Choosing a marketing automation system is a major decision. A disciplined selection process is essential to make a sound selection. This series of posts presents the seven-step methodology we use at Raab Associates, along with related worksheets. The first three are below.
For a complete list of the steps, worksheets, and background materials, visit the Raab Guide Website and download the Vendor Selection Workbook from the Resource Library (registration required).
1. Define Requirements
Create a list of your goals in buying the system. Relate these to financial values when possible. Then define how you’ll use the system to meet these goals, being as specific as you can about the actual processes involved. Be sure to include processes beyond what you do already: one of the reasons you’re looking at marketing automation is to expand what your department can accomplish. Your requirements are based on the tasks you must perform to meet your goals.
| Goals | Related Requirements |
| Generate more leads | Manage online and offline advertising campaigns |
| Import email address lists and send personalized emails | |
| Monitor and publish to social media | |
| Build and deploy landing pages to capture responses | |
| Use IP address to identify the company of Web site visitors | |
| More effective nurturing | Capture the source and Web site activities of each visitor |
| Create Web forms to gather information about visitors | |
| Score visitors based on form responses and Web behaviors | |
| Execute multi-step campaigns tailored to different groups | |
| Use visitor behavior to trigger campaigns and other actions | |
| Better sales integration | Synchronize data between sales and marketing systems |
| Send leads to sales based on lead score and actions | |
| Send alerts to sales based on Web site behaviors | |
| Report on revenue generated by leads from marketing | |
| More efficient marketing operations | Store marketing materials and share across programs |
| Track planned and actual costs of marketing programs | |
| Manage tasks and approvals during program development |
2. Research Your Options
Raab Associates’ B2B Marketing Automation Vendor Selection Tool (VEST) provides a good starting point for matching possible vendors to your requirements. In particular, match the scale and sophistication of your marketing operations to the different buyer segments used in the report. Bear in mind that company size alone doesn’t necessary predict the depth of your requirements: small businesses can run complex marketing programs, and large business programs may be simple.
| Company Type | Key System Features |
| Micro-business | Outbound email and multi-step nurture campaigns |
| Landing pages and forms | |
| Built-in sales and service features | |
| Built-in or integrate with third party ecommerce and shopping cart | |
| Small to mid-size business | Outbound email and multi-step nurture campaigns |
| Landing pages and forms | |
| Web site visitor tracking | |
| Lead scoring (one score per lead) | |
| Integrate with external sales automation system | |
| Large business | Outbound email and multi-step nurture campaigns |
| Landing pages and forms | |
| Web site visitor tracking | |
| Lead scoring (multiple scores per lead) | |
| Integrate with external sales automation system | |
| Manage marketing budgets, program tasks and approvals | |
| Add custom tables with data from many sources | |
| Limit different users to different tasks and programs |
3. Test Vendors Against Scenarios
Develop scenarios that describe actual marketing projects you expect to run through the system, and have the most promising vendors demonstrate how they would execute them. Scenarios based on your own needs are critical for understanding how well each system would function in your own environment. Be sure that some scenarios describe your more complicated processes, since these are most likely to highlight differences among systems. If vendor staff executes the scenarios for you, be sure to understand how much the vendor built in advance. This ensures that you get an accurate sense of the total work effort involved.
| Scenario | Steps |
| Outbound email campaign | Import list from CSV file, from Excel |
| Compose personalized emails with embedded graphics | |
| Create landing page with data entry form | |
| Set automated email response to form submissions | |
| Set rules to score leads and send qualified leads to sales | |
| Report on results: sent, opened, clicked, completed form | |
| Nurture campaign | Set start and end date for campaign |
| Set rules to select leads, based on attributes and behaviors | |
| Set priority of campaign vs. other campaigns | |
| Define multi-step flow with wait periods between steps | |
| Set rules for different treatments for segments within steps | |
| Set rules to score leads and send qualified leads to sales | |
| Create emails, landing pages, and forms | |
| Report on results including leads to sales and revenue | |
| Revenue reporting | Define stages in lead lifecycle |
| Define rules to assign leads to lifecycle stages | |
| Report on movement of leads through lifecycle stages | |
| Set up process to import revenue from sales system | |
| Define rules to link revenue to campaigns | |
| Define rules to estimate incremental revenue per campaign | |
| Report on revenue generated per campaign | |
| Capture campaign costs | |
| Report on campaign revenue vs. campaign cost |
The next post in this series will present additional steps in our process.
