit lead scoring can also infer additional information of the potential customer. Suppose you are the CMO of a company with key large customers, and PetroChina is your customer. Then you also know the IP address of PetroChina. When the IP address from PetroChina visits the official website, the entire official website's variable information will be replaced with materials related to the oil industry. For a large enough order, this is a worthwhile investment .

And suppose this anonymous fan has not registered on WeChat, but has followed WeChat by scanning the QR code from a FMCG conference or from a FMCG-related page on the official website. It is also very meaningful for the WeChat system to automatically update the standard menu to retail-related menu information based on the existing fan tag information. This is naturally supported by Zhiqu Baichuan's standard SCRM marketing automation products.

Anonymous leads detected the following information:

Server IP address

Industry, company size, operating income

Visited pages, geographic location

Recommended sources, search keywords , browse details

3. Clue behavior scoring

If compared to solving a case, the behavior of clues is the traces pointing to the truth. There are two aspects to start with: direct behavior and contextual behavior.

(1) Direct Action

Certain behaviors are highly correlated with the final results, such as viewing the product quotation page on WeChat/official website, which often explains the potential customer's intention better than case studies.

By scoring these behaviors, if a lead has a high score but lacks purchasing motivation, it will be listed as a key cultivation target; if a lead has a high enough purchasing motivation, it does not need to be incubated and cultivated and can be followed up directly.

(2) Contextual behavior

After coming through the official website, the next step is to attend the meeting offline and go to the online live broadcast. The contextual behavior of the clues is also very important.

For example, after following a company's service account, a certain score is assigned to the lead customer based on the customer's interactive behaviors and frequency, such as attending offline meetings, watching live broadcasts, downloading white papers, browsing the official website, and reading company WeChat articles.

Tracking lead behavior can help you identify where potential customers are in their buying journey, helping you determine whether they are initial leads who are just collecting information or active leads who are already considering purchasing.

Some behaviors closely correspond to the potential customer’s purchase process stages. The following figure is just an example:

Lead scoring is a method of ranking potential customers using a scoring system that represents the perceived value of each lead to a business.

By scoring and identifying "active purchasing behavior", you can be more targeted when incubating and following up on leads. If the potential customer scores high but has low purchasing intention, more education and guidance will be needed during incubation. But if the potential customer has a high willingness to buy, he can be transferred directly to sales without any incubation.

The following scoring is only for example. When it comes to actual scoring, the action of browsing the official website/WeChat (WeChat is becoming a super mobile official website portal) depends on which part of the content the potential customer browses. Different content symbolizes different customer intention stages, so it also means different scores. The product quotation page will be higher than the case stage. For example, if the potential customer actually browses the recruitment page on the official website/WeChat, this symbolizes that this potential customer may not have the intention to buy, and the stage is relatively low from the perspective of market clues.

(Example of Zhiqu Baichuan clue scoring)

Zhiqu SCRM marketing automation can define users by behavior across all channels , score different behaviors, identify key moments, follow up on sales, incubate leads, and increase the transfer of high-quality leads. For example, attending offline meetings +50 points; watching live broadcasts +30 points; downloading materials +10 points; no interaction in the past month -30 points. By setting different data, the tool automatically completes lead scoring and decides whether to follow up on sales or accelerate sales.

4. Purchase stage/time period scoring

The final aspect that determines whether a lead should be fast-tracked to sales or nurtured is the stage and timing of purchase. The stage and time to purchase is meant to measure where the prospect is in the sales cycle: Is she just beginning the process, or is she ready to make a decision?

Behavioral and other indicators can tell whether a lead is close to making a purchase decision or needs to continue incubating.

3. Content mining of high-value customers

Providing targeted content to potential customers can increase sales opportunities by more than 20%. Cultivating customers with content is essentially answering the following three questions:

• Question 1: Why buy?
• Question 2: Why buy our products?
• Question 3: Why buy now?

To cultivate potential customers with content and truly promote sales, it is necessary to target different user types, provide the right content at the right time, pull potential customers into the purchasing journey, and ultimately make a purchase.

