Outbound Sales Campaign
for AI SaaS Startup in the USA
for AI SaaS Startup in the USA
In this case study we will discuss how important it is to identify an ideal client for a tech startup, take a closer look at the characteristics of B2B lead generation strategy for the EdTech industry, as well as talk about the best way to run a multi-channel outreach campaign to fill your sales pipeline with new prospects and opportunities.
1500 IT companies
analyzed
analyzed
7-step multi-channel outreach
33% acceptance rate
on LinkedIn
on LinkedIn
Company Summary
Company Summary
The Customer is an AI-based exam proctoring platform that makes exams incredibly secure and truly scalable.
This EdTech platform allows you to deliver online exams to any place with an internet connection at a lower cost but with higher security when compared to a physical testing center. This helps enterprise, universities and certification providers aggressively grow their exam programs, reach new markets and find new talent.
This EdTech platform allows you to deliver online exams to any place with an internet connection at a lower cost but with higher security when compared to a physical testing center. This helps enterprise, universities and certification providers aggressively grow their exam programs, reach new markets and find new talent.
Task for Prosply
Task for Prosply
Sales… This word has so many meanings and connotations for every single entrepreneur or company. For some, it's just numbers and revenue, for others - endless opportunities to develop a great network of customers and create a strong brand. But in most cases, sales is hard work, a thorough process of identifying the best prospects.
The Customer hired us to research high-quality leads and run an outbound sales campaign targeted at them to generate interest and enable the stable flow of hot prospects and opportunities. Let's look separately at each of these tasks.
The Customer hired us to research high-quality leads and run an outbound sales campaign targeted at them to generate interest and enable the stable flow of hot prospects and opportunities. Let's look separately at each of these tasks.
The Challenge
The Challenge
The first and very important assignment was to identify what kind of leads are the most interesting for our client, meaning seniority level, job title, location, and industry. As our Customer is an EdTech company that helps companies scale up their exam delivery, the focus was directed at the companies that have exams for various purposes, like certifications or skills assessments. Our Customer already had some success with the IT industry in the past, and it was decided to continue with extensive research of the IT market in the US only.
Scope of Work
Scope of Work
The ideal prospect would be a person in charge of certifications or exams within each company that offers such opportunities. Additionally, we identified a pool of over 1500 leading companies from the IT industry that could potentially offer certifications, conduct exams, and various assessments. Once we agreed on all these search criteria, we had a clear picture of whom we see as a perfect fit for our Customer's product. It was high time to look for great leads.
Solution
Solution
Let's look closer at the lead discovery process. Firstly, we would pick up a company from our list of 1500 leading ones and research thoroughly whether the company has certification or exams as a part of their services, education or training programs. If a company does offer certifications or exams, we would look for the relevant leads within this company, somebody who is directly involved either in the certification process or training or exam delivery. The primary focus was on top management buyer personas like Director of Certification, Head of Exam Delivery, Vice President of Training and Certification, etc.
Once we filled our Customer's pipeline with relevant leads, the next step was an outbound sales campaign. Together with the Client, we planned to use a multi-touch messaging approach, combining LinkedIn outreach and cold email campaign, to contact leads. To increase response rates we personalized each message in our sequence based on the prospect's experience and expertise. Firstly, we sent a LinkedIn connection message, which was short but already delivered a particular idea about our Customer's business. At the same time, we sent a personalized email. In 3 days, we would send a first follow-up via email and a second follow-up -in 5 days. If we didn't receive any response via email, we would reach out with a personalized message via LinkedIn and send two more follow-ups on the 4th and 7th days accordingly.
Once we filled our Customer's pipeline with relevant leads, the next step was an outbound sales campaign. Together with the Client, we planned to use a multi-touch messaging approach, combining LinkedIn outreach and cold email campaign, to contact leads. To increase response rates we personalized each message in our sequence based on the prospect's experience and expertise. Firstly, we sent a LinkedIn connection message, which was short but already delivered a particular idea about our Customer's business. At the same time, we sent a personalized email. In 3 days, we would send a first follow-up via email and a second follow-up -in 5 days. If we didn't receive any response via email, we would reach out with a personalized message via LinkedIn and send two more follow-ups on the 4th and 7th days accordingly.
Results
Results
Such a multi-channel outreach campaign delivered good results. On LinkedIn, every 3rd connection was accepted with an acceptance rate of 33%, thus we drastically expanded our Customer's network of connections. Response rate hit 17%. The email campaign brought us similar results - the open rate we achieved was 28% and the response rate - 13%. Along with interested prospects, this outreach gave our Customer invaluable feedback on the product, provided insight into what additional features potential clients would love to see, as well as pointed out the areas for improvement. As a result of this outbound campaign, we helped our Customer to fill his sales funnel with hot leads and opportunities and hit his outreach goals.
Plans for the future
Plans for the future
Once this goal was accomplished, the decision was made to raise investments to be able to take the business to the next level and boost company growth. We have helped our Customer to find relevant Angel investors, Micro VCs and traditional Venture capital firms and run an outreach campaign through LinkedIn and email to generate interest among them. The results of this campaign are quite impressive (please see the case study on our work here).
Want to generate more high-quality leads for your business or
need help with outbound prospecting campaign? Don't hesitate to contact us!
need help with outbound prospecting campaign? Don't hesitate to contact us!
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