The loop is a big thing these days. Folks are kept in the loop, or sometimes they’re “looped in”. And still others are accidentally or deliberately outside of the loop, which throws them for a loop. It’s enough to make anyone kind of loopy. However, just when you’ve had it up to your eyeballs in one loop after another, there’s another loop that needs your attention, because it drives revenues and profits: closed loop marketing. Below, we look at what this is, and then highlight why it matters.
What is Closed Loop Marketing?
Closed loop marketing is when the sales team feeds prospect-related information and data to the marketing team, so that the latter can better understand which lead sources are working and why, and even more importantly, which lead sources aren’t working and why. Ultimately, this information is combined with other data (including stuff that the marketing team generates on their own) to optimize current marketing campaigns, and build better campaigns in the future.
As you might imagine or may have experienced, there are various ways to set up closed loop marketing. For instance, the sales teams can put together a regular report that is routed to the marketing team. It can also happen informally, such as when sales and marketing teams get together to swap stories and share information over coffee. For this reason, many businesses are choosing to co-locate sales and marketing teams in the same workspace.
However, there’s also a more formal and technology-led closed loop marketing process that every business should take advantage of, regardless of whether it sells office relocation services, dental implants, VoIP phones, and the list goes on.
While there are a few closed loop marketing models out there, the one we endorse is developed by HubSpot, and has 4 steps:
Step 1: A visitor arrives to a website and has a cookie placed on their computer
This step allows a business to see where a visitor is coming from, such as a newsletter, SEO, social media post, PPC ad, and so on. Note also that the label visitor is appropriate, since it’s not a bonafide lead yet.
Step 2: A visitor has their engagement behavior tracked
The same cookie that tells businesses where a lead came from, can also tell them what a lead is doing (i.e. what pages they’re accessing, what navigation path they’re taking, etc.). This is useful intelligence that can highlight aspects that need to be improved.
Again, we need to point out that the label visitor is appropriate, since it’s not a lead yet. A business knows that “someone” was on their site, and knows a few things about how they behaved, but it doesn’t yet know who the person is. Cookies don’t capture identifying information (e.g. email address).
Step 3: A form is used to covert a visitor into a lead
Here’s where the sales team starts to get excited, because if all goes well, then a visitor fills out a form – perhaps to download an eBook, view an infographic, sign-up for a webinar, schedule a demo, or anything else. In doing so, they convert into a lead, since at the very least they will disclose their email address (note: more might be disclosed depending on the form, but in most cases and especially early in the customer journey, getting an email address is typically the most a business can ask for/expect).
Step 4: Leads becomes customers and the source is credited
The culmination of the quest to discover “what is closed loop marketing” finds its full glory here in step 4. This is where the visitor-turned-lead makes a purchase, and therefore becomes a customer. The source (i.e. where the visitor came from in the first place) is credited, which helps marketing teams clearly see what’s working, and where they should focus their spending and other resources.
A Final Word
Many businesses – especially small and mid-sized organizations – that attempt to implement closed loop marketing often discover that the process is, well, disappointing is the nicest way to put it.
This sentiment has nothing to do with closed loop marketing itself, which is strategic and smart. Rather, it’s because a lot of software out there that claims to be “user friendly” really isn’t (unless the user happens to have a Ph.D. in computer science). Often, the biggest breakdown occurs in step 3, when data from cookies is supposed to integrate with data from forms, and provide a business with a profile of a specific, identified lead. If this integration fails in some way, the loop is no longer closed – and the process is no longer useful.
To avoid this common scenario and make sure your closed loop marketing approach says closed (and if you wish, loopy too), we invite you to contact our team here at Leap Clixx. We have experience with various marketing software systems, including HubSpot, which we recommend and endorse because the reporting capabilities are outstanding, and the integration is enough to make a Ph.D. in computer science weep (which is pretty hard to do – they’re usually not the most emotional folks out there).
To learn more, contact us today and schedule your free consultation. We’ll help you clearly understand what is closed loop marketing, and more importantly, show you how to make it work for your business.
As more people come to your website, convert from visitor to lead to customer, your closed-loop marketing strategy can be used more effectively. For more information on lead generation and how you can turn your website into a lead generation machine, download our FREE eBook:
Topics: Inbound Marketing