To cultivate customers and tap into high-value customers using content, there are two specific areas to start with: one is the content itself, and the other is content dissemination (method/frequency).

In terms of the content itself, lead nurturing requires creating a matrix that combines the nurturing content on the X-axis with the user type on the Y-axis and the user purchase journey on the Z-axis.

1. X-axis: Determine the content of cultivation

The content of the training can be determined from the following three aspects:

(1) Content theme

The content themes should be rich and diverse, and you can produce content based on search volume.

In terms of potential customers' needs for content, the top four are: understanding the company's business model, being an industry expert or thought leader, providing valuable advice, education or tools, and understanding the buyer's company's products and services.

(Source: "Redefining Purchasing: The Transformation of the Relationship between B2B Buyers, Marketers , and Salespeople")

The survey shows that, depending on the industry, there are 3.1 to 4.6 other teams within B2B companies (such as IT, Finance, and HR) that influence the purchasing process, which means that marketing and sales staff must provide knowledge to more than just key decision makers, which places a high demand on content diversity.

(2) Content type: Content is more than just pictures and texts

Compared with the pictures and texts commonly used by enterprises, for B2B enterprises, there are 8 content assets that cannot be ignored: website content, online conferences, case studies, white papers, blog content, online videos, social content, and demos.

(3) Content Control

The output result of the previous purchase journey can be used as the content input of the next journey.

The content marketing results of this stage should be used as input for the next stage. Good content control should be done, and the incubation effect should be clarified through data tracking.

Carry out targeted user behavior records to avoid the embarrassing experience of users having to register every time. When customers click to download white papers and cases, you should be able to track the customer's download action, and also track whether the white paper/case is actually opened afterwards, and how many times it is opened. These are all effective ways to create leads and incubate them.

Example: HubSpot Content Strategy

1) Rich content themes, focusing on brand image building

HubSpot's content is rich in themes. It is systematically organized from three directions: methodology, customer cases, and products, answering the four questions that buyers care about most: "the company's business model, industry experts or thought leaders, valuable consulting, education or tools, and product services."

At the same time, different levels of content will be produced on the same topic. Taking blogs as an example, the same topic may produce a series of 2 to 3 short e-books, 3 to 5 blog posts, and 10 to 15 tweets.

2) Search for data on different keywords, then analyze user preferences based on the principle of search volume first, and then start creating content.

HubSpot's top articles for driving traffic :

HubSpot doesn’t always have business-oriented content; the second most shared article was a free tutorial: “How to Use Excel.”

Why would a company that sells “inbound marketing software” teach people how to use Excel spreadsheets?

HubSpot points out that “make sure your content is what people are actually searching for. Type some keywords into Google ’s search box and see what’s trending.”

HubSpot research found that more than 27,000 people search for the phrase "how to use Excel spreadsheets?" every month.

If you search for "how to use Excel" on Google right now, the first search result that pops up is this HubSpot blog post "How to use Excel: 14 super simple Excel shortcuts, tips and tricks."

3) Content doesn’t have to be produced only once; constant adjustment and modification will make it better.

Add a new introduction or a new perspective to previously published articles and republish them.

HubSpot will add an "Editor's Note" at the beginning of a newly revised article to specifically tell readers when the article appeared in the past, why it is being brought out again now because of the rewrite, and what new ideas may have emerged over time.

It prevents the content from being buried over time. On the contrary, it puts a stamp of time on the article, making the article shine again, bringing in more traffic and more potential users.

(Source: "Let's take a look at HubSpot's multi-million-dollar growth strategy")

2. Y-axis: Identify different customer types

It has become a consensus that different content should be provided to different types of customers. Who is the target group? What issues do they care about? What answer can you provide? What services can you provide?

It can be analyzed from two perspectives: customer type (existing customers and potential customers) and potential user portraits .

(1) Existing customers and potential customers

Existing customers: also known as stock customers, the content is mostly one-on-one, which is managed by the customer success department. The content also has different emphases at different growth stages (newbie, growth, renewal). (This section will be expanded in detail in the subsequent "Customer Success" related content, and the "White Paper on Cultivating Customers of High-Price Enterprises" will not cover it in detail.)

