Hi, SaaS | Does startup marketing automate?

What to do in the cold spring? Namely - test cloud products and write about it. This is the third post in the Hi, SaaS series in which we test products that help us with DentalTap . Today’s post in the series about why marketing should be automated in a startup, and what this gives the output of using such tools. I emphasize that we look only at the services of the “newcomers” of the SaaS segment, which we love very much and will continue to do so.

What for?

Again, as with amoCRM, we moved on from the tasks. Our first “pain” was to automate the newsletter after registering with DentalTap. We did not look at the sea of ​​e-mail newsletter services, but wanted something trendy, positioning ourselves as “about marketing automation” and settled on the Nicgrade service .

What is it?

Nicgrade is a marketing automation platform that helps potential customers make decisions in favor of your product. The platform automates campaigns for nurturing customers using multichannel communications and collected data throughout the client’s life cycle and work with him.

An important part of the platform is the mechanisms for smartly launching campaigns based on
triggers / segments and actions. Any perfect action on your site or interaction with a communication channel can serve as a trigger, and a segment, and an action, about which further.

Handmade

Test drive itself -

Quick start.

After successful registration in the platform, it is proposed to take a short training course of 10 lessons, which subsequently simplified our work inside the platform.



Interfaces

Nicgrade has a simple, intuitive and intuitive interface (everything we love), all the functionality is categorized, and most of the actions in the platform are performed using the drag-and-drop method.



Email Template Designer The

adaptive email designer allowed us to create high-quality, responsive and personalized letters for our clients. For personalization of letters special dynamic values ​​are used.



Form Designer

You can create a form of any complexity in minutes using a simple and convenient form designer. The platform allows you to place a form on your website, blog or landing page without much effort.



Landing

Designer The Landing Designer is equipped with thematic templates that you can edit, which we did. It is worth noting that the templates have an adaptive design, and look equally good on a computer and on mobile devices.





Nicgrade data import allows you to create various types of campaigns - from mass email newsletters to comprehensive lead cultivation and scoring programs. To create an automated marketing campaign, just select the desired trigger - condition and action - various operations on the lead.



Experience

Of all the functionality, we started with the use of segmented email programs. At the same time, we reviewed the client’s life cycle and realized that the platform can be used more efficiently in the same mailings.

To build leads, we created a drip email campaign of four letters

1. Greeting
2. Video presentation
3. Ebook
4. Demo Invitation

Each type of interaction was assigned a certain number of points
(lead scoring).

1. Opened a letter - 2 points
2. Clicked on the link - 3 points
3. Visited the page - 5 points
4. Clicked an item on the page - 10 points
5. Filled out the form - 20 points

After the lead has become “hot”, an alert is sent to the person in charge to contact the lead. We also used the platform after the transaction, sending newsletters and payment reminders to our customer base.

Analytics

What is the sales funnel conversion rate? Which of the automated campaigns affected the leads best? How effective are email campaigns? Which landing page attracted more high-quality leads? What is the current activity of a particular lead? Nicgrade analyst helped us answer these and many other questions.

Finish

The introduction of a marketing automation platform only makes sense if: there is an understandable process with the stages of the sales cycle, a strategy for attracting customers, content for use in various channels and a budget. A customer database is not required, with the help of marketing automation, platform users themselves will be able to generate leads, which will subsequently become customers (some of them).

What we got as a result of Nicgrade implementation -

• Conversion rate of visitors to leads + 25%
• Lead conversion rate in first sales + 12%
• To current revenue + 7%
• The ratio of open letters + 42%
• Customer Attraction Cost (CAC) - 15%

All in all very good!

Previous author publications:

→ Habrahabr
→ Geektimes