How Zoobean Got Accurate Marketing Attribution for Offline Sources

In today's competitive business landscape, accurate tracking and reporting of contacts and deals play a pivotal role in driving sales success. However, many companies face challenges in effectively attributing their marketing efforts. HubSpot's Original Sources was built & intended for creating clarity for Marketing reporting, but it doesn't drive the same value for Sales teams.

In this blog post, I will share my experience addressing these challenges and deploying original sources for contacts and deals in HubSpot for one of our partners’, Zoobean. By implementing specific solutions, I was able to enhance reporting accuracy, gain visibility into offline marketing ROI, and boost confidence in marketing activities.

Challenges Faced by the Company

When they approached RevPartners, several challenges hindered their ability to track and attribute contacts and deals effectively:

1. Inaccurate KPI Reporting: Marketing struggled to report accurately on key performance indicators (KPIs) due to the lack of proper attribution. This hindered their ability to measure the impact of marketing campaigns accurately.

2. Over Reliance on Offline Sources: Over 90% of their contacts originated from "Offline Sources." This lack of clarity created uncertainty about the true origins of leads and hindered optimization of marketing strategies.

   
   
   

3. Limited ROI Visibility for Offline Marketing Efforts: The company lacked visibility into the return on investment (ROI) of offline marketing initiatives, such as webinars and conferences. This made it challenging to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts accurately.

4. Confidence and Attribution Reporting Gap: Inadequate attribution resulted in a lack of confidence in marketing activities. Marketing teams felt they were missing out on crucial reporting insights, leading to uncertainty about the impact of their efforts.

Implementing Solutions

To address these challenges we implemented the following solutions:

1. Analyzing Contact Data: We exported all contact data from HubSpot to gain a comprehensive understanding of trends and identify the primary sources of contacts.

2. Mapping Original Sources to Go-to-Market Motions and Custom properties: We developed a mapping system that connected original sources to specific go-to-market motions. For example, we attributed "Direct Traffic" to "Marketing Generated Leads" and labeled contacts imported from ZoomInfo as "Sales Generated Leads." This mapping provided clarity and accuracy in attributing contacts.

3. Reframed the Original Source information in a more useful way into Contact Sources 

             a. Expanded on the details by adding another layer with the property “Contact Source”,                    which indicates whether a contact came from an Inbound, Sales, Channel or Partner                    source.
   
             b. We then used Original Source information to further segment the contacts based on a                 more granular basis.
   
             c. Contact Source Details #1 shows whether the contact came from Social, Search, Paid,                Organic, Import etc. and Contact Source #2 captures the exact method. 

   

4. Standardized Import Sheet: Recognizing that a significant number of original sources came from imports, we created a standardized import sheet. This allowed us to attribute contacts accurately to marketing, sales, or customer success, improving overall attribution accuracy.

5. Mapping Contacts' Original Sources to Deal Source Properties: To determine which deals were generated through marketing efforts, we mapped a contact's original source to the source properties of the associated deal. This provided valuable insights into the effectiveness of marketing strategies in closing deals.

Outcomes

By deploying original sources for contacts and deals in HubSpot, we achieved several positive outcomes:

1. Accurate Reporting and KPI Measurement: The implemented solutions enabled marketing to report accurately on KPIs, providing valuable insights into the impact of marketing campaigns and activities.

   
   
   
   

2. Improved Visibility into Offline Marketing ROI: With proper attribution, we gained visibility into the ROI of offline marketing efforts, such as webinars and conferences. This allowed us to evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives and optimize marketing investments accordingly.

     3. Enhanced Confidence in Marketing Activities: Accurate attribution and reporting instilled                    confidence in marketing activities. Marketing teams felt more assured about the impact of                    their efforts, leading to better decision-making and improved overall confidence.

     4. Enhanced Attribution and Deal Analysis: By mapping contacts' original sources to deal source            properties, we gained a comprehensive understanding of which deals were generated through            marketing efforts. This information guided our sales strategies and allowed us to optimize our            marketing-sales alignment.

What did These Reports Mean for Zoobean?

This process allowed first touch attribution and broadly answered the question “what is working” and “what is generating leads and deals”.

BEFORE

AFTER

Knowing they now have access to accurate data, the Marketing team could not only accurately report, but also project numbers for the next months.

Here’s what Kelly, Zoobean’s Director of Marketing, had to say after we implemented this process.

Wrapping it Up

Deploying original sources for contacts and deals in HubSpot proved instrumental in overcoming attribution challenges and optimizing Zoobean’s marketing strategies.

Embracing these strategies have empowered Zoobean to make data-driven decisions and drive sales success in an increasingly competitive business landscape.