My Blog My Blog

Forms Testing: What It Is & How to Do It

A/B Testing
April 24, 2020/by
Forms Testing: What It Is & How to Do It The other day I decided that I wanted to buy some comfortable outfits to wear around the house. As I was online shopping, I started to fill out my shipping information in the online form. However, the form had a requirement that the "City" field could only be 20 characters long. Now, the city I live in is three words, and 22 characters typed out. Having faced this problem before, I tried to shorten the city name, but my phone was autocorrecting. Ultimately, I couldn't get past this form on my phone. I had to go on my desktop to make the order so autocorrect wouldn't impact the length of the city name. Predictably, this was a frustrating user experience. As marketers, we use online forms in our campaigns all the time. To see success, it's important to test your online forms for user experience and conversion rate. Below, let's review what form testing is and how to implement it in your online form strategy. Now that we've covered what forms testing is, let's dive into the components of your online form that you should be testing. Online Form Elements to Test Once you've created an online form on your landing page, it's important that you test it for both functionality and effectiveness. Below, we've listed a few elements that you should test depending on your goal. Functionality Validation: Validation is how you'll ensure the information put on...
Read Full Story

Product Strategy: Defining a Product’s Purpose and Plan

Product Marketing
April 24, 2020/by
Product Strategy: Defining a Product's Purpose and Plan Say I'm in the process of developing a new waffle iron. It's going to be capable of perfectly detecting when a waffle is golden brown no matter the volume or thickness of the batter. We're talking about next-level waffle technology. It could be an absolute game-changer, but in this scenario, something goes horribly wrong.  The product is rushed through development without any real guidance or objectives. And when it's sent to the manufacturer, there's no picture of what kind of audience will gravitate to it, how it stacks up to other waffle irons, what it's going to do for the business, or other crucial factors that might give this waffle iron an identity in the marketplace. If that were the case, then this once-in-a-generation feat of waffle engineering would go to waste — all because it didn't have a solid product strategy to guide its development. A sound product strategy can be the difference between a product being able to carve a permanent place in its market and being an absolute afterthought. It can put weight and sensibility behind a product to help it resonate with consumers as effectively as possible. It's the foundation for a successful product lifecycle, so if you're interested in developing a product at any point in the future, it's a concept worth having a picture of. Here, we'll get an understanding of what a product strategy is, the framework that structures it, the key elements...
Read Full Story

How HubSpot’s Report-Based Acquisition Campaign Hit 150% of Our Lead Goal in 30 Days

Marketing Trends
April 23, 2020/by
How HubSpot's Report-Based Acquisition Campaign Hit 150% of Our Lead Goal in 30 Days Acquisition marketing campaigns are critical to bring in new customers and revenue. At HubSpot, we run these campaigns quarterly. Despite the rapid cadence, every quarter we work to create new, remarkable ways of reaching, informing, and converting our audience. I wrote this post to share with you how we crafted our latest acquisition campaign to hit and exceed our acquisition targets. Establishing the Campaign The beginning of our Q1 2020 Acquisition Campaign started with a blinking cursor. As we brainstormed how to start our research, we had a few inputs to work with. First, we knew our target audience consisted of marketing managers, as we were re-launching our Marketing Hub Enterprise product that month. We knew that reports were a content type that worked well for us in the past. We saw our 2019 Instagram Engagement Report and a 2020 Social Media Report successfully attract new audiences. At the very least, it was a motion that our audience was familiar with, which meant there was less of a barrier to show the value. Additionally, seasonality played a large role in our planning. We wanted to build content to support marketers planning their strategies for the upcoming year. With the combination of 1) a target audience, 2) an understanding of high-performing content types, 3) timing, and 4) our additional user research, we wanted to create a remarkable go-to resource for marketing managers building their strategies...
Read Full Story

4 Pivots Companies Are Making in Light of COVID-19 [New Data]

COVID-19 Benchmark Data
April 23, 2020/by
4 Pivots Companies Are Making in Light of COVID-19 When HubSpot surveyed a handful of business leaders within our customer base, we discovered that most expect to see "somewhat slower" or "much slower" growth in the next year as a result of the global pandemic and economic climate. Data from our more-than 70,000 global customer base supports business slowdown predictions. In the first few weeks of the crisis, we saw that while sales outreach has increased, response rates and deal volume dropped to new lows. Although sales email engagement has rebounded greatly to new highs in recent days, the large and noticeable dip demonstrates the uncertainty and evolving metrics that brands are seeing right now.  Both Sales and Marketing metrics seem to be changing rapidly. For example, overall, HubSpot researchers found that the ratio of marketing email engagements to open rates has improved since around the start of the crisis. However, this rate did see its own dips in early April, as seen in the chart below,  Our data also revealed that customers are researching brands more heavily online and initiating more online interactions with businesses today than they were a year ago. Between February and March, this online behavior resulted in average monthly website traffic increasing by 13%. This interest in researching online brands might also be fueling an increase in customer-initiated conversations with sales reps. For a timeline of benchmark data updates and changes, click here to keep up with...
Read Full Story

Deal Creation Bounces Back After Early April Lows [COVID-19 Benchmark Data, Updated Weekly]

