Buyer Journey Flow Planner - Splashmetrics Account Portal

Instructions

In each section, enter your information in the fields as shown then use the "Next" button to proceed. You can move back using the "Previous" button. When completed, we'll email your custom "Splash" plan to you. Be advised, if you refresh the page it will reset the planner and you will lose your information.

Best-Practice Tip

This process can sometimes seem overwhelming if you’re starting from scratch. So to help you along we’ve added notes and prompt text to every field in the Flow. They include various stage-specific qualification and content experience "templates" from past smart content initiatives which proved successful for our customers. We've also added a unique "Buyer Perspective" voice to illustrate the typical reactions and expectations a Buyer has in each of these 5 stages. This is critical because if you only think and plan operationally, you're forgetting the Buyer. And that's exactly the problem we're solving.

Personalize Your Splash

So that we can customize this plan for you and your company, please enter the following information to get started.

Your Company Name *

Splash Plan Name *

Buyers

Here you define the Buyers/ICPs your company is targeting with this Splash initiative. This is what drives all downstream tactical efforts, as well as the messaging, interactions, and data transactions in every smart content asset in every stage. Though you can get much more detailed in the Splashmetrics platform in these areas, we'll keep it simple here. But you should always have your Buyers and their needs front of mind as you plan each step of the Journey.

Best-Practice Tip

The flowchart above maps out your Buyers' (and your own) progression through these 5 smart content touches which should be aligned with the Marketing/Sales model you are using (e.g. - Gartner ABM, Sirius Decisions, Cyclonic Journey, HubSpot Lifecycle, etc). Splashmetrics allows you to custom-label each of these stages as you move through so they match whatever model you are using. As for effectively defining your Buyers here, that depends on your model. For example, with traditional Demand Gen you might focus on more individual personas like Executive-level decision-makers, VPs, Managers, etc. On the other hand, if you are using an ABM model you might instead focus on "demand units" or "buying committees" made up of several personas - and gear those toward different verticals or accounts. After all, this is what will drive the targeting and personalization of your last mile content based on their needs and your solutions. See examples below...

Buyer 1 *

Buyer 1 Needs/Solutions *

Buyer 2 (Optional)

Buyer 2 Needs/Solutions

Buyer 3 (Optional)

Buyer 3 Needs/Solutions

Stage 1

Now that you have your targeted Buyers established, you see in the flowchart above that you are now defining their initial smart content experience. Keep in mind that S1 is a "pre-gate" stage. In other words, this stage is for these specific Buyers your Marketing team is directly targeting for this Splash initiative with top-of-funnel outreach campaigns (e.g. - search, social, email, ad, events, etc.). So this asset is not simply your website (far too general), but is instead a dedicated page/asset specifically for introducing this particular audience into this particular product/solution journey. So now is a good time to prove your business proposition to the Buyer's needs and introduce her to the the value of this fully-personalized Journey. Your primary objective here is to compel her to progress into the Flow - and engage with you in the sales conversation.

S1 Label *

Buyer Perspective

I have just responded to a digital ad that was surprisingly well-targeted to my company's needs. I clicked on the ad and have ended up here at this dedicated content asset - which is focusing even more on the specific solutions I'm interested in. I'm impressed - because most ads just take me to the home page of a website and leave it to me to start searching for what I need. Or, just as bad, to a landing page with a long form I have to fill in just to download some PDF that may or may not be relevant to me. But here, you're offering me a personalized content journey, specific to the product/solution I'm interested in, and which will answer my critical pre-purchase questions. I am now actively engaged with you and want to know more.

Content Settings

S1 Smart Content Experience (SCE) Name *

You might not want to worry about the "name" or "type" of the asset and instead just specify what you want the content to DO via the direction below. Then your content creator(s) can dream up the best type of asset to execute on that direction.

S1 SCE Description *

What do you want this content experience to do for the Buyer and for your company?

S1 Interaction & Resulting RTP *

Describe the desired interaction the Buyer will have with this asset. Then, if it will do so, describe how the content will dynamically personalize based on this interaction.

S1 Buyer Benefits *

What does the Buyer get out of this interaction and RTP?

S1 Qualification/Actionables Outcomes *

How does the above interaction serve to meet the Lead Qualification goals of this stage? And what action should be taken by Marketing/Sales when met?

S1 CTA *

You'll see here that we've generated a stand-in CTA link from this asset to the SCE in the next stage. This ensures that the Buyer can always self-progress through the journey. Splashmetrics itself automates this linking for you in a much more powerful way. But go ahead and manually edit this URL if you know where the assets will sit. Be sure to only add other CTAs here if those assets are progressively linked in this way as well. Never kick your Buyer out of the Journey with errant linking!

