Building Out a Suite of Tech Products
IEX Group set out to expand their business with a suite of technology solutions that included IEX Cloud Apperate, a cloud data platform that helps software developers and entrepreneurs solve challenges that come with managing real-time data; Dispatch, an on-chain messaging and analytics tool helping brands simplify their sales funnels by directly connecting with customer’s wallets; and swXtch.io, enabling multicast (a method for delivering high-bandwidth data to millions of users at once) in the cloud.
These technology solutions are in addition to IEX's registered stock exchange, the IEX Exchange (Investors' Exchange LLC), which had a separate digital marketing infrastructure.
IEX knew they needed the infrastructure to support the growth of these technology solutions by implementing new sales and marketing tools.
Marija Zivanovic-Smith, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at IEX explains:
“When I joined IEX in mid-2022, the sales and marketing tech infrastructure was built to market a core set of IEX Exchange customers. The new businesses were very different from the core Exchange product, with different audiences, value propositions, and very different GTM. My first priority as CMCO was to empower our team with a modern marketing tech stack that would go beyond tactical execution to driving real ROI for our diverse businesses.”
Disparate sales & marketing tools
Prior to 2022, each IEX business implemented their own tools, which included more than eight different data sources. The marketing team was left with the task of pulling together the disparate data with piecemeal tools. Aligning sales and marketing data across their technology businesses to measure true impact was problematic.
These disparate tools also made coordination among teams inefficient.
“We would have an onboarding workflow over here and announcement emails going out over there,” says Sara Forster, Director of Marketing and IEX HubSpot Integration Lead. “We’d try to track all of it. But it was sporadic and didn’t funnel together.”
Launch of a new tech offering
As IEX prepared to launch Dispatch and swXtch.io's cloudSwXtch, their latest tech offerings, Marija and her team saw an opportunity to connect sales and marketing processes.
“We knew the launch of Dispatch and cloudSwXtch was the perfect opportunity to consolidate sales and marketing data onto one platform,” says Marija. “It was time to start with a consolidated platform from the outset and use that as our business case to bring the rest of the business along.”
Satisfying unique business requirements
IEX Group dove into researching different options and platforms. Any platform the team chose would need to be flexible enough to accommodate the unique uses for each technology business.
Ultimately, they decided to implement the full HubSpot CRM platform, including Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub, and CMS Hub.
Marija expands on the selection process:
“I am grateful that I have a power team who could move this forward and make it all happen. Jessie Schroeder, Marketing Operations & Analytics, dug deep into what IEX could gain from a platform like HubSpot. Sarah Karlovich, Head of Digital Marketing & Revenue Operations, was able to provide us with great insights into how to use the platform to create digital marketing growth strategies from her experiences in the past. And Sara Forster, Director of Marketing and Business Operations for Dispatch took on the role of IEX HubSpot Integration Lead, playing an instrumental position in not only the upfront research but as the liaison between HubSpot and all our teams to achieve a successful integration.”
Implementing the HubSpot CRM Platform
IEX started by implementing Sales Hub for the Dispatch sales team. It didn’t take them long to get up to speed.
“They really hit the ground running,” says Sara. “They were using it within days.”
Next, they worked with the marketing team at IEX Cloud to migrate their data into HubSpot and set up partitioning between IEX Cloud and Dispatch.
Sara, the project lead, describes the process:
“IEX Cloud had a big product launch coming up, so it was all hands on deck to implement HubSpot on time. We had to set up campaigns and hook them into our product through an API. There were a lot of steps. The fact that we could get it going and use it in such a public way was a pretty big deal.”
Expert implementation support
Throughout the implementation, IEX received support from the HubSpot onboarding team, particularly their Principal Customer Onboarding Specialist, Jonathan Doborovich.
“HubSpot was there when we needed them,” says Sara. “It’s really useful to have an onboarding specialist work with us who really understands our business and our concerns.”
Jonathan also helped answer questions and address the concerns of other IEX groups.
“When our information security team had questions, when our compliance team had questions, HubSpot partnered with us to answer them and keep us on track,” says Sara.
A complete picture of the customer journey
With HubSpot, the IEX Group has a complete picture of the customer journey at their fingertips.
They also have renewed confidence in their data for things big and small, even something as simple as sending the right messages to the right people.
Lead attribution
The IEX team also has lead attribution insights that go well beyond what other analytics tools can deliver. Sales and marketing teams can see what activities are driving leads in real-time and connect digital channels and traditional offline channels (such as events) in one central place.
“I am a big believer in data-driven decision-making. One of my priorities for implementing HubSpot was to feel confident in the data we have. We can make assumptions about what’s driving leads, but assuming what’s driving results is dangerous,” says Marija. “We are now empowered to make data-driven decisions for our technology businesses and see precisely what sales and marketing activities are bringing people in.”
Data insights for decision-making
These data insights are at the fingertips of sales and marketing managers through HubSpot dashboards, empowering them to make data-based decisions about budgets and resources.
The team is now utilizing more than seven different dashboards custom created for each internal audience to get the right information to the right stakeholders.
“The data gives us a clear picture of where our budget is best spent,” says Sara. “We can see, all in one place, what different channels are costing us and what they’re delivering.”
Deal boards with real-time data
Individual sales team members also have access to real-time data via HubSpot’s deal board view. It is a game-changer for the Dispatch sales team in particular.
With deal boards live in HubSpot, along with their contacts and leads, IEX is able to stay up to date in real-time and is no longer limited by working from past snapshots.
Assigning leads to team members
When new contacts come in through a form, the administrators can assign them to the right people without having to do anything manually, giving them confidence that they won’t fall through the cracks.
IEX is also using HubSpot integrations with other tools, such as the HubSpot-Slack integration, to further automate internal processes.
“For Dispatch, we have our HubSpot connected to Slack to give updates to people,” says Sara. “It really informs how people work on an everyday basis.”
Improved Marketing ROI With Greater Alignment
Now that sales and marketing are aligned on the HubSpot CRM platform, Marija is confident that IEX’s marketing ROI has increased.
For instance, one of the businesses has seen a 50% increase in leads since the implementation of HubSpot, with almost a 300% increase in ICP leads. IEX also continues to grow their marketing funnel through HubSpot tools and has seen 2x growth month-over-month for sales-qualified leads across another area of the business.
As Marija says, “We are now empowered by our infrastructure. HubSpot allows us to move and experiment more quickly. As a result, we use our time better, reinvesting it in marketing strategy and creativity to drive business results.”
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