Potential customers: also known as incremental customers, the content is mostly one-to-many and is the responsibility of the marketing department. Potential customers can be incubated with content based on their life course, which will be explained in detail below.

(2) Potential User Profile Analysis

Content cannot be suitable for everyone. Through user role models, we can reduce subjective assumptions, understand what users really need, and know how to better serve different types of users.

• 82% believe that it is more effective to provide content tailored to the industry of potential customers;
• 67% believe it is more effective to provide content tailored to the prospect’s job function;
• 49% believe it is more effective to provide content tailored to the size of the potential customer’s company;
• 29% prefer to provide content tailored to the potential customer’s location.

(Source: "the definitive guide to lead nurturing")

3. Z-axis: Provide content based on the purchase journey

The most successful nurturing content is the perfect intersection of what your customers want to do and what you want them to do. Improve lead quality with content that points to specific stages of the buying journey or reflects sales maturity.

Each item answers a specific question. Every piece of content should have a goal to attract potential customers to one buying stage and move them to the next.

Provide customers with interspersed education and guide them through the entire purchasing journey through progressive levels of content. On average, a prospect receives 5-10 contacts from the time they enter the sales funnel to the time they become a paying customer, with questions that go deeper into the conversations: "What is this? Who are you? Who needs it? Why? What happens if I don't have it? What are my options? Why should I choose you?"

For content cultivation, we can seize these touch points and complete the cultivation from point to surface.

What kind of content should be provided at each stage to maintain consistency in brand image, brand voice, and user experience. At the same time, for different users at different stages, the content can continue to use the previous content or recreate new content, which can be achieved through the following table:

For example, for potential customer 1, 6 different content items can be provided, including three general content items (usually stock content) and three personalized content items (new content items targeted at different customer types and different user journeys). At the same time, the time schedule for different content should also be clearly indicated to facilitate content control.

4. Explore high-value customers through different channels

Before their first contact with a salesperson, consumers complete nearly 57% of the entire purchasing process on their own, 90% of B2B buyers search for keywords online, and 70% of B2B buyers watch related video content online.

How to enter the first 57% of the purchase process has put forward higher requirements for multi-channel.

Social media and internal information sharing among users have become the primary channels that influence B2B users’ final purchases. When cultivating potential customers, the importance of different channels in each stage of the marketing funnel varies:

(source: Redefining Purchasing, the transformation of the relationship between B2B buyers, marketers and salespeople)

• Social Media: B2B users use social media throughout the entire purchasing journey: 67% in the brand awareness stage, 48% in the narrowing and settlement stage, 42% in the purchase planning stage, 42% in the product selection stage, and 32% in the purchase completion stage.
• Internal information sharing within the enterprise: Decision makers in the B2B purchasing process are highly collaborative team activities. Internal information sharing within an enterprise runs throughout the entire purchase journey and is the most important content channel;
• Online search: It accounts for a high proportion overall, is more prominent in the upper and middle parts of the funnel, and becomes less important in the purchase process.
• Company website or content: accounted for 33% in the purchase stage, which is very important;

B2B companies are increasingly using social media channels to get information and guidance from their peers and wider network of contacts . Decision makers consult with peers and colleagues inside and outside the company to gather information about the products and services they are considering purchasing. This article focuses on information sharing within an enterprise.

The decision makers in the B2B purchasing process are often a team consisting of experts from different positions or fields. It is a highly collaborative team activity.

Take the TO B management software procurement process as an example:

The sales amount of TO B management software products to new customers is large, the sales cycle is long, there are many roles involved in the purchase, the needs are complex, the interpersonal relationships are complex, and the product usage and purchase decision chain is relatively long. During the purchase journey, the importance of sharing corporate content information is highlighted.

Product business belongs to the enterprise, and purchase, usage scenarios, and benefits belong to each role. The interests of the roles within the enterprise mainly include:

• Product user: The person who uses the product and first makes the recommendation to buy and use the product.
• Product selector: The person or department responsible for checking product functions, technical standards, service content, business negotiation and other processes.
• Product influencers: People who can influence purchasing decisions, who may be internal or external to the company, such as a management consulting firm.
• Final product decision maker: The person or team who makes the final decision on the purchase, without the need to consult again.