STAGE 1 - STAGE 2 Personalization Form

This is where you define the information you want from EVERY Buyer who is moving into the Journey. This is typically done through a traditional gate form (or maybe a chat sequence) via your MA/CRM platform - so the information you enter here will inform those ops teams on how to create and integrate these forms. But be very careful with this! If you present the Buyer with a huge form that feels invasive and too skewed in your favor, the Buyer is gone. Remember that you will be progressively profiling these Buyers as they move through later stages - so you don't need to get everything here. Ideally, you should only get enough information to personalize the content for the Buyer - making clear to them this immediate value FOR THEM - not so that sales will start email-blasting them. And you should leverage tools to make the form fill as quick and painless as possible (e.g. - pre-populating fields, etc.). Finally, if you do this right, this should be the last traditional form your Buyer ever sees throughout the entire journey. Everything else will happen through the content.

Buyer Perspective

You've convinced me in that S1 content experience that you have the kinds of specific solutions my company needs, and now I want to know more. So I clicked on the CTA in that asset to move to the content in the next stage. You've now presented me a form only asking for a couple of pieces of information and explaining that you will use that to personalize this entire journey FOR ME - meaning I won't have to deal with another form for any of other other assets. I'm now much more inclined to proceed because I see the immediate value.

Form Behavior

Pre-populate fields with known values
Auto-submit (hide) form when all fields are pre-populated
Include privacy and consent (GDPR)

Required Field 1 *

Required Field 2 (Optional)

Required Field 3 (Optional)

Required Field 4 (Optional)

STAGE 2

Now that the Buyer is engaged and has provided his information, you can begin to build a deeper Sales Qualification profile (BANT, firmographic, etc.). In Splashmetrics for stages 2-5, you define this qualification process via the "Stage Settings" below. For example, you'll notice the "Additional Profiling" field where you can start to get this qualification data via the content itself instead of traditional forms. These qualification rules then drive the design of the Smart Content defined under the "Content Settings" section so that the content creator can ensure that it works to achieve these strategic qualification goals. Note that every stage hereafter will have exactly these same settings. As for the make-up of content itself, keep in mind that you're still focused here in the earlier stages on educating the Buyer about your solutions, but now in a more personalized way. We don't think it's yet time to start a hard sales pitch.

S2 Label *

Buyer Perspective

Wow! This smart eBook has my name and company name in the titles and copy. But more importantly the content is specifically tailored to my industry and my own company's needs. And it shows very specific solutions to those needs. It even has a personalized, interactive video! I've not seen many eBooks this powerful. There is a single question on page 2 about our buying timeline. I select the timeframe and enjoy the rest of this smart eBook without interruption. Oh, and I can also save this eBook out to a standard PDF to share with colleagues. But instead of what I usually download from websites - it's completely personalized to us!

Stage Settings

S2 Additional Profiling (Optional)

In addition to the info obtained via the S1-S2 gate form above, what other information do you want to get from the Buyer either via another form or the content itself?

S2 Direct Stage Entry Rules *

These rules should align with the segmentation/targeting in your MA/CRM platforms to ensure that only Buyers who meet the above lead qualification criteria are invited directly into this stage's content. This approach accelerates the pipeline while ensuring that every lead coming through the Journey is fully qualified.

S2 Stage Qualification Threshold & Actionable *

This is the level of Buyer qualification you are trying to achieve with this particular content interaction. Many MA/CRM platforms assign a score when a Buyer simply accesses an asset. But here you are building smart content experiences that can go much deeper than that with interactions. Also simply describe the action to be taken by Marketing and/or Sales when this threshold is met.

Content Settings

S2 Smart Content Experience (SCE) Name *

You might not want to worry about the "name" or "type" of the asset and instead just specify what you want the content to DO via the direction below. Then your content creator(s) can dream up the best type of asset to execute on that direction.

S2 SCE Description *

What do you want this content experience to do for the Buyer and for your company?

S2 Interaction & Resulting RTP *

Describe the desired interaction the Buyer will have with this asset. Then, if it will do so, describe how the content will dynamically personalize based on this interaction.

S2 Buyer Benefits *

What does the Buyer get out of this interaction and RTP?

S2 Qualification/Actionables Outcomes *

How does the above interaction serve to meet the Lead Qualification goals of this stage? And what action should be taken by Marketing/Sales when met?

S2 CTA *

You'll see here that we've generated a stand-in CTA link from this asset to the SCE in the next stage. This ensures that the Buyer can always self-progress through the journey. Splashmetrics itself automates this linking for you in a much more powerful way. But go ahead and manually edit this URL if you know where the assets will sit. Be sure to only add other CTAs here if those assets are progressively linked in this way as well. Never kick your Buyer out of the Journey with errant linking!

