LinkSquares

WHAT WE DID

Challenge:

LinkSquares had done a tremendous job growing their business through lead-buying and outbound marketing. After a successful $2.16M seed round of funding, they knew they needed to build a scalable marketing funnel, make meaningful product improvements, and find their voice as an industry front-runner. A sophisticated and scrappy team, LinkSquares had the know-how but lacked the bandwidth to execute the product marketing strategy they wanted and turned to Chantal at Authentic AF.

Insight:

LinkSquares’ Contract Analytics Software is changing the way Legal Ops teams work—their customers are obsessed with them. It was a no-brainer for us to survey customers to understand what features they couldn’t live without, what product improvements they’d like to see, and learn what language they use to describe LinkSquares to friends and colleagues. We also used sophisticated heat mapping and user-insight tools like Fullstory and Amplitude to see how users actually behaved in the app to gather quantitative data too.

Rather than speculate what potential buyers care about, we used the results from surveys and case studies, as well as, the user behavior and demo churn data to drive all messaging, strategy, and product changes.

Three major discoveries were made while mapping out the buyer’s journey and conducting guided customer product walk-throughs:

1. A high bounce rate on the landing page, due to customer confusion about the product.

2. The sales cycle stalled whenever contacts had to get senior manager buy-in.

3. EVERY customer and potential customer we spoke to said they could get us more sales if we could just show people how the product worked. (App usage and user data supported this claim.)

Actions and results:

Our solutions were elegant and effective. We designed, executed, and implemented them within 6 months:

1. We owned, developed and A/B tested a new product video that enabled a double-digit increase in form submissions month-over-month.

2. We owned and tested a new product demo that enabled senior management buy-in and a 40% increase in sales close rates.

3. The product demo, customer testimonials, and informational video resulted in a 50% shorter sales cycle.

LinkSquares increased their revenue from $1.3M ARR to just south of $5M ARR in 18 months.

highlights:

THE WORK:

TLDR:

The details:

What we contributed

• Performed extensive research into customers, competitors, and the industry.

• Collaborated with sales and product teams to create a winning SPARKeting strategy.

• Designed and implemented in-app and email customer feedback surveys, to learn what features customers love, what changes they’d like to see, and what language they use to discuss the product.

• Used the language used by existing customers to reposition messaging and implement a new email nurturing campaign.

• Researched and selected email automation software to streamline email marketing as well as new customer and demo onboarding.

• Installed Fullstory and Amplitude software to analyze in-app and web traffic behavior, and compared it to survey data.

• Performed in-app, web, and email campaign A/B testing to evaluate our product and marketing efforts.

• Turned customer success surveys into case studies for marketing and sales collateral to generate leads and shorten the sales cycle.

• Used qualitative and quantitative data collected from customers and potential customers to design and implement a two-week trial demo.

• Planned, managed, and created a winning theme for an industry event that yielded 50 quality leads, and 2 sales within 18 days.

• Implemented the Kanban approach to project management to encourage transparency, ownership of tasks and ensure that all team members understood the full scope of the project, what our priorities were and who was responsible for shipping specific tasks.

What we learned (Because every project presents us with an opportunity to learn and improve our business too)

• Ask customers what they want and give it to them. The best way to prevent churn and achieve meaningful growth is to cherish the customers you have, make them happy, and turn them into your biggest advocates.

• Not all customers are willing to provide feedback and there’s no guarantee that those who do are being 100% candid. Using tools like Fullstory to get an honest view of how customers and potential customers interact with your product and your marketing website, will give you a reliable platform to build a growth strategy on.

• Don't just trust what your customers say. Look at the data and how your users behave. Using both qualitative and quantitative information is the best way to create, track, and duplicate a winning strategy.

• Use the language your customers use to discuss your product with potential new buyers to sell more effectively.

• Digital marketing and a strong online presence is extremely important but may not be the biggest lead generator for every industry. In LinkSquares case, the biggest lead and sales generator was hosting a private drinks night at an industry event. You have to think outside the box and take a fresh approach with every client.

• Empowering teams with the right tools can change everything.

• Cross-departmental and cross-functional collaboration is essential to success. To ensure that all parties feel heard and inspired while keeping everyone focused on a common goal, requires a quarterback that supports their team, puts outcome before ego and has the communication skills to unite their team around a clear objective that drives results.