How Siemplify Generates 60% of Revenue with LeadSift
As intent data becomes a staple in B2B marketer’s stacks, actionability becomes more and more challenging. It’s reported that 67% of marketers struggle to activate their intent data (The B2B Marketer’s State of Intent Data). And what good is data without a plan to use it? How do you build a multi-channel intent data strategy?
We sat down with the team at Siemplify to cover how they integrate intent data throughout their sales and marketing processes, for a multi-channel approach. They’ve built intent throughout the funnel so the data is prioritized and activated continuously, and they have the results to back it.
Rather than looking at it as a challenge, some marketers are using intent data as the glue to connect multi-channel marketing strategies and let them feed their sales efforts.
Multi-channel strategies are all about understanding where your prospects are, and meeting them there.
Let’s dive into how Siemplify does multi-channel powered by intent, how they optimize, and the numbers proving it works (hint: 60% of revenue identified early by intent).
Where intent fits in Siemplify’s stack
For marketing, Siemplify uses Marketo for almost all of their marketing operations including email nurturing, automation, and connecting their content syndication programs. For ads platforms, Google AdWords is the go-to.
On the sales side, Siemplify generates reports through Salesforce CRM to get a visual on the top accounts, top leads, and any intent-driven leads that may not have made the cut but are still worth contacting since they’re been engaging. All of their outreach is done through Outreach.io.
Bizible for tracking.
LeadSift is their only intent data source. Since the data is provided at the contact level, they use it across sales and marketing in a number of ways such as lead generation, scoring indication, ABM lists, and more (we’ll get to that).
“LeadSift has been incredibly easy to work with. They’ve been truly like a partner in that anytime we have questions, need help, or even suggestions on how to optimize intent streams they have been very flexible and eager to help and that has gone a very long way.”
– Christopher Mitchell, Demand Generation Manager, Siemplify
How to set up intent streams
Siemplify started with foundational keywords related to their solution then evaluated results weekly. They would check which leads didn’t fit their ICP and optimized for this by making changes or removing keywords that didn’t bring in relevant leads.
They’ve built two intent streams. One is keyword-focused and the other is competitor-focused. The intent campaign focuses on the keywords that will most likely signal positive buying intent, like ‘SOAR Vendors’. This is the ‘main’ campaign and the one that helps identify in-market buyers.
The leads that LeadSift sends over are scored according to the type of trigger that caused them to be sent in the first place, leads that have engaged with keywords directly (engaged with industry news) are given a higher score, than similar leads in the account that aren’t showing intent at all.
Siemplify applies a relatively small score based on each intent signal, roughly about the same as a web page view. But they aggregate them at the account level and apply some relatively simple score modifiers to try and differentiate between organizations that are considering SOAR vs 1 person that is very interested.
Here’s an example:
They use a roll-up within Salesforce to pull all of the LeadSift scores from all contacts to the account level, and then add a multiplier based on the number of individual people who are showing intent. So 10 people with 1 or 2 intent signals each will score higher than 1 person with 10-20 intent signals.
How Siemplify does multi-channel
“We’re able to layer intent data on top of everything else we’re doing top of funnel”
– Christopher Mitchell, Demand Generation Manager, Siemplify
Starting with ABM campaigns, Siemplify gives content syndication vendors a list pulled directly from LeadSift intent data to target accounts that are actively showing intent to buy. This allows them to better allocate budget and gain a better ROI from content syndication programs since they are focusing efforts on more relevant accounts.
When it comes to leveraging intent with ads, Siemplify has set up automation so that leads that signal positive intent are automatically synchronized over to Google AdWords with the intention of getting Siemplify’s offer in front of the prospect with some top of funnel messaging. Where they can find a match on their ad platforms they adjust the bids for AdWords slightly higher to help get better placement.
LeadSift is built into Siemplify’s scoring. Leads get extra points if their account is showing intent. From a marketing perspective, they also provide this data to the SDR team so that if an account shows intent but isn’t on their target account list (TAL) or a lead is showing intent but hasn’t reached the MQL threshold, they still know those are relevant leads and accounts to prioritize, prospect into and follow up on.
Siemplify dives into the granularity and visibility of knowing specifically which keyword or competitor each lead is engaging with for purposes. They are able to put together strong value propositions based on specific keywords leads are actively engaging with so they can be sure their messaging hits the nail on the head every time.
