ECAD: Backed by ECAD Testimonial Campaign (2013)
SITUATION / CHALLENGE:
ECAD is a reseller of CAD software for Autodesk. As a reseller of software, service is your primary differentiator. Many potential ECAD clients may already use Autodesk software, but the objective is to switch them away from their current reseller. To do so, ECAD had to demonstrate that their service was superior and created substantial value beyond the software itself.
OBJECTIVE(S):
Generate leads by raising awareness of ECAD’s specific service offerings—installation, upgrades, live support and training—and the value they create for customers in ECAD’s primary customer industries (Manufacturing, power and process, architecture-engineering-consulting).
STRATEGY / TACTICS:
The team knew that one of the most effective ways to demonstrate value to potential customers is to demonstrate the value ECAD has already created for existing customers. So we elected to use testimonials from existing satisfied customers to demonstrate real-world cases of value creation to prospects.
The cornerstone of the campaign was the campaign microsite, which presented the testimonials in an engaging way and included a variety of supporting media—like project photos, renderings and videos.
The supporting channels of the campaign, which included email marketing, PPC online banner advertising and social media posting, drove targeted industry prospects to the microsite, which included a lead generation form and an incentive to encourage prospects to submit information.
To help ensure we were narrowly targeting prospects in ECAD’s most valuable customer segment markets, we purchased focused lists for email marketing and carefully selected relevant keywords for our PPC advertising targeting.
MESSAGE ALIGNMENT:
The campaign, which was launched with the tagline “Backed by ECAD” showed the importance of services beyond software—free installation, free software upgrades and most importantly, free, live technical support. It helped prospects envision the kinds of benefits they could enjoy when their project was “Backed by ECAD” by showing them real-world examples.
The testimonials were broken down by industry vertical to easily map to ECAD’s chosen customer industry targets. The testimonials also cover the range of ECAD’s service offerings, with at least one customer story covering each service.
The design approach reinforces the “Backed by ECAD” message with a concept we call Points of Intersection, which subtly introduces visual elements that suggest the points where ECAD, their services and customer needs come together—the points at which ECAD creates additional customer value.
RESULTS:
During the campaign’s 4.5-month run, it generated a total of 853,610 impressions at 0.14% CTR (40% higher than industry average) and 53 conversions (with orders usually representing tens of thousands of dollars in revenue).