STAGE 3

Now it's time to get a bit more serious. You're now actively working to qualify this Buyer for sales - while also actively SELLING the Buyer through the content. So you need to shift the content experience and interactions toward building this deeper Buyer-direct data (BANT, firmographic, etc.) which will drive the 1-on-1 sales conversation when it happens. BUT you also want the content to immediately provide guiding information to the Buyer (like a sales rep would) based on those interactions - thereby actively selling through this content while the Buyer is engaged with it. So, it's here that BOTH the marketing and sales teams should be working together to define the qualification goals and shaping the messaging and interactions. But again, it's still mid-journey, so the content should still be compact and engaging - providing compelling value in and of itself for the Buyer.

S3 Label *

Buyer Perspective

This interactive assessment presented me 6 questions specific to the painpoints we currently have in our company. As I answered each question, interactive graphs showed me how we compare to our competitors in each area. I was then presented with a completely customized report for our company, giving us general best-practice tips on how we can address several of our challenges - but also presenting specific solutions that we can purchase today. So, I now just need to know what kind of ROI we can see with these solutions to make my case to the C-suite.

Stage Settings

S3 Additional Profiling (Optional)

In addition to the info obtained via the previous profiling actions, what other information do you want to get from the Buyer either via another form or the content itself?

S3 Direct Stage Entry Rules *

These rules should align with the segmentation/targeting in your MA/CRM platforms to ensure that only Buyers who meet the above lead qualification criteria are invited directly into this stage's content. This approach accelerates the pipeline while ensuring that every lead coming through the Journey is fully qualified.

S3 Stage Qualification Threshold & Actionable *

This is the level of Buyer qualification you are trying to achieve with this particular content interaction. Many MA/CRM platforms assign a score when a Buyer simply accesses an asset. But here you are building smart content experiences that can go much deeper than that with interactions. Also simply describe the action to be taken by Marketing and/or Sales when this threshold is met.

Content Settings

S3 Smart Content Experience (SCE) Name *

You might not want to worry about the "name" or "type" of the asset and instead just specify what you want the content to DO via the direction below. Then your content creator(s) can dream up the best type of asset to execute on that direction.

S3 SCE Description *

What do you want this content experience to do for the Buyer and for your company?

S3 Interaction & Resulting RTP *

Describe the desired interaction the Buyer will have with this asset. Then, if it will do so, describe how the content will dynamically personalize based on this interaction.

S3 Buyer Benefits *

What does the Buyer get out of this interaction and RTP?

S3 Qualification/Actionables Outcomes *

How does the above interaction serve to meet the Lead Qualification goals of this stage? And what action should be taken by Marketing/Sales when met?

S3 CTA *

You'll see here that we've generated a stand-in CTA link from this asset to the SCE in the next stage. This ensures that the Buyer can always self-progress through the journey. Splashmetrics itself automates this linking for you in a much more powerful way. But go ahead and manually edit this URL if you know where the assets will sit. Be sure to only add other CTAs here if those assets are progressively linked in this way as well. Never kick your Buyer out of the Journey with errant linking! **NOTE** You also see that we've added a "jump" link to S5 for sales contact. Think about doing this to accelerate your pipeline. If your content in this stage is compelling enough for Buyers to make the purchase decision now - let them do it!

STAGE 4

And now it's time to finalize your case to the Buyer and get any remaining data you need to close the deal when she raises her hand. The marketing and sales teams should still be working together here on the qualification goals and content. But the "marketing voice" has faded now, and you're moving into the actual sales pitch - honing and personalizing it with all the Buyer data you've gleaned to this point.

S4 Label *

Buyer Perspective

This ROI calculator was exactly what I needed to present my findings to our buying team leads. It has inputs that allow me to immediately see our current costs and projected savings using these solutions. Best of all, it too has a completely customized takeaway report that I can share with my team. With what I've learned in just a few clicks through this content, I'm confident we can make our decision.

Stage Settings

S4 Additional Profiling (Optional)

In addition to the info obtained via the previous profiling actions, what other information do you want to get from the Buyer either via another form or the content itself?

S4 Direct Stage Entry Rules *

These rules should align with the segmentation/targeting in your MA/CRM platforms to ensure that only Buyers who meet the above lead qualification criteria are invited directly into this stage's content. This approach accelerates the pipeline while ensuring that every lead coming through the Journey is fully qualified.