“LeadSift helps us identify better opportunities for strategic marketing and in most cases are informing us of a buyer’s intent before anyone else”
– Mike Hardwicke Brown, VP Demand Gen, Siemplify
The next step will be implementing intent data into their marketing nurture program so leads showing intent towards certain custom keywords are put into an expedited track or sent specific emails based on topic engagements.
The Results
“We started using LeadSift 3 years ago when we were a younger company, trying to figure out how to strategically use intent data,” says Mike Hardwicke Brown, VP of Demand Gen at Siemplify, “LeadSift came forward as a potential partner and delivered on that promise. They have implemented multiple feature requests and in several cases done some pretty significant product development to help us solve our problems. It’s what most vendors promise and few deliver.”
LeadSift lives across Siemplify’s sales and marketing funnel, tying the two departments together with intent-driven leads and the power to nurture them through the pipeline with relevance and value.
Today, with LeadSift identifying intent signals in over 60% of Siemplify’s opportunities before they are created, LeadSift aids in driving over 60% of their pipeline and revenue.
Want a custom report of leads showing intent towards your solution right now?
Abacus is a full-service agency specializing in pre-growth stage companies. They are currently the #1 Facebook Ad Agency and top-rated Google, Tiktok, Pinterest, and video partner – working with forward-thinking brands seeking faster results and highly efficient working models.
The Problem
Before getting started with LeadSift almost two years ago, Abacus’s sales and marketing processes were traditional and manual. Sales and marketing functions were kept totally separate from each other. They were spending 20+ hours a week manually researching, gathering, and sanitizing data, and then looking for contact details before they could begin their outreach efforts.
Without a better process in place, time and energy was wasted just searching for the right people. Additionally, with sales and marketing operating separately, there wasn’t any continuity of data throughout the funnel.
Their growth was predictable, but they were struggling to accelerate business with their existing resources.
The Solution
Abacus needed a better way to source prospects that fit their target buyer personas and tied sales and marketing together. Saving time, and speed to lead, were top priority for being able to scale and generate qualified pipeline.
Right away, LeadSift cut their manual research and prospecting time in half.
They use LeadSift to increase qualified pipeline opportunities and shorten their sales cycle from 42 to 17 days. At full scale, they now have LeadSift operating seamlessly across sales and marketing with continuity.
“Contact data speeds up qualified list building, intent data narrows our focus, and lead scoring means that our sales reps are focused on businesses that are the best fit.”
— Lance Muranaga, VP Revenue, Abacus Agency
Right now Abacus has LeadSift intent streams built to fit their process perfectly. Leads are pushed into their CRM and are prioritized based on seniority with more senior prospects being sent directly to their SDR team for one-to-one outreach. This allows the team to prioritize and personalize based on intent, and know for certain that they are focusing their efforts on prospects who want to hear from them. LeadSift lets Abacus know when leadership changes have been made, or a person has a new title, so they can move them up the list.
Leads below director-level are sent to marketing to be nurtured until they show signs they are ready to be engaged with on a one-to-one basis. Abacus takes advantage of custom audiences so they can best use their ads budget with intent-based custom audiences. The leads are leveraged this way until they qualify themselves to be reached by the sales team.
Abacus has increased their monthly lead flow by 35-40% depending on the account value, and they’ve increased revenue by 30% year-over-year with lower overhead.
“LeadSift’s technology is faster and more accurate than the direct competitors in intent data platforms and really shines in value as they keep innovating the product without affecting the top-level customer support that sales and marketing teams need to make the best use of the technology.”
– LANCE MURANAGA, VP REVENUE, ABACUS AGENCY
Abacus now has sales and marketing departments that flow together and complement each other. The time spent to receive qualified leads and connect with them has been cut in half, freeing more resources to focus on high quality messaging and personalization. Now more than ever they can offer their clients top-notch solutions and are able to hit the ground running.
Preferred by the most innovative and data-driven businesses, LeadSift is the most actionable provider of intent combining comprehensive data with meaningful insights. We sift through unstructured public data so companies can easily identify, understand and engage in-market audiences with creatively relevant, personalized outreach. As a result, companies can move their pipeline faster than ever before.
