You’re Asking for Too Much Information

We’ve been having an interesting debate on my blog this month about the value of data capture in the era of social media. As social media become more prevalent in marketing, we’re going to have to rethink how and why we gather information from prospects. Social media constitute the latest trend signaling that marketers need to engage with prospects earlier—what we call the epiphany stage—in the buying process. But as we stretch the period in which we’re talking to buyers, we need to start matching the content that we develop to the various stages of the buying process.

That means we also have to be less aggressive in gathering data from prospects. In the early stages of the buying process, we should be offering people great information, not turning them off by trying to pull information out of them when they’re nowhere near being ready to buy. Data gathering should be reserved for the interest phase, when people are creating a shortlist of providers and will more willingly put up with being a prisoner of data capture.

Social media make people even less likely to give up information willingly. We’re playing with fire if we continue to try to pull too much information out of prospects coming to us through social media, because we’re starting to see social media have a positive impact on driving traffic to Websites and on lead generation. In our recent Web 2.0 survey (all ITSMA clients can download this executive summary), we found that increased Web traffic was the most frequently cited benefit of Web 2.0 efforts so far (by 67% of respondents). Increased lead generation was farther down the list—24% are seeing it.

But that trend won’t last if we don’t make it easier for prospects to get to the content.

Should we not capture any data at all?
B2B marketer Tom Bottom has written a daring post that questions whether we should be doing any data capture at all. He argues that putting a data form in front of a prospect displays a lack of confidence in the quality of our work and at worst drives people into the arms of competitors. But how then to give salespeople the leads they need?

Get data through actions, not words
One way around this problem is to use content to qualify prospects rather than data forms. Blogger Blake Hinckley writes about a concept called passive profiling, in which marketers gather data based on the kinds of content they are offering to prospects rather than through forms. Prospects are only required to give up their names and email addresses to access content that then tells the marketers how interested the prospects really are. He offers a great example from a client:

For example, in our campaign with Level 3, a leading fiber-based communications company, we tracked whether prospects downloaded a vbook. Since the vbook explains the need for reliable connectivity (Level 3’s product), if the user browsed through several sections, we could reliably consider them a warm lead. The vbook also contained a Level 3 Network Map embedded as a PDF. If prospects downloaded it, we can assume they were checking if their building or business is within Level 3’s fiber network. PDF checkers were hot leads, interested in Level 3’s solution, so we quickly passed these leads off to Level 3’s sales team to make the call in time.

Sync your content to the stages of the buying process
For the epiphany and interest stages of the buying process (which is where most of us play anyway), I think we need to practice passive profiling wherever possible, and when it isn’t possible, we should slash the data forms to the bare minimum. Here’s what I think the forms should ask for:

• Name
• Email
• Would you like to subscribe to content about this business issue?

That’s it.

Things to banish forever:

• Mailing address (why would I want to engage with anyone who wants to send me snail mail?)
• Title (totally meaningless and a prime reason to lie)
• Company (so we’re a client/not a client; what does that have to do with anything at this stage of the buying process?)
• Level of interest (we’re here because we’re interested in learning about business issues, not your products)
• Budget (our project is so complex, anything at this point would be a wild guess)
• Timeframe for making a purchase (can’t I just window shop? we’re just looking … learning)
• Phone number (c’mon, it’s a new century)

Data forms act as though social media doesn’t exist. A combination of conversational engagement and great thought leadership content, not qualification forms, are what we need to engage with customers in the coming years.

What do you think?

Please offer your thoughts about data capture on my blog.

Your comments

ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.