So we put on our deer stalkers, lit up our pipes, and launched a three week investigation into the Yin and Yang. Here’s what we’ve found out.
That’s a 39.1% conversion uplift by taking away the form. So if you click on our B2B Marketing Manifesto landing page, what do you expect to find there now? Surprised to see the form back? The putative loser is through our, admittedly contrary, eyes a pretty healthy winner. Sure some people run for the hills, but the form can’t take all the blame: it’s not the hideous ogre we first feared. For us, the data the form giveth is worth more than the awareness the form taketh away. The fact is that 40% of our traffic just doesn’t want the content even if it’s only a pushed button and a fraction of a second away. They probably wouldn’t go for it if we offered a year’s supply of the Kool-Aid. Well, they might, but that’s another test, for yet another issue of this seemingly endless series of blogs! There are B2B marketing mysteries waiting to be solved everywhere we look. But there’s no doubt about it – the form stays. We’re keeping it because it serves as the start of a B2B marketing process upon which our campaign grows in strength. The figures simply don’t support taking it down. A Few Caveats While we hope there are lessons for everyone here, we would warn against extrapolating our experience into all campaigns. Our form:- Asks for the bare minimum to start nurturing leads. Downloads would drop, along with information reliability, with every additional field.
- Is aimed at marketing people: people who build forms are more likely to fill them in – our bread and butter techies are more sceptical.
- Uses other marketing elements – such as comments and testimonials – to overcome form reticence.
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Comments
Ryan Skinner December 5th, 2010
Could be worthwhile to go beyond “to form or not to form” and ask “how form?”. Many forms are framed like a deal with the devil:
“Give us your vital signs to get what you want, and give us the right to spam you for eternity.” These types of forms often don’t
tell you what you’re buying in to. Forms that appeal to the visitor as a subscriber or follower (inciting the “pull” effect) are bound to
be more successful. “Give us a way to let you know when there’s more on our site of value to you, whatever value you’re after: a),
b), c) or d)…” I’d be interested in some A-B testing with different form approaches, like this.
Neil December 6th, 2010
Hi Ryan,
Good to hear from you 🙂
I think you’re on to something. The missing link is often the benefit that we offer from an ongoing relationship with us.
There are a few potential pitfalls to the approach (extra layers and complexity) but that’s what tests are there to find out.
N
Ryan Skinner December 6th, 2010
I really appreciate the Open Kimono series of posts. Great idea. Often it’s difficult for an agency to share specific insights about campaigns with the market, because clients want to keep a lid on their lessons. Using yourself as a test case is a brilliant way to bypass this common frustration. Great series!
Doug Kessler December 7th, 2010
That’s exactly why we’re doing this, Ryan. We get to try things some clients might not want to try and report on it freely and openly. It’s been one of the most fun things we’ve done in a while, too. Really makes me want to test more things — like your form ideas.
I thought it might be cool to put a link to this post next to the download form — a link saying, “Why do we have a form here?”. But that might drag people away from the all-important download…
Andrew Bruce Smith December 13th, 2010
Did you consider using Docmetrics to get round the form vs no-form dilemma?
http://www.vitrium.com/products/docmetrics_nav/
Andrew Bruce Smith December 13th, 2010
Or more specifically:
http://www.vitrium.com/products/pdfsalesleads_nav/
Neil December 13th, 2010
Considering it now!!
Anshul Gautam October 9th, 2011
Project open Kimono has been a really good source for insights in B2B marketing focusing on Strategy, Execution & Analytics in a fragmented world of Splinternet (as Forrester calls it).
Thanks to the Velocity Partners Group for sharing! 🙂
Neil Stoneman October 9th, 2011
Cheers Anshul,
There’s also a wrap up post that may interest you that’s not on the initial thread.
Might be worth a look as well – http://velocitypartners.com/blog/b2b-marketing-manifesto-campaign-lessons-project-kimono-14/