Intent data is of limited value on its own and shouldn’t be used to select accounts. It should be combined with fit data and not used for account selection. Think of it as a prioritization and personalization tool that gives you insights into the most relevant leads and what they’re looking for. Select your accounts based on business benefit and ICP based on tech graphing information of thermographic information and then use intent to prioritize them. Without that, you’re just using simple intent and it’s not nearly as powerful and it’s not ABM. Intent data enables your ABM program to stand out by being thoughtful about the accounts with the most potential. You can use your intent data to supplement propensity modeling and tribal knowledge from your own accounts and to identify who is in the market right now.
Why use intent for ABM?
There are two key benefits to using intent to power your ABM:
Account Prioritization – i.e. reducing the scale of the program – traditionally with ABM programs, you might have 10,000 accounts with 1,000 different messages and 1,000 different creatives put together by the graphic designer resulting in weeks and weeks of work. When you looked at all the outcomes, it was pretty much no different than the control, so the ABM didn’t have that much of an impact. Adding intent data to an ABM enables you to identify and prioritize much smaller sets of accounts manageable for the size of your marketing and sales teams and to develop sales and marketing alignment and understanding around what’s going on at that specific account.
Account Activation – Using ABM with intent data enables you to create personalized and very specific marketing messages. Having a platform to capture intent data insights enables the whole team to understand the insights, marketing to act on it, and for them to support sales.
Intent data can also be used in:
Content marketing: identifying prospective buyer’s concerns and creating or sharing content with them that speaks to that.
Funnels: identifying which accounts are actually progressing through the funnels and informing what type of messaging to use for them.
Selection right
Nurture tracks
Arming BDRs with the right content: so they can use it when they reach out to these prioritized accounts.
Content syndication: once you know what account you’re prioritizing you could make sure that the publishers you are going through are actually generating leads from those accounts. That way you know that it is more likely that they’re going to convert so you’re not wasting your media budget, or follow-up efforts, on accounts that aren’t actually identified by their content consumption.
Post-sales: using intent data to identify which accounts that you currently have are most likely to churn. If your customers are researching competitor brands, that is indicative that they may be looking to leave so you could actually rectify those issues before it’s too late.
Expanding on an account: you can see if they have recently been researching product offerings that you may offer but they may not be aware that they can source from you, then your team can focus resources to expand those accounts
The Treasure Data Customer Data Platform (CDP) empowers enterprises by delivering rich insights that drive outstanding customer experiences. Built on a strong data management foundation, its CDP enables brands to securely unify customer data across silos at scale so they can better identify, engage, and acquire customers. The highly configurable platform boasts a comprehensive connector network that evolves with your existing technology stack to future-proof all customer data initiatives.
The Problem
Treasure Data has a number of tools in place to give its marketing and sales teams access to account-level data, but it wanted deeper insights into the contacts within those accounts. Despite a comprehensive marketing approach that leverages key channels, content, virtual events, and webinars, Treasure Data’s marketers felt they may be missing out on in-market leads that aren’t aware of the Treasure Data brand.
Without deeper insights into the specific account contacts actively looking for a solution, there was untapped growth potential. They wanted access to contact-level intent data so their sales team could be equipped with more actionable, meaningful data for prospecting that not only included the contact information but details into their intent signals and engagements.
“Prior to LeadSift, we didn’t have access to contact-level intent-based data. Our sales teams leveraged our lead rating system and other tools that all relied on first-party or account-level data,”
Karen Mason, Director of Marketing Operations at Treasure Data
The Solution
Using LeadSift, Treasure Data marketers activate contact-level intent data to not only identify which contact at a company is in-market, but also to gain all the information necessary to personalize, target, and prioritize accounts based on buying intent signals. They use the LeadSift user interface to configure their campaigns, which helps them get clear and complete data that is up to date with Treasure Data’s latest offerings and developments.
The Treasure Data team activates its LeadSift data by building custom ad audiences for retargeting through ad platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google. The goal is to have the leads re-engage and become MQLs.
LeadSift data allows Treasure Data to know when someone is actively in-market, as well as what exactly they’re engaging with. This data is used in tandem with behavioral and demographic data for prioritizing leads and accounts as part of the sales process. This way the Treasure Data sales team knows they’re reaching out to the warmest prospects first.
