Customer Feedback Builds Better Messaging for Influencer Relations

1. ALTIUM CASE STUDY
Customer Feedback
Builds Compelling
Messaging for
Influencer Relations

2. Objective
Engineers use Altium Designer software to design
increasingly complex electronics projects. The company
found itself between major announcements, and sought a
way to generate news hooks the media would find compelling.
McBru recommended a survey of Altium’s most recent
customers, totally nearly 500 over the previous 12 month
period. The survey collected dara about the customers’
experiences with EDA tools, and look for interesting trends
that could translate into storylines. The plan:
To dig into what matters to design
engineers worldwide, McBru fired • Delve into the experiences of its most recent customers
up its proprietary intelligent dialog for insights into preference and purchase behavior.
technology.
• Provide direction and content for a major influencer
relations push.
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3. Strategy
For this fast-turn, multi-faceted program, McBru fired up one”) with qualitative ones (“you said yes, why do you feel
its proprietary intelligent dialog technology. Unlike a static that way?”). In our parlance, we ask for the what, and we
web survey, it mimics an interactive discussion with an ask for the why.
Altium representative, asking a series of related questions
that build understanding and affinity. This service helps Why go through all this effort to support an influencer
McBru clients to “mine the minds” of thousands of well- relations (IR) campaign? The challenge for Altium was
targeted prospects around the world, all at the same time. that most of the features of the Altium Designer 10 were
already public knowledge, through an extensive beta
McBru loaded a list of Altium’s most recent customers program and “soft launch” among its customer base. The
— representing 500 companies company needed fresh, substantive,
using Altium Designer v10 — into media-worthy content to support
Customers feel that they
the McBru Direct email marketing the formal launch of this version
platform. Through a series of high
are learning even as they of the software. Backing up key
impact, personalized invitations, provide their input. product features with real customer
the program engaged several experience, gleaned from hundreds
hundred of these customers in the dialog. of users, infused the rollout with greater impact.
These respondents shared their views on the use, Results
challenges, and benefits in moving from a competitor’s The program unearthed a number of valuable insights that
software to Altium Designer 10. Because the dialog illuminated customer decision-making and experiences
simulates an interactive Q&A with an Altium expert, with the software. For example, Altium Designer is
customers feel that they are learning even as they provided significantly more affordable than the products from its
their input. This technique builds goodwill, a concrete chief competitors, yet its customers value the product’s
step to maintaining a positive reputation. It also makes unified design environment more than price. This is a much
it more natural to follow quantitative questions (“choose better position than “low cost” to take in the company’s
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4. We rolled the dialog results from Altium’s IR campaign to
the blogosphere and trade media and received extensive
coverage: inclusion in a cover story in EDN magazine
and articles in major blogs and periodicals. In fact, Chip
Design magazine repurposed a graph pulled directly from
one of the intelligent dialog reports.
Through careful questioning, we were also able to identify
the best evangelists in the customer pool and discern
what they care about most. Their opinions are critical
to refining the strategy to build revenue. For example,
we asked them if they would
serve as a reference. Fully
30% of the group said
messaging. Other dialog
questions exposed strengths
and weaknesses of those
competitors, giving the message even better positioning.
We also asked questions about specific proof points,
such as the level of productivity boost from using the
Altium Designer. The result: 84% of the respondents
said 2X or better. That powerful statistic became a key
asset in the client’s website as well as the subsequent
marketing program.
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5. Survey results fueled up front-page coverage in
magazines and blogs.
yes, representing hundreds of opportunities to pursue These evangelists played an important role as the IR
case studies for specific industries and job titles. With campaign coverage hit the blogs and periodicals. McBru
McBru’s help, Altium has developed numerous success noticed that Altium competitors were leaving negative
stories from the customer pool that continue to reinforce comments on the stories and blog posts. McBru invited
its marketing efforts. certain evangelists to read the coverage, and they jumped
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6. to Altium’s defense, publically, in the forums. Many of these questions could be answered by listening
to customers over time—through traditional means like
Finally, the intelligent dialog responses are important customer visits and trade shows, and using social media
input to fine-tune the sales monitoring tools as McBru
process itself. For example, does. But an intelligent
Altium gained first-hand 30% of the group said yes, representing dialog is a better choice when
intelligence about the size hundreds of opportunities to pursue case you need answers to specific
and responsiveness of studies for specific industries and job titles. questions fast. Under the
various market segments. right circumstances, you
Altium learned the average can engage hundreds or
size of the customers’ designs. The responses also thousands of individuals and derive actionable answers—
helped define the length of the sales cycle and at what the whats and the whys—in a couple of weeks.
level sales decisions are made.
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7. Elise F. Burke
Director of Marketing and Sales
direct: 503.546.1017
mobile: 503.459.7545
elise@mcbru.com
www.mcbru.com
LET’S START SOMETHING.
elise@mcbru.com
www.mcbru.com
www.mcbrublog.com
@mcbru
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