Apr 8th, 2009| 
How does it do this? Well, first it needs to collect the data on the visitor. It does this by using a JavaScript as part of the footer in your web pages. When a visitor hits your website, this script is loaded in the visitor’s computer. The script calls back to the Active Conversion server, which records metrics on the visitor browsing through your website. Active Conversion then complies a report on the visitor and you can use this report to qualify the visitor.
This is very much the industry norm when it comes to tools tracking website visitors. So there is no secret sauce here, but what ActiveConversion does differently is the level of automation in qualifying leads. This automation lets you understand your leads much better and engage them at a highly sophisticated level. This level of sophistication is very important when you want to develop a stronger rapport right of the bat. The demo video below further explains this.
I’ve been tinkering with ActiveConversion since last year. Some of the features I really enjoyed about ActiveConversion include:
- Enhanced reverse IP lookup for business contacts: I’ve seen the reverse mapping engine of several sales intelligence tools and I found Active Conversion had one of the most advanced algorithms as of Q1-2009. It worked very well for North American companies and worked reasonably well to identify European based leads. I’ve had some mediocre success in identifying leads coming from other parts of EMEA and APAC.
- Automatic lead scoring system: ActiveConversion has a nice algorithm to programmatically qualify prospects. This algorithm uses metrics such as: pages viewed, number of visits and view of “goal” pages. What’s best is that it’s all configurable. You can tweak the logic as you go along to correctly identify leads.
- Automatic lead assignment: Once leads come into your inbox, they can be automatically routed based on geographic location or trigger key words (such as verticals) to various sales guys listed in the system. This is an awesome tool since you don’t need to assign leads through human intervention.
- Sophisticated Web-2-lead form capture: Without much coding you can easily capture form entries from your existing web pages and embed them directly in the CRM system provided by Active Conversion. What’s more is that it can correlate this data into Sales Force. So no data re-entry is needed.
Sounds pretty good so far, right? Then comes the issue of pricing. The cost of the service can run you into a few thousand dollars per year. The actual amount you pay is based on website usage and the more visitors you’ve, the more you have to pay. But overall, I think the solution is worth the price tag. If you are in the market for such tools, I would also recommend having a look at the following vendors:
- ActiveConversion: One of the most advanced sales intelligence tools I’ve seen in the market as of today. It combines sales intelligence with marketing tools to give a complete platform for your team.
- LeadLander: A very simple tool that is fast and easy to use. It lacks some of the complex features offered by ActiveConversion but makes up for it in its simplicity. It does offer integration with SalesForce platform.
- LeadsExplorer: Another simple reverse IP look up tool that is in the process of adding more features. Its light weight compared to Active Conversion but it can still do the basic job.
- DemandBase Stream: This combines some of the revere IP look up features of ActiveConverion with a business directory system such as Jigsaw. Depending on what type of leads you get (i.e. large companies where you don’t necessarily need to prequalify them) then this tool could be useful for you. What I enjoyed about DemandBase was its desktop streamer client.
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April 8th, 2009 at 19:20
Zaki,
This captures the essence of our value to B2B marketing very well.
I’d like to mention for your readers we also have a plug-in for Outlook that you may not have seen. This allows you to email someone a link, and have it track the response back to your website. Salepeople love this, and I don’t it’s available for the other vendors mentioned here. We also have landing page generation, auto-populated forms and other features.
To be fair, some of these features are available on other products – but at pricing ranging from 3-8 times more. Because our target market is small to medium sized businesse (and tech startups), we have priced to fit their budgets and give them the kind of marketing to compete with larger companies.
Thanks for your kind words.
April 9th, 2009 at 17:24
How do you find its email nurturing features? I’ve been using ConstantContact (www.constantcontact.com) and I wanted to know if there was anything better?
April 13th, 2009 at 11:59
Nick, I haven’t used Constant Contact for email nurturing, just email campaigns. I think it does offer some level of email nurturing capabilities but its not automatic. As I remember, you can manually see who has clicked what and create a new list from the non-responders to send them a second wave of emails. But its not automatic and requires a bit of manpower.
April 13th, 2009 at 14:00
Nick,
We work with Constant Contact, not as a replacement. We do have auto-nurturing within the product, to run campaigns automatically from from form-fills, but this is not meant as a replacement for an email service provider like CC.
April 18th, 2009 at 13:47
You may also want to take a look at Net-Results, http://www.net-results.com.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:07
Can these tools create automatic tracking links inside emails? I want to track how successful my email campaigns are.