Overview

Like many businesses with a long sales cycle, Jonas struggled to stay top of mind with their prospects. The construction accounting software company was using HubSpot to reach potential customers, but the platform wasn’t capable of dynamically nurturing leads based on prospects’ profiles and actions. 

When Jonas switched to Act-On, they were able to run more than 100 automated programs and distribute thousands of emails daily to both prospects and customers. They also dramatically increased the number of leads and opportunities, and re-engage 20% of prospects that had fallen dormant.

We’re not just automating our marketing; we’re actively supporting our buyers’ entire journey.

Sam Mendelsohn

Vice President of Business Development

Challenge

Jonas Construction Software makes accounting software for the construction, mining, moving/ storage, and metals industries. Each of Jonas’ market segments has specific requirements, and the company meets them with six products – all designed to streamline operational and accounting processes.

To communicate effectively across this broad matrix, Jonas generates a wide range of targeted content. “We look at our customers’ needs through their eyes, and then develop content to express how we can address them,” says Sam Mendelsohn, Jonas’ Vice President of Business Development. “But marketing to a broad range of industries and personas is a challenge, especially when the team responsible for it is small. Just four people support all our product lines, and communicate with all our prospects, active leads, and existing customers.”

To help manage this complexity, Sam’s team first turned to HubSpot, but were quickly stalled by its limitations. “We were mainly using it to store contacts’ records,” he says. “It was synced up with Salesforce, but it wasn’t helping us reach and stay in touch with our prospects. It’s really an inbound marketing tool that’s great for companies that do quick transactions, but not businesses like ours that require long-term prospect nurturing.”

Most of Jonas’ deals take between nine and twelve months to close, and some even take several years. Sam knows that if the company doesn’t provide prospects with a steady stream of useful content, they lose interest. “We lost deals because we weren’t fully engaging potential buyers,” he says. “We weren’t properly capturing their information up front, and we weren’t communicating with them on a regular basis – either personally or through automated campaigns. Our inability to consistently nurture leads was costing us sales.”

Solution

Sam and Oren Falkovitz, Jonas Marketing Manager, evaluated Act-On and several other automation platforms, including Pardot, Marketo and Eloqua. They ultimately picked Act-On for its robust automation programs and ease of implementation. “We needed the ability to set up more than 100 different reach campaigns, and nothing came close to Act-On,” Sam said. “The level of detail it provides and the way it integrates with Salesforce is better than anything we’ve encountered.”

Sam’s team embraced Act-On, and within a few months built what he calls the most complex marketing automation system he’s ever seen. They connected more than 200 lists from Salesforce, and created more than 100 automated programs – each tailored to a different persona, industry, and buyer stage.

Today Jonas uses Act-On to engage their audience through a myriad of communications, including newsletters, tradeshow announcements, and sales emails. They automate almost all their campaigns, and leverage their vast library of content to personalize each message. “We’re not just automating our marketing; we’re actively supporting our buyers’ entire journey,” says Sam. “Act-On logs every prospect’s behavior in their activity history, which allows the sales team to respond strategically to that data in Salesforce. It helps us keep Jonas top of mind, and reduces the length of our sales cycle.”

The Jonas marketing team also used lead scoring to create buyer personas and further fine-tune their messaging. “We gathered a lot of data and developed profiles of key prospects by assigning points based on job titles,” says Oren. “A CFO and a controller have different concerns, and Act-On allows us to send more relevant content to address them. This gives prospects a more explicit understanding of our software’s value, which leads to greater sales.”

We weren’t properly capturing their information up front, and we weren’t communicating with them on a regular basis – either personally or through automated campaigns. Our inability to consistently nurture leads was costing us sales.

Sam Mendelsohn

Vice President of Business Development

Highlights

  • 100 automated programs deliver 6,000+ emails each month
  • Increasing opportunities by 75% and leads by 30%
  • Persona-based lead scoring reignited 20% of cold leads
  • Streamlined workflow doubled the team’s productivity

It takes more than 20 touch points to move a lead from prospect to customer, and now we can easily execute those exchanges, thanks to Act-On’s ability to automate the process and deliver targeted content.

Sam Mendelsohn

Vice President of Business Development

Results

Jonas has seen tremendous results since implementing Act-On and rebuilding their website. Leads from organic sources are up 30% and opportunities from those sources have increased by 75%. Email open rates have soared from approximately 5% to as high as 35%. And the sheer volume of messages sent has skyrocketed. “We now deliver more than 6,000 emails a month, which has created many more opportunities for conversations with Sales,” Sam says. “We simply didn’t have that kind of capacity before Act-On.”

Sam estimates that Act-On has enabled Marketing and Sales to reignite more than 20% of leads that have gone cold over the years. “It takes more than 20 touch points to move a lead from prospect to customer, and now we can easily execute those exchanges, thanks to Act-On’s ability to automate the process and deliver targeted content,” says Falkovitz. “We have a deeper understanding of our buyer personas and how to maintain their interest throughout the evaluation process.”

Act-On hasn’t just helped Jonas nurture leads, it has significantly reduced the company’s hiring costs. “Act-On is one of our backbone systems and has helped us automate our world,” Sam says. “I would have to double my staff to get the same results without it. That’s a huge savings that allows us to provide more valuable content, produce higher-quality leads, and develop stronger marketing that can fuel and sustain our growth.”