Changing Lanes to the HubSpot Software
UK-based OneFile is the leading e-portfolio provider in the learning and development sector. As a company in the technology space, they were aware of the value of marketing automation and were using Pardot on their website and NewZapp to send emails to their contacts database. However, by early 2016, the time had come to make a change. According to OneFile’s marketing director Alan Davies:
“We came across HubSpot’s content when we were researching marketing topics, and we were impressed by the way we were nurtured through the lead process. That was something that we were keen to replicate – we aimed to build our brand profile and position ourselves as a knowledge leader in our marketplace."
Fern Montgomery, a digital marketing executive with OneFile, says that the marketing team had some specific requirements that any new software would need to address. They were looking for an all-in-one solution that would allow them to automate their marketing brilliantly so that they could drive and cultivate leads.
“We wanted to be able to manage and segment our mailing lists with minimal manual intervention; we needed the reporting function to be easy-to-use and transparent. We were also keen to start to nurture our leads more intelligently, but we didn’t want the software price to increase as our database grew. The HubSpot Marketing Platform addressed all of our needs and more.”
OneFile decided to make the switch to the HubSpot software, and “almost instantly started seeing results”, reports Alan.
Getting Started With Smarketing
One of the first things OneFile did was to hone its personas; a wide variety of people buy their software, and they wanted to target customers by addressing their specific needs.
“We segmented by job roles first – for example, our director persona would be interested in the financial implications of buying one of our products, while our end-user persona is more concerned about ease of use. We then further segmented the personas based on their organisation,” explains Fern.
Once the personas were in place, everything flowed from there. OneFile set up its Blog and Landing Pages with content relevant to each lead type, adding Calls-to-Action (CTAs) to encourage user engagement. They soon noticed an uptick in both the quantity and quality of leads, which they nurture with automated Workflows based on the persona type and also their stage in the marketing funnel.
“The HubSpot team helped us get up and running quickly, and the big change for me was our ability to track and nurture the leads from the start. I love how we can use Workflows to make sure we are meeting their needs, that’s been very valuable for us.”
“The HubSpot platform has also improved the alignment between OneFile’s sales and marketing teams. For example, the marketing team now uses lead scoring to highlight the people who are interested in purchasing, so when they are passed over to sales, they are higher quality leads.”
“We used to give our salespeople the lead’s basic contact information, so they didn’t get any sense of their journey with us. Now, the process is more transparent. The sales team can view every interaction that a potential customer has had with us; they are aware of their goals and their pain points. This allows for more successful conversations and means that sales are closed more quickly.”
Exceeding Targets and Moving the Goalposts
Since partnering with HubSpot, OneFile has seen some exceptional results, including an 8.5% increase in organic traffic to their website. They also exceeded their goal of boosting leads by 2X by the end of the year, achieving that target within just four months. They’re so confident of the power of the HubSpot Marketing Platform they’ve set themselves a new objective – to achieve a further 2X increase by December.
"The size of our sales team has doubled as part of our new strategy, something which Hubspot has played a significant part in implementing," says Fern. “The difference that it has made within such a short amount of time has been remarkable.”
“Our average sales cycle time is three months, and this month has been our second-best month ever for sales. I’m sure that as we continue to use the HubSpot software, that’s going get even better.”
Alan says he would recommend the HubSpot Marketing Platform without hesitation, especially to companies with big plans that are struggling with time constraints.
“In the past, our activities were more tactical – we weren’t able to target our customers in the strategic way that we wanted to. With the HubSpot software, our marketing is more intelligent than it’s ever been before.”
