OpenText expanding partnership with Anteriad results in increased ROI and lead quality

OpenText is a leading global information management company headquartered in Canada that provides solutions to help leading organizations grow faster, embrace creativity, and thrive in a world of accelerating change. In 2017, OpenText’s new customer acquisition efforts were spread across several vendors and were highly focused on a transactional lead-gen model. The marketing team at OpenText recognized the need for external B2B marketing expertise to improve their lead quality, scope, and scale.

The company selected vendors to create pilot programs that would improve OpenText’s digital lead generation performance. Anteriad quickly learned that OpenText was missing opportunities to reach in-market buyers by reaching out broadly to IT managers at large organizations, a targeting approach still used by many marketers. By applying intent data to identify which accounts were actively in the market for an enterprise software solution, and helping the team prioritize these accounts, Anteriad led all vendors in the pilot in delivering highly-qualified leads that quickly helped OpenText crush their goals.

The Anteriad and OpenText engagement evolved into a true partnership; quarterly briefings turned into bi-weekly check-ins where results were shared across teams, and the performance of assets and audiences were analyzed so that changes could be made to optimize on the fly and improve results with the newest details and insights.

Due to the pandemic, OpenText was conservative with their spend in Q120-Q220, but benefited from a longer sales cycle. Even after programs were paused, assets that were in-market — such as on-demand webinars, eBooks and analyst reports — still delivered a 6x ROI.

In 2021, OpenText changed its internal scoring model, based on feedback from Account Development teams, resulting in current program inquiries no longer scoring high enough to be passed to lead queues. Anteriad quickly responded by introducing new approaches, including two-touch lead programs, remarketing, and intent tracking to mitigate the challenges created by the new models.

Additionally, to support different business units and regions, the Anteriad and OpenText teams implemented targeted account lists and updated the persona targeting, as each business unit targeted a different industry mix. At that time, Anteriad also elevated OpenText’s ABM campaigns by adding and implementing buying groups into their strategy. The team’s increased focus on sub-Business Unit and Regional programs, led by Field Marketing requests for localization and specific targeting, resulted in 27 separate programs in Q122 in addition to the global “air cover” program.

The companies collaborated to deepen their understanding on an account level. They identified all influencers in the buying journey, looking beyond the typical IT management role to engage other buying group roles with highly personalized content, across the full range of digital channels, including social and programmatic display.

Working closely with the Anteriad team allowed OpenText to become much more nimble with their marketing operations and expand into new areas.

The partnership results to date include:

• 25% increase in Inquiry to Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) conversion
• 30% increase in MQL to Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) conversion
• 6x ROI over previous in-market content and audience recommendations
  
  

What’s next?

OpenText is looking to stay in front with Anteriad. They are exploring ways to lean into new data and insights, focusing on contact licensing, optimization, data hygiene improvements, and more.

As events return, OpenText plans to work with Anteriad to provide new managed email services to support event campaigns and other net-new strategies. They also plan to create more multi-tactic programs, combining email, display, events, and ABM for key audiences. OpenText is also planning to up their SEM/SEO game, with Anteriad’s expert search management. And, of course, with this additional investment, metrics become more important. The OpenText team is engaging with Anteriad’s Analytics and Intelligence team for valuable insights in targeting, activation, attribution, and audience intelligence.

Together, Anteriad and OpenText are creating a marketing engine that not only succeeds today, but also lays the foundation for growth and success in the months and years ahead.