Splash Transitions to a Modern Demand Strategy and Increases Qualified (HIRO) Pipeline by 80% With Refine Labs

According to Kate Hammitt, Chief Marketing Officer, there was a lot of opportunity at Splash to create a holistic journey and transition to a modern demand strategy for how buyers buy today. 

In the past, marketing focused on product features and conversion-based approaches. The results they were seeing were the same. Kate knew they had to transition to fuel their growth goals. 

Demand creation was a newer concept for the team. Splash wanted a partner that could incorporate event-led growth into their demand creation strategy, so when buyers were ready to convert, Splash was the first brand they thought of. 

“The difference we found with Refine Labs vs. other agencies is that they focused on down funnel metrics, not vanity metrics. I have a level of trust with Refine Labs; they act as a true steward of Splash’s dollars and results,” Kate stated.

Refine Labs began the partnership by setting up the correct measurements and KPIs to see the impact throughout the entire funnel. It was an educational process to get the whole organization trained and help them see the full picture. 

Before leaning into demand creation, the Refine Labs team identified demand conversion optimization issues which were resolved quickly to reduce friction in the buying process. 

Demand creation was brand new, so the Refine Labs team built the foundation. Constant optimization and experimentation were key to validation and scaling. Over the year-long partnership, Refine Labs introduced new platforms, shut down low-performing platforms, and continued fine-tuning targeting and messaging. 

• Demand Creation
• Demand Conversion
• Experimentation

At the beginning of Splash’s  journey with Refine Labs, optimizing capture and conversion was phase 1. The team immediately found marketing to sales handoff opportunities. Declared intent conversion to meeting set rate was very low due to a complicated process. Splash quickly executed the Refine Labs’ recommendations and increased the meetings set from demos by 42%, resulting in an 18% increase  in qualified (HIRO - high intent revenue opportunity, deal stage that converts at 25% or greater for the last rolling 6 months) opportunities. 

Refine Labs then launched create demand campaigns paired with self-reported attribution, allowing the team to quickly understand what's working and what’s not. Based on a self-reported attribution analysis, the team launched a small experiment focused on former users. Initial results were proven, so it was scaled to a larger campaign. It generated a 2.6X increase in HIRO pipeline creation. 

A social channel never drove significant results, so the Refine Labs team recommended shutting it down and proposed other experiments. The team is actively experimenting with YouTube to drive growth. 

Optimizing the content and messaging was key for effective social media campaigns. The Refine Labs team provided creative analyses and reviewed sales calls to increase engagement and conversion rate. Over four creative cycles, Refine Labs increased the conversion rate by 121% on LinkedIn.

Over the past year, Splash increased their results by investing in a holistic demand strategy (create, capture, and convert demand), and the results speak for themself.