COVID-19 Benchmark Data
April 23, 2020/by
Deal Creation Bounces Back After Early April Lows The economic impact of COVID-19 is undeniable. Businesses all across the globe are learning how to adapt to these new circumstances and we're all learning how to operate in a "new normal" that's constantly changing. That's why we'll be publishing week-over-week trend data for core business metrics like website traffic, email send and open rates, sales engagements, close rates and more. We hope to establish useful benchmarks to measure your business against, and serve as an early indicator of when short- or long-term adjustments may be needed in your strategy. While this post focuses on the highlights of last week, you can explore all the data we're publishing here. About the Data These insights are based on aggregated data from over 70,000 HubSpot customers globally. The dataset includes weekly trend data for core business metrics in 2020, focusing on changes occurring during and after March 2020.* The data from HubSpot's customer base reflects benchmarks for companies that have invested in an online presence and use inbound as a key part of their growth strategy. This data *The spread of COVID-19 has had a different timeline in different regions, so we are using the World Health Organization's declaration of a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 as our "official" start date. NOTE: Because the data is aggregated from HubSpot customers' businesses, please keep in mind that individual businesses, including HubSpot's, may differ based on their own markets, customer...
Read Full Story

5 Benefits of Educating Prospects With Free Content

Content Creation
April 22, 2020/by
5 Benefits of Educating Prospects With Free Content In the marketing world, the infamous free content debate seems to be everlasting.  "If we give away free content and information about the challenges our paid products and services resolve, then who will pay for what we're selling?" It's easy to understand why you might think about free content this way — after all, the goal of any business is to make a profit, so giving away free goodies would be crazy, right? Wrong. In fact, offering free content to your target audience and prospective customers can actually do the opposite. Providing education on the topics related to and about the products and services you offer can help you boost leads and sales. Benefits of Educating Prospects with Free Content When it comes to inbound marketing, the old adage, "Why buy the cow if the milk is free?" doesn't seem to ring true. Here are five benefits related to offering free educational content to show you why that's the case. 1. Free content builds trust. Using free content, whether in the form of blog articles, ebooks, webinars, or videos, can do wonders to boost brand trust and credibility. Quality content shows prospective customers that your business is a thought-leader and authority in the industry, which translates into initial trust in your paid products and services. After all, if the content you're creating is educational and helps your prospects learn...
Read Full Story

Top 10 HubSpot Academy Courses You Can Take in Under 1 Hour

Business Growth
April 22, 2020/by
Top 10 HubSpot Academy Courses You Can Take in Under 1 Hour Let me ask you a question. If you could learn any skill in one hour, what would it be? When you're looking to learn something new, there are plenty of online courses that can help you improve your skills. HubSpot Academy (HubSpot's training division) is one of those online providers that offers entirely free education. If you're hoping to learn new skills related to professional development, career, or business, then HubSpot Academy is a great place to start. Side note: If you're looking to improve your virtual golf game, you may want to look elsewhere. In the HubSpot Academy courses and certifications tab, you'll find courses covering a range of marketing, sales, and service topics. However, if you don't know exactly what you're looking for, it can be overwhelming. We know your time is important, so we've broken down the top HubSpot Academy Courses (based on total learners who have started the course) that take less than one hour to complete. Happy learning! 1. Graphic Design Essentials: Easy Steps for Creating Your Own Compelling Visuals Have you always been curious about the fundamentals of graphic design? In this course, you'll learn how to start thinking like a graphic designer. In fact, over 20,000 learners have started this course. This course is helpful for anyone in marketing, whether you're creating or brainstorming content ideas for your campaigns. 2. Using HubSpot's Free Marketing Tools Did you...
Read Full Story

Gen Z Searches For Online Content Differently: What Marketers Need to Know

Data-Driven Marketing
April 22, 2020/by
Gen Z Searches For Online Content Differently: What Marketers Need to Know Gen Z enters adulthood and gains more and more purchasing power, it's apparent that the age group is more hyper-connected to the internet than past generations. At this point, smart marketers have begun to discover how Gen Z's technological influence makes them different from older age groups. They're also noticing key generational behaviors that could change the way brands market to younger audiences. For example, Gen Z is more frugal than millennials, chooses practicality over customer experience, has less brand loyalty than past generations, and -- oddly enough -- prefers real-life conversation to social media chatter. Aside from the differences above, Gen Z also consumes content differently from how older people have. For instance, Gen Z spends more time online each day than millennials. They're also usually logged on to multiple social media channels at once, have a mobile-first mindset, and love video content. With all these differences in mind, it's not shocking that the way Gen Z searches and discovers content such as videos, blogs, websites, or product listings is also quite unique. If you're a marketer that has thrived on search engines, it could be helpful to familiarize yourself with how the up-and-coming generation aims to discover new products, events, experiences, or information online. This way, you can improve on your own optimization tactics so that your content gets put on their radar. In this blog post, I'll highlight a few common ways...
Read Full Story

How To Master Writing Advertorials

Content Types
April 21, 2020/by
How To Master Writing Advertorials I'm a huge fan of food magazine Bon Appetit. I love the brand's voice, messaging, and content, so when I found the corresponding YouTube channel for the publication last year, I was immediately sold. When you dive into Bon Appetit's YouTube channel, you'll find a cast of chefs. They either host their own show, make a recipe video, or both. For instance, my favorite Bon Appetit chef, Carla Lalli Music, hosts "Back to Back Chef" on the channel, but also has a few recipe videos. Recently, I went to browse the official website to purchase merchandise. (Hey, I have to represent my favorites!) What I found, in addition to the merchandise, was one of Music's recipe videos for ragu, using a specific brand of sauce from Barilla: "So, cool," I thought to myself. "Even though this is an advertorial, I love the content, so I'll keep watching." An advertorial is, like the name suggests, an advertisement. But they are unique in their own way. Let's define what an advertorial is, and how it can be an excellent marketing choice for you and your team. A good advertorial doesn't clearly state that an advertiser made the post in the copy, but it also doesn't hide that fact. An advertorial should provide the same high-quality content as a blog post or video, but give a spotlight to the product being advertised. For example, let's say I'm on the marketing team for a company that...
Read Full Story