a startup's guide to lead segmentation

A STARTUP’S GUIDE TO LEAD SEGMENTATION

Ashley Minogue, Go-To-Market Strategist

Getting started with lead segmentation in one day.

Proprietary and Confidential ©2017 OpenView Investments, LLC. All Rights Reserved 2

WE CAN ALL AGREE...


NOT ALL LEADS ARE CREATED

EQUAL.


AND THERE ARE MANY WAYS

TO SCORE & SEGMENT LEADS


YOU PROBABLY DON’T HAVE

AN ARMY OF DATA SCIENTISTS

(OR EVEN AN ANALYST) TO

HELP OUT.


EVEN STILL, A SIMPLE

FRAMEWORK CAN HELP YOU

GET STARTED IN JUST ONE

DAY.


YES, ONE DAY.

LET’S GET STARTED.

CREATE 4 LEAD SEGMENTS

BASED ON FIT &

ENGAGEMENT


DRUM UP INTEREST TOP PRIORITY

NOT A GOOD FIT LOW TOUCH

HIGH

HIGH ENGAGEMENTLOW ENGAGEMENT

FIT

(De

mo

gra

ph

ics &

Firm

og

rap

hic

s)


• High fit, but not engaged or showing signs of intent

• Try phone calls or off-site retargeting to win-back interest

1. DRUM UP INTEREST.


• The ideal customer – high fit & highly engaged

• When resources are tight, this is the segment you put above the rest.

Leverage high touch campaigns.

2. TOP PRIORITY


• Low fit (doesn’t fit target criteria) & not showing signs of intent

• Remove from funnel or nurture with automated campaigns

3. NOT A GOOD FIT


• Lower fit, but they are showing signs of engagement

• Move them through the funnel with limited resources – automated

campaigns & self-service

4. LOW TOUCH


NEXT, DETERMINE A SHORT

LIST OF PARAMETERS

CORRELATED WITH FIT &

ENGAGEMENT


• # of website views

• Last website visit

• # of emails opened

• # of meaningful phone conversation

• ….

• Industry

• Company size

• Role / Level

• Location

• ….

FIT ENGAGEMENT

The Golden Rule: Start simple & iterate over time.

Draft parameters based on your hypotheses of what impacts lead quality and then validate

with opportunity creation and win-rate analyses based on ~6 months of data. Don’t have

clean data? Invest in a one-time data enrichment.


THEN, ASSIGN POINT VALUES

FOR HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW

CRITERIA FOR EACH

PARAMETER


HIGH (+100) MEDIUM (+50) LOW (+0)

FIT

Industry Retail, Hospitality Education, Internet All other

Company size 500+ 50-500 <50

…

ENGAGEMENT

Website visits last

last 30 days

2+ <2 None

Emails opened

last 30 days

2+ <2 None

…

FOR EXAMPLE

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHERRolling out lead segmentation in 5 simple steps.


Using 6 month data set, assign determined point values per individual

lead

STEP 1


Sum scores to determine fit & engagement score per lead & analyze

distribution of fit & engagement scores across data set

STEP 2


Use median score as initial threshold of high vs. low fit & engagement

STEP 3


Analyze historical win-rate for 4 segments to validate whether scores

indicate quality & fit

STEP 4


If segmentation passes initial validation, roll-out segments (ideally

automated) & test SDR/Marketing segment-specific campaigns

STEP 5


17%

37%

34%

12%

Drum up interest Top priority

Low touch Not a good fit

Lead Segment % of TotalBased on 6 month historical data

Lead Distribution by Fit & Engagement ScoreBased on 6 month historical data

SAMPLE OUTPUT OF LEAD SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS


DON’T FORGET…


1. SET UP A PLAN TO TRACK RESULTS


2. ANALYZE IMPACT VIA REGRESSION ANALYSIS


3. ITERATE ACCORDINGLY

WANT MORE ON LEAD SEGMENTATION?Be sure to check out OpenView Labs.

LEARN MORE

http://labs.openviewpartners.com/