(Source: TO B product operation , are you good at operating ERP management software?)

Whether it is a corporate product or a personal product, it is inseparable from the individual user. Even if the decision-making of an enterprise product is very complex, it still cannot escape the individual users. For team-based 2B users, the following methods can be used when cultivating potential customers:

(1) Determine the internal decision-making chain of the enterprise, and then achieve the promotion goal by contacting the employees in the decision-making chain

For example, if you are a company that makes marketing automation products, your only users are the marketing staff within your company. Therefore, you can be sure that the internal decision-making chain is: marketing staff -> approval leader.

Clarifying the decision-making chain can help you sort out the communication process with the company. No matter which decision-making link you come into contact with, you can try to promote decision-making through some operational means, so that the decision-making chain will not be stuck because you cannot find the decision-maker in the next link.

(2) Understand which 2C channels the relevant decision makers are distributed on, and then contact them or place advertisements

Based on the characteristics of the users who need to make decisions, select better channels.

• If most users are technology users, then increase the operation of major forums and Zhihu, and weaken the content of Weibo public accounts ;
• If users attach more importance to authority, then the proportion of authoritative media in the relevant industry will be increased, cooperation with major training and government agencies will be carried out, and attention will be paid to the operation of offline channels.

(3) Brand elements are placed in front of the market, and the marketing department’s cultivation materials reach potential customers through sales

If the marketing department is regarded as a subsidiary, the sales department is another subsidiary. Many brand elements reach the target users through the sales department.

For B2B companies, sales is a very important channel for market content dissemination. How to leverage the sales team's social resources to increase content coverage of target potential customers can be of great help in customer acquisition and branding for sales teams of a certain size.

For example, if the "White Paper" produced by the marketing department is printed into a book, it can be given to customers during sales visits. The content may include a collection of daily WeChat posts or a product introduction.

For example, through full-staff marketing, sales can be encouraged to forward content on WeChat Moments . The content of the marketing department can be used as cultivation content and presented to potential consumers through sales.

5. Testing and evaluating lead nurturing strategies

There is no golden rule for lead nurturing, and it requires continuous iteration and optimization through testing. At the same time, it is necessary to clearly measure ROI so that the optimization can be traceable and reasonable.

There is no golden rule for lead nurturing, and it requires continuous iteration and optimization through testing.

1. A/B Testing

A/B testing means that when all other conditions are equal, only one condition is changed, from A to B, and then the different effects produced by the two are compared. A single variable determines the scientific nature of A/B testing.

A/B In layman's terms, before going out, we will compare several sets of clothes to decide whether it is better to wear a plaid shirt, a polo shirt, or a formal suit. This process actually contains the core idea of ​​A/B testing:

• Multiple solutions were tested in parallel (several sets of clothing were compared);
• Each scheme differed in only one variable (only tops were compared);
• Survival of the fittest according to certain rules (ultimately you will wear clothes that best suit your image and temperament).

Testing, not testing for the sake of testing. Set goals, be clear about what to measure, and focus on improving desired outcomes.

Testing should be done from simple to difficult. For example, for content testing, test the title first. To have a control group, make sure there is only one variable. At the same time, each test should be recorded and shared in a timely manner, and ensure that the test becomes part of the daily process. The most important thing is to adjust the cultivation strategy in a timely manner based on the test results.

2. Calculation of lead incubation ROI

To prove whether the lead incubation strategy is effective, you can demonstrate ROI by comparing the changes in industry indicators before and after lead incubation.

(1) The first step is to define the clue stage

Before defining the lead stage, you need to understand where your customers are. Marketing usually divides groups into three categories:

• The first type of B2C : products with a shorter decision-making process, such as consumers of fast-moving consumer goods. Companies can quickly acquire these users and monetize them through various creative and interesting marketing methods or by purchasing traffic.
• The second category B2 small B & big C: small B includes partners, channels, SaaS companies, etc., and big C includes education, finance, automobiles , medical and aesthetics. They are a consumer group with a relatively high average order value.
• The third category is B2 Big B: companies like Microsoft. This part only accounts for a small part, with no more than 1,000 companies in China. It is also a relatively top marketing area, and its marketing methods are different from the previous two.

