Insufficient Lead Quantity
Key MA functions such as lead scoring, analysis, and performance measurement are most effective when a sufficient volume of lead information is fed into the tool.
If you attempt to utilize MA with a low number of leads, the small sample size makes it difficult to achieve results. Furthermore, because there are fewer targets to approach, the number of closed deals will decrease proportionally.
Therefore, it is necessary to first implement initiatives to increase the volume of leads. Additionally, continuous efforts are required to prevent lead depletion.
Causes of Insufficient Lead Quantity
(Lack of Marketing Activities)
If necessary marketing activities such as advertising, content marketing, SEO, and social media utilization are insufficient, the volume of leads will be inadequate. It is important to recognize that relying on a single approach, such as "website only," makes it difficult to collect leads in the current landscape, and that multi-faceted initiatives are essential.
(Lack of Exposure to the Target Audience)
Even if you are engaged in various activities such as advertising and social media, you cannot generate leads if you are not appropriately exposing your products or services to your target audience.
Countermeasures
(Strengthening Marketing Activities)
Various methods can be considered, such as enhancing content marketing, placing paid advertisements, promoting via social media, exhibiting at trade shows, and participating in events.
(Expanding Exposure to the Target Market)
Analyze your customers, your company, and your competitors to clarify your target market. Then, conduct marketing activities directed at the appropriate target.
(Utilizing Partnerships)
Leveraging partnerships with other companies is also an effective strategy. Through joint promotions or events with partner companies, you can reach customer segments that would be difficult to reach on your own.
(Using Corporate Databases)
Another method is to use external corporate database services to uncover target markets that you have not been able to approach previously.
Inadequate Data Cleansing
Lead information collected through various marketing activities is never in a perfectly correct state; it may contain duplicates, missing information, or incorrect data. Lead data cleansing is the process of cleaning this information to improve the quality of lead data.
If lead data cleansing is not performed, even if you are using MA, it will lead to decreased productivity and lack of results, such as incorrect analysis, flawed scoring, or wasted outreach efforts.
Causes of Inadequate Lead Data Cleansing
(Lack of Resources)
Data cleansing requires specialized skills and effort. If you are managing a large volume of lead data and lack the resources (personnel, time, technology) to perform data cleansing, it may not be carried out appropriately.
Regarding client data in particular, data notation is prone to variation depending on the person entering it—such as the presence or absence of corporate status, abbreviations, confusion between headquarters and branches, and variations in address notation—which easily leads to duplicate data.
(Lack of Understanding of the Importance of Data Cleansing)
If the importance of data cleansing is not sufficiently understood within the company, MA will continue to be used without the data being properly maintained.
Countermeasures
(Securing Resources)
It is necessary to secure the resources required for data cleansing, such as personnel, time, and technology. For example, assign staff skilled in data management or set aside time dedicated to data cleansing.
(Promoting Internal Education)
Promote education and training to ensure the importance of data cleansing is understood and executed.
(Utilizing Automation Tools)
Consider introducing tools or software that streamline data cleansing tasks. By automating the data cleansing process with tools, it becomes possible to perform cleansing without allocating human resources.
(Maintaining a Corporate Master Database)
Maintain your corporate master database of clients using publicly available information from government ministries and information from database companies. This benefits not only MA but also other systems such as SFA, CRM, and core systems; by maintaining the corporate master database within the company using the same standards, data integration becomes possible.
![[Case Studies Included] Why Can't You Utilize MA? Explaining Causes and Countermeasures](https://usonar.co.jp/blog/img/bnr_datacleansing.jpg)
Incorrect Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is the process of quantifying interest in your company's services based on behavioral history to identify the most valuable leads among your prospects. However, if scoring settings are inappropriate, you may overlook important leads or allocate resources to low-quality leads.
Causes of Incorrect Lead Scoring
(Errors in Setting Scoring Criteria)
If scoring criteria are set inappropriately, leads will not be evaluated accurately. For example, excessive scores might be assigned to unimportant actions, or conversely, low scores might be set for important actions.
(Lack of Response to Changes in Market Environment)
If scoring is not updated to respond to changes in the market environment or customer behavior, the accuracy of lead evaluation will decline.
Countermeasures
(Reviewing Scoring Criteria)
Consider what actions a lead should take to warrant a high score, and how much those actions contribute to closing deals or successful transactions, then reset the scores for each action.
(Continuous Review of Scoring)
Scoring is not a one-time setup. Periodically review it in response to changes in the market environment and customer behavior, and update the scoring criteria as necessary. This ensures that scoring always reflects the latest situation.
(Data Analysis and Utilization)
Analyze past data and utilize it for setting scoring criteria. For example, analyze whether high-scoring leads actually led to business negotiations or transactions, and adjust the scoring based on those results.