S4 Stage Qualification Threshold & Actionable *

This is the level of Buyer qualification you are trying to achieve with this particular content interaction. Many MA/CRM platforms assign a score when a Buyer simply accesses an asset. But here you are building smart content experiences that can go much deeper than that with interactions. Also simply describe the action to be taken by Marketing and/or Sales when this threshold is met.

Content Settings

S4 Smart Content Experience (SCE) Name *

You might not want to worry about the "name" or "type" of the asset and instead just specify what you want the content to DO via the direction below. Then your content creator(s) can dream up the best type of asset to execute on that direction.

S4 SCE Description *

What do you want this content experience to do for the Buyer and for your company?

S4 Interaction & Resulting RTP *

Describe the desired interaction the Buyer will have with this asset. Then, if it will do so, describe how the content will dynamically personalize based on this interaction.

S4 Buyer Benefits *

What does the Buyer get out of this interaction and RTP?

S4 Qualification/Actionables Outcomes *

How does the above interaction serve to meet the Lead Qualification goals of this stage? And what action should be taken by Marketing/Sales when met?

S4 CTA *

You'll see here that we've generated a stand-in CTA link from this asset to the SCE in the next stage. This ensures that the Buyer can always self-progress through the journey. Splashmetrics itself automates this linking for you in a much more powerful way. But go ahead and manually edit this URL if you know where the assets will sit. Be sure to only add other CTAs here if those assets are progressively linked in this way as well. Never kick your Buyer out of the Journey with errant linking!

STAGE 5

Via the previous stages and smart content touches that have been co-designed by both teams, Sales now fully trusts that this Buyer is truly qualified for the deal. After all, they themselves helped establish those rules and methods. More importantly Sales now has a tremendous amount of qualification and input Buyer-direct data from this 5-touch journey. And they can now leverage that data for a completely customized 1-to-1 conversation, which can happen either through this smart content asset, through a meeting, or both. Closing deals is much easier and faster when this fully-informed position of both Buyer and Salesperson is the starting place for the conversation.

S5 Label *

Buyer Perspective

When I scheduled our team demo with the Salesperson I was amazed that she knew virtually everything about us and our needs. She'd obviously done her homework via the information we provided in our Journey, saving us a tremendous amount of time over having to explain everything from the beginning. She already had a custom demo portal set up for us with the specific solutions for our painpoints - and the savings we could see with those solutions. It was easy to say yes.

Stage Settings

S5 Additional Profiling (Optional)

In addition to the info obtained via the previous profiling actions, what other information do you want to get from the Buyer either via another form or the content itself?

S5 Direct Stage Entry Rules *

These rules should align with the segmentation/targeting in your MA/CRM platforms to ensure that only Buyers who meet the above lead qualification criteria are invited directly into this stage's content. This approach accelerates the pipeline while ensuring that every lead coming through the Journey is fully qualified.

S5 Stage Qualification Threshold & Actionable *

This is the level of Buyer qualification you are trying to achieve with this particular content interaction. Many MA/CRM platforms assign a score when a Buyer simply accesses an asset. But here you are building smart content experiences that can go much deeper than that with interactions. Also simply describe the action to be taken by Marketing and/or Sales when this threshold is met.

Content Settings

S5 Smart Content Experience (SCE) Name *

You might not want to worry about the "name" or "type" of the asset and instead just specify what you want the content to DO via the direction below. Then your content creator(s) can dream up the best type of asset to execute on that direction.

S5 SCE Description *

What do you want this content experience to do for the Buyer and for your company?

S5 Interaction & Resulting RTP *

Describe the desired interaction the Buyer will have with this asset. Then, if it will do so, describe how the content will dynamically personalize based on this interaction.

S5 Buyer Benefits *

What does the Buyer get out of this interaction and RTP?

S5 Qualification/Actionables Outcomes *

How does the above interaction serve to meet the Lead Qualification goals of this stage? And what action should be taken by Marketing/Sales when met?

S5 CTA (Optional)

You'll see here that we've generated a stand-in CTA link from this asset to the SCE in the next stage. This ensures that the Buyer can always self-progress through the journey. Splashmetrics itself automates this linking for you in a much more powerful way. But go ahead and manually edit this URL if you know where the assets will sit. Be sure to only add other CTAs here if those assets are progressively linked in this way as well. Never kick your Buyer out of the Journey with errant linking!

You're done! Congrats!

You have now generated the critical strategic information needed for a full-funnel Buyer Journey containing stage-appropriate, smart content assets that are fully customized to your Buyers. Please provide your name and email address below and we'll get your Splash right to you - along with an overview of our solutions that can help you and your teams execute this powerful last-mile journey for your Buyers. You can then present it to your Marketing, Sales, and Content teams to guide their efforts across their various platforms. We're standing by to help in any way we can!

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