Data-driven company digs deep for quality leads
Spigit is an idea management software platform that helps businesses tap into the collective brainpower of their employees, partners, and customers to drive innovation. Today, more than fi ve million users in more than 150 countries submit ideas to Spigit, helping teams develop new products and services, improve processes, increase employee engagement, and enhance customer experiences. Spigit helps its customers determine the best ideas using the power of data, so it’s no surprise that data is important to the Spigit team internally. Lin Ling, Growth Marketer at Spigit, says that this data-driven approach makes her team evaluate their performance beyond the surface-level metrics that everyone gathers. “Clicks and impressions are nice,” says Ling, “but we measure the effectiveness of all our digital channels by ROI, conversion to opportunities, and ultimately deals closed.” So, when looking for a digital marketing solution, Spigit needed something that could meet their data-driven expectations. “Various marketing channels have produced a lot of leads for us, but our data analyses show that a very low percentage of them actually convert to revenue,” says Ling. “And that’s because these channels lack the ability to target on a granular level.” Reaching the right audience with granular targeting When Spigit began to explore LinkedIn, they were immediately attracted to its hypertargeting capabilities. “With LinkedIn, we can get specific with whom we’re targeting – by account, title, industry, level, geography – all in one platform,” says Ling. “I haven’t seen any other platform that granular.” To capitalize on this opportunity, Spigit determined which audiences were most profitable. Ling and her team ran data analysis on leads from previous campaigns to fi nd out which segments convert to opportunities at the highest rates. Armed with a clear picture of their audience – and LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities – Spigit began to run a series of account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns using LinkedIn Sponsored Content. They set up six campaigns, creating original case studies, eBooks, and webinars tailored to specific audiences. “For our content, we try to get as personal as possible, putting together partnered material aimed at specific verticals like healthcare and financial services,” says Ling. Once the campaigns were underway, Spigit frequently ran A/B tests to optimize the performance of each. “With LinkedIn, we can clearly see which of our ads are going stale, and pause them,” says Ling. “Then we can easily tweak the image, headline, or support copy to completely revamp the ad into something better.”
Tapping into leads that convert to revenue
Spigit’s campaigns with Sponsored Content have far exceeded LinkedIn’s benchmarks. Using Sponsored Content, Ling and her team have achieved an overall lifetime click-through rate (CTR) of 0.517%, with an engagement rate of 0.567%. And one of their vertical marketing campaigns is achieving results of nearly double LinkedIn benchmarks, receiving CTR and engagement rates of 0.759% and 0.809%, respectively. But while Ling says numbers like these are nice to see, she’s more interested in bottom-line metrics. With the new leads generated by Sponsored Content, Spigit’s ABM campaign achieved 7X ROI. Ling says the team also learned some critical lessons along the way. They discovered that the number of leads an ad generates doesn’t necessarily correlate to ROI. “A lot of times we figured the ads that drove the most leads would return the most revenue. But when we’d dig deeper in Campaign Manager, we’d often discover that ads that drove fewer leads sometimes actually converted to opportunities at much higher rates.” For this reason, the team stresses the importance of A/B testing, which helps to reveal the best practices that can be replicated in future campaigns. And, speaking of future campaigns, Spigit is confident that LinkedIn will continue to be essential in their efforts to uncover and connect with the right leads and the right opportunities.
