Using PPC customer profiling in your online marketing to increase leads and sales

One of our strategic partners, magnify360, recently had a case study published about some amazing success they had with a client of theirs, Continental Warranty.  Continental sells after-market auto warranties so this isn't a software company - but I think software marketing professionals can learn some good lessons and expect some very similar results.

Continental used magnify360 to optimize the landing pages they send their PPC traffic to create customer profiles that speak to different user types and to increase conversion rates.  They started with 700 web leads per week from 20,000 key words.  Magnify360 used about 30 data points collected without the user even knowing - browser type, time of day, operating system, etc to create profiles for different users.  Even as the prospect responds to questions the microsite changes to fit the visitor - matching content with the visitor's profile and needs.

The end result of this customization and testing is that Continental increased their lead volume by 90% in four months and created an additional $1.5 million in annual revenue.  That's amazing!  If we could all increase our lead volume and revenue by these rates, I think we would be in heaven.

I highly encourage all software marketers to look at the magnify360 Continental Warranty case study to read more of the details.  The lesson I've learned by listening to presentations by magnify360 is to start small - create a handful of profiles for your audience - such as new customers, upgraders, competitive users - and build from there.  Even just conducting minor A/B testing like changing colors, copy, question order will give you insight as to what works for different profiles.

As marketers look to both drive more traffic online and to squeeze more value out of the visitors they do have - customer profiling is the next logical step.  I recommend that all software marketing professionals take a look at their qualification processes and see where they could incorporate customer profiling.