How Closed Loop Marketing Works
Marketing jargon can seem intimidating, but the basic concepts are usually easy to grasp. For example, you might be wondering, “What is closed loop marketing?”
Closed loop marketing takes every site visitor, tracks them as a lead and a customer. This is what we mean by “closing the loop” between marketing and sales. It’s the standard by which marketers can evaluate the success of their campaigns.
When it comes to your own sales, you can use the following method to get the best return on your marketing campaign.
Stage One: Attracting Visitors
All your marketing efforts—from emails to search engines to trade shows—should lead anyone who’s interested in your brand directly to your website. By funneling all interest toward your site, you can use Web analytics software to track the amount of site traffic and visitor retention that your brand generates.
A more advanced step would be to add what’s known as a tracking URL to see where visitors are coming from when they follow your ads. For example, a tracking token from Twitter would show up on your website’s URL as:
/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Once you know where your visitors are coming from, you can redesign your marketing efforts around those avenues, whether it’s a search engine result through Google or a social media link through sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.
Stage Two: Tracking Site Activity
Perhaps the hardest part of closed loop marketing is tracking a website visitor’s activity. This process can answer such questions as:
• Which pages did they visit the most?
• Which ad or link referred them to your site?
• How long did they visit the site?
• How many products did they look at?
To track a site visitor’s activity, you can either play around with your chosen Web analytics program or purchase software that automatically tracks visitor activity for you. One such program to consider is HubSpot’s Prospects tool, which provides actionable steps like social media following.
Stage Three: Converting Leads
In order to monetize your website, you have to convert your visitors into leads for your sales team. To do this, you’ll need to learn more about your site visitors through acquiring personal information and consumer interests.
One method you can try is to send your visitors to landing pages where they can fill out Web-based forms (e.g., “First and Last Name Here,” “Email Address Here”). With this information, you can create mailing lists to retain consumer interest in your site’s products, as well as foster client communications and better customer relations.
Stage Four: Creating New Customers
How a lead becomes a customer is ultimately up to the needs and preferences of each site visitor. That being said, using Web analytics and lead conversion, you can track which channels direct the most activity to your website, what pages or products earned the most new business, and which visitors were most likely to become satisfied customers.
The more that you study their behavior using Web analytics and site tracking software, the easier it will be for you to create a more optimal site design. You can keep track of these developments with your visitors and customers either through a simple spreadsheet or a more advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
Developing a closed loop marketing system is an essential practice for online businesses helping find the best way to understand consumer choices and generate the most revenue. It’s this kind of thinking that can make the difference between continuing success and Web traffic that yields no new leads or customers.