The Results
“Many companies provide account-based intent data but only LeadSift provides person-level data,” says Mason.
Thirty-five percent of Treasure Data’s LeadSift leads convert to MQLs. This is higher than other lead sources the marketing and sales teams use. With contact-level data, the teams are able to focus their marketing efforts and budget on people—specifically decision-makers—already actively searching for a CDP, and they don’t need to worry about missing in-market leads.
“LeadSift provides exceptional value and they are always adding features to deliver even more value. Their customer service is exceptional,”
Karen Mason, Director of Marketing Operations, Treasure Data
Start getting deeper, contact-level insights into your most relevant accounts.
Green Leads specializes in full-funnel pipeline generation services. They use phone and email-based outreach to provide their clients with various types of leads through email marketing, content syndication, outbound marketing, and appointment setting. Green Leads provides their clients with the highest level of subscription-based pipeline generation services and enables their clients to achieve top-line revenue growth and position them as their category leader.
The Problem
Green Leads was looking for better ways to source and prioritize prospects for their clients. They faced a common challenge of determining how to prioritize large, cold lists without wasting time focusing on massive lists when chances are only 50% of those contacts are open to looking, and even fewer are actually looking to buy.
They were used to using more traditional tactics for activating their leads such as traditional data sources, email campaigns, and content syndication but were looking to revamp their process. Many of Green Leads’ clients have a wide range of offerings – so when Green Leads calls a prospect on behalf of a client they have to take a broad approach to the point of view (messaging) presented.
“When starting any new project prioritizing which accounts would be more open to our clients’ offering was a shift we were eager to make,” says Michael Farrell, CEO of Green Leads.”
The Solution
Green Leads began looking for an intent data solution to be able to increase conversion rates to highly qualified leads and set more appointments on behalf of their clients – and ultimately leads that had a higher propensity to buy. How could they find a way for their campaigns to move more efficiently and reach buyers who were already showing interest? After evaluating a number of options, they chose LeadSift for its ability to give insights at a contact level so when they are targeting large accounts, they don’t need to determine who, out of many prospects, is the one actively seeking a solution.
Farrell continued, “When we saw LeadSift was contact-level and not just account level, we got very excited”.
They take their LeadSift leads and first work with them in spreadsheets to extract data for prioritization and personalization. This includes seeing how intent varies by vertical, prioritizing who to call based on how many contacts within each account are showing intent, and using keywords to add highly-targeted personalization to their email campaigns. Now, instead of listing all their clients’ solutions to a prospect, they can focus on the one they know the lead is in-market for. Next, they import them into Salesforce and start the activation process in an educated way. Since they know what the leads are looking for, they can pitch their clients’ value proposition in the most effective way possible.
“LeadSift has given Green Leads a way to see the trees within the forest. We are able now to prioritize how we engage with our clients’ ideal customer profile (ICP) – allowing my team to optimize their production as well as increasing the quality and ultimately – satisfying and retaining the client”
Linda Flanagan, COO, Green Leads
The Results
Since using LeadSift, Green Leads’ SDRs and clients are happier. The meetings they’re setting for their clients cancel and reschedule less and lead to higher quality conversations. In some campaigns, 50% of the meetings booked come from the intent list – even though it’s a smaller list, the prospects are already in the buyer’s journey.
Continues Flanagan, “We often hear comments from prospects along the lines of ‘are you a mind reader?’ or ‘It’s funny you should mention that. We were just talking the other day about that very thing.’”
They’ve been able to find prospects now that previously had no easy way to identify with traditional methods or data sources. With LeadSift they’re finding people that have the titles they’re looking for showing interest in their clients’ solutions that they weren’t able to discover when they initially built their lists. Instead of building massive cold lists, they can now wait for LeadSift to deliver in-market leads.
Farrell closes, “It’s like a fish finder – it means you’re dropping your line knowing there are already fish there.”
About LeadSift
Preferred by the most innovative and data-driven businesses, LeadSift is the most actionable provider of intent combining comprehensive data with meaningful insights. We sift through unstructured public data so companies can easily identify, understand, and engage in-market audiences with creatively relevant, personalized outreach. As a result, companies can move their pipeline faster than ever before.
