Using progressive profiling

Hi Timothy,

Progressive profiling relies on the user providing their details initially and coming back a second time to the same (or different form). The user will see the form prepopulated with their existing info and with blank (progressive profiling enabled) fields.

If you have enabled progressive profiling when setting up the form (and it is all set up correctly) it should start happening straight away. Do you have the form sitting on a Marketo landing page?

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the clarification. But what I wanted to find out was what triggers the users to come back a second time?
Will I need to create an email to be sent out each time to get their information? 
Or do I leave it to Marketo to do it?
 

Hi Timothy,

The marketing you do will trigger the users to come back a second time and it may not always be an email that makes them come back (i.e. it could be a flyer, press ad, paid search ad, etc.).

Here's an example of how the process might work:

1. A user visits your website and fills in a form to download a case study
2. You send a follow up email 2 weeks later to  the same user with another piece of engaging content. The content requires the user to enter their details again to access it.  All of their details are in the form (prepulated) but there are a couple of additional fields (thanks to the progressive profiling)
3. The user clicks on the link to the content and fills in the form to access the content
4. You receive additional information about the lead thanks to the information captured in the additional fields
5. OR user comes to your site a second time to fill out an enquiry form which may have additional progressive profiling fields (enabling you to get more information from the lead).

I hope that helps.

Hi Kevin,

Thanks - that's quite helpful. So now at least I know I'll need to send some kind of follow-up email to get them to come back and fill up the progressive profiling form.

But that leads me to the next question, which may also be a misconception on my end - how is this "progressive profiling" marketing automation since we'll need to constantly get them to come back to our landing page to fill up the form?

Regards,
Timothy

The value of the progressive profiling is in shortening your form length.  Various studies suggest shorter forms convert higher, but your salespeople want more information on leads, so progressive profiling solves this by using the shortest possible form length your company will support to obtain the most information possible.

Marketing automation is not a silver bullet that will bring in hundreds of perfectly qualified leads ready to buy from you.  It automates some of the more mundane parts of marketing (ie creating the same exact email repeatedly) so you have more time to work on the hard parts (creating the product and content your market wants.)

I agree with Steven, the value of this feature is definitely providing shorted forms and gathering more information over time. Users don't like to give too much information upfront so gathering an additional field each time won't scare the prospect away but will still provide the data your salespeople people need.