Do you sometimes wonder which of your marketing efforts has the highest ROI?
It's a question we've been pondering quite a lot. At Close, we do a ton of things to promote our sales platform, but we don't always know which ones are effective and which ones are mostly a waste of time and money.
We have ideas, opinions, and theories but not enough data. You need to be able to tie your marketing expenses to the results you generate.
(We Thought) We Needed Analytics!
To remedy this, we planned on installing a super-sophisticated analytics and tracking solution to get a clearer picture of what really drives our signups and to better understand the customer journey from discovery to purchase.
But we also had our heads down in other activities because, you know, this is a startup, and in a startup, you're never not busy. We perpetually postponed setting up proper tracking magic.
One day, I was talking with my friend Noah Kagan of AppSumo and Sumo fame, bouncing marketing and sales advice off each other. At one point, he asked me this next question.
"What's Your Most Effective Marketing Channel?"
I flinched a bit and embarrassedly responded: "Well, the thing is, we haven't gotten around to setting up the kind of analytics we need to pinpoint that, so I really don't know."
Noah: "Dude, almost nobody has set up all their tracking correctly. Forget about that for now. Just get on the phone, call your customers, and ask them how they found out about you."
WOW. I was SERIOUSLY embarrassed.
I am the guy who's telling others that they should call new users within five minutes.
I am the guy who's been advising startups to visit their customers.
I am the guy who's been telling startups to pick up the phone and start dialing for years.
I am a relentless proponent of unfiltered 1-on-1 conversations with customers.
And here I am, getting lost in complexity instead of talking to my customers. Duh.
So, guess what I did after I got off the call with Noah?
I Started Calling Our Customers
I called recent signups and some long-time customers and asked them, "How did you find out about us? What made you buy?"
Some of the answers greatly surprised me and challenged my previous assumptions.
We're still working with these insights, and at some point, there will be a follow-up post where we share more about these learnings.
What Should You Be Doing Next?
Start calling customers and ask them questions that help you understand how they discovered you to determine your most effective marketing channels today.
Of course, tomorrow, you should build amazing analytics and metrics dashboards and track everything as you scale your company, but don't waste a minute wondering and worrying about your marketing ROI, thinking you can't know anything without technology.
The abyss of analytics, as Jon Evans calls it, is real. All you need is a phone (or email) and some good ol' hustle. :)
Also, check out Noah's blog and the excellent marketing tools he offers on Sumo.
Noah's the man! Thanks for reminding us that most answers are easy to find if you look in the most obvious places first.
