Enriching lead data from multiple external sources

Introduction

For three decades, F-Secure has driven innovations in cybersecurity, defending tens of thousands of companies and millions of people. F-Secure’s sophisticated technology combines the power of machine learning with the human expertise of its world-renowned security labs for a singular approach called Live Security.

F-Secure began using Eloqua eight years ago, and as such is a pioneer in the field of marketing automation. In 2013 BBN Finland became the company’s primary Eloqua partner. Together, we undertook several new initiatives to extend the usage of Eloqua, incorporating its capabilities into business processes, and integrating Eloqua and SalesForce.

We wanted to find a way to enrich F-secure’s existing data and improve lead scoring. This should allow us to:

• Score the leads precisely based on what’s a good fit (industry, company size)
• Nurture the prospect using industry and size-specific dynamic content
• Provide sales with hard firmographic lead data, helping them to prioritize more appealing leads.

Approach

To accomplish this, we wrote an Eloqua program canvas app that uses multiple data sources, analyses the data retrieved, decides what to do next and always tries different ways to achieve optimal results.

The solution works in five steps. First, a prospect fills a gated content form and gives their email address to Eloqua. Then our program activates and performs a WHOIS lookup on the root domain operator. Next, in our experience, depending on how the records are managed, we may get a company name, sometimes even a VAT number and address. Step four is trying one of the corporate databases, using this data. For example, a query to Asiakastieto may return the official company name, address, NACE code, founding date etc.

Additionally, the app can be also used for enriching the firmographic data of existing customers.

The results

60 per cent of form fills now contain enriched data that will be used for creating models for lead scoring. Prospects’ company financial data is automatically updated. We intend to add more open and paid data sources to our algorithm. For example, DiscoverOrg has an excellent database of IT companies and decision-makers. Their data is interesting because it’s hierarchical, i.e. we may get data about parent/daughter company relationships and who is who’s boss. This would enable us not only to enrich the firmographic data but also to expand our database reach. If e.g. one person from a known company visits our Eloqua, we could retrieve their co-workers or the IT decision-makers as new contacts into Eloqua. Our solution has brilliant potential for further enriching lead data and facilitating sales in unprecedented ways.