Small B, Big C, and Big B can be regarded as high-unit-price enterprises. When choosing a product, customers will not easily make a decision from a certain contact point. The decision maker is often a team, and the decision-making process is relatively long: stranger - visitor - registration - mature market lead - mature sales lead - transaction.

The number of stages is not important; the most important thing is to ensure that the marketing, sales, and execution teams have a consistent definition of each stage.

• Leads: The most original potential customer information or contact information is the most uncertain potential customer. It is possible that they are not the target customers of the company at all, or they may just be some wrong information fragments. Even if the leads are so uncertain and inaccurate, the company will try every means to obtain more leads and try to convert them.
• Market Qualified Leads (MQLs): Among the numerous leads generated from registration, only a few can be transferred to the sales department by the marketing department. The marketing department will conduct targeted and quantitative analysis of the leads, that is, through labeling and lead scoring, to screen out leads that meet the "qualified" customer profile and show sufficient interest and engagement, and are worthy of sales contact.
• Sales approved leads (SQL): For the leads provided by the marketing department, after being assigned to sales, the leads are further confirmed by the sales staff after subsequent contact and analysis, which are called sales approved leads.
• Business opportunities: Filter the leads, eliminate the wrong, unintentional, and irrelevant leads, and keep the potential customers who are interested or may be interested, which are business opportunities. Opportunities are higher quality leads and are real potential customers. Sales should conduct planned and continuous follow-up contacts on business opportunities and eventually convert them into customers.

(2) Measuring the transition between stages: Lead generation rate (LVR ) evaluation

Lead cultivation evaluation generally starts from two aspects: First, conversion: how many people become customers. Second, cost per conversion (CPA): how much it costs to convert a user. Lead generation rate is the most commonly used metric in the evaluation of lead nurturing strategies.

Lead generation rate LVR (Lead Velocity Rate), lead generation rate = this month's approved leads - last month's approved leads / last month's approved leads * 100.

The cycle setting of lead generation rate will vary depending on the industry and company. Due to the different product life cycles , the cycle setting can be monthly, quarterly, or a certain cycle approved by the company. If there is a clear cycle to follow, you can set it yourself during calculation. If there is no cycle or you want to prevent the influence of unexpected factors, you can choose a constant - calculate on a monthly/yearly basis.

How does lead incubation affect the conversion rate between stages? When calculating ROI, you can start from the following four aspects:

1. Lead to market qualified lead conversion rate
2. Conversion rate from marketing qualified leads to sales qualified leads
3. From market qualified leads to business opportunity conversion rate
4. From market qualified leads to customer conversion rate

At the end of each month, separate the leads developed this month from the previous ones, and export the truly sales-qualified leads to send to sales. If you want to do better, you can use the date item in the marketing automation to automatically mark the specific date when the lead is converted to sales qualified, and calculate the interval from creation to sales qualification. This will help you identify which leads are "new" (e.g. created within 30 days).

Among them, the effect of lead incubation will be clearly reflected in the conversion, which is the conversion comparison between the number of "fast leads" less than 30 days and the number of "old leads" from the information database. In the absence of lead incubation, the number of leads from “old leads” will be very low or even zero. For companies that are good at lead incubation, about 1/2 of their conversions will come from “old leads” or incubated leads.

More and more companies are beginning to pay attention to the cultivation of potential customers, but from the perspective of customers, "cannot be able to do it" is the norm. There are too many variables of "empathy" in sentimental ways, marketing routines are mechanism, marketing effects are visual, and potential customer cultivation, from clue definition - clue scoring - clue cultivation (content + channel) - ROI evaluation and optimization, combined with content marketing and customer acquisition strategies, helping companies create a more ideal real world through systematic executable and measurable methods.

The author of this article @Linn is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author's information and source when reprinting!

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