Prioritize and engage more relevant leads and book more meetings with LeadSift.
So you understand the value of intent data, you’ve made sure you have everything in place to kick-off successfully, and you’ve got your CMO on board. What’s next? Well, even though 99% of intent data users report at least a moderate impact, it’s not a silver bullet. Get started right within your first 100 days of intent data to be set up for success for the long haul.
Days 1 to 7
Making sure your initial moves with intent data are solid is an important step for the rest of the process. Think of it as a chain reaction – if the first part works well, the rest should hopefully follow. This means the first week of your 100 days of intent data is the time to set measurable, realistic goals and make sure everything is in place to receive the leads as smoothly as possible.
Define Your Ideal Customer Persona
Take a look at your most successful customers. The ones that see great results from your solution, champion you to others and keep renewing. These are the people you want to model your ideal customer persona (ICP) after.
The trick here is balancing between being specific enough that you only get qualified leads based on your definition, without ruling qualified people out. Set your ICP criteria, then optimize as time goes on (see days 8-30).
Example: Senior Marketers at B2B Software Companies with 50-200 employees.
Build ICP Outreach Tactics
The only way to know it’s working is to start actioning the data. But, it’s important to do so in a meaningful way. Not just meaningful to you, but crafting outreach ads, emails, and content that are valuable, targeted, and touch on the pain points your contacts actually care about.
“Marketers have noted a 760% increase in revenue from segmented campaigns.”
Teams that collect their intent data through marketing automation or CRM integrations see the most success. Aberdeen found that companies integrating their intent solutions saw 9% higher operating profits and 8% increases in the customer bases year-over-year.
Days 8 to 30
Now you’re set up. Time to optimize for what’s working and get rid of what’s not. Whether your intent data’s missing some key job titles, or your emails need some extra love to boost conversions, now’s the time to fix it.
Take a look at the data
Do these contacts fit your ICP? Are these companies relevant to the industries you sell to? If yes, great! If not, it’s time to make changes to your campaign setup. Work with your intent provider to make sure you’re targeting the right people at the right time.
This is an iterative process that you should keep an eye on in general, but trying to get it as close as possible to correct early on is a game-changer.
Update your outreach with intent signals
You already have ICP specific outreach tactics. Now it’s time to bulk them up with intent signals. You know exactly what these contacts are engaging with so you can tailor your touchpoints to the things they actually care about.
Include topics they’re engaging with in your email subject lines. Find and attach resources surrounding their mentioned pain points. Ask them about the event they attended. Talk about the tech they’re using.
Intent data allows you to create actual, meaningful outreach past the classic “Hi [first_name], I saw your post on LinkedIn…”. When you leverage it, you can craft emails and ads that speak to your target audience and meet them where they are.
Days 31 to 90
Create content around what your ICP care about
Analyze the intent signals in your data. Are there any trends? Are most of your ICP prospects engaging with the same topics or events? Everytime you’ve wished you could read your audiences minds, now’s your chance. You know what they’re engaging with so create content to complement that.
This includes touching on pain points, trends, and even buyer’s guide that they’re already interested in reading about. For example, if you see actively engaging with your competitors, now might be the time to release a competitive guide, or publish some positive reviews.
Retarget with ads
One of the most powerful tools to leverage using contact-level intent data is custom ad audiences. In 2020, a prospect needs to see your brand five to seven times to remember it. These intent-based leads are already in-market, making them warmer and often easier to reach.
Using a list of contacts already showing intent, plugging that into Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn, and retargeting them with meaningful ads (see above) leads to a much higher conversion rate. You can then build lookalike audiences based on these lists to reach even more people.
Days 91-100
So you’ve reached the end of your first 100 days of intent data. By now you should be comfortable with integrating, actioning, and optimizing your data. This is where the part about intent data being an iterative process rings true. Keep optimizing. Update based on trends and best practices. Test new ideas.
Keep in mind intent data works when you do. Having intent data and not using it is like buying a gym membership and not going, you won’t see results. Make sure you are consistently actioning the data. Segment and prioritize your lists to reach the most relevant accounts first and automate the rest. No lead left behind. If you have leads that you think aren’t qualified to be nurtured, it’s time to go back and optimize your campaign settings.
