An increased focus on predictive analytics helped SAP drive adoption for a new product and reach a specialized customer segment.
At the recent Martech conference in San Francisco, Vance Faulks, senior director of SAP’s digital business services marketing, noted that his group was asked to support a service area that wasn’t on the priority list for the year. It needed to drive adoption for SAP’s S/4 HANA business suite, which was a solution for a highly specialized customer. Identifying customers with an interest in this solution was essential.
The problem? “It had literally no marketing support,” he said, noting that creating better alignment between sales and marketing was crucial.
The company turned to predictive analytics, starting with a small pilot program with the help of MRP Prelytix. Data was used to identify accounts, and position the feedback from high quality leads for sales, so everyone knew the best places to focus their efforts.
The enterprise software firm also shifted its mindset from handing over leads to handing over insights of how to interact with customers.
“We noticed that we suddenly had a dialogue with sales,” he said, noting that the new mindset had the benefit of accelerating time to revenue, with leads closing 50% faster. “Predictive analytics helped bridge the gap and gave us a huge opportunity to change the conversation.”
Over the next six months, SAP plans to continue its rollout of MRP Prelytix in conjunction with an account based marketing program.
“As marketers we can get overly in love with the technology, and what it is really about is being customer centric,” Faulks said. “We need to leverage marketing to bring it all back to the customer.”
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