The marketing strategy that fueled Intercom’s stunning growth
It’s a story that’s true for any industry: Your potential customers are making choices every day. They’re looking for products and services that can help them become who they aspire to be. To choose you, they must believe that you empathize with their struggle and your product can transform them or their world.
We’ve explored how to cultivate believers by infusing your marketing content with empathy and relevance. But what does it look like to craft an overarching marketing strategy that is powered by these two pillars of customer centricity?
The Customer Journey
Let’s start by examining the purchasing journey from the customer’s perspective (the demand side of the “supply and demand” relationship). Bob Moesta, author of Demand Side Sales 101 and one of the leading architects of Jobs to Be Done theory, describes the customer’s journey toward a purchase in five phases.
First Thought. The purchasing journey is triggered by that first thought; the moment when the customer realizes that something in their lives isn’t working well.
Passive Looking. The customer then starts to notice alternative options that might help them—without investing any real energy into the research.
Active Looking. Next, something triggers the customer to decide they’ve had enough. They begin to invest energy into finding a solution for the situation that they’re struggling with.
Deciding. Finally, the customer is faced with some sort of deadline that triggers the decision-making process. They solidify their decision criteria, narrow down their options, then choose a solution that can help them make progress on their struggle.
Using. Once the purchase is made, the customer starts using the product or service and begins evaluating how well the solution is helping them improve their situation.
Crafting an Empathetic Marketing Strategy
Is it possible for a business (the supply side) to craft a marketing strategy that is fully grounded in the demand-side perspective; that acknowledges the journey the consumer travels on the way to a purchase?
The software company Intercom did. With the help of Moesta’s team at The Re-Wired Group, Intercom determined which customer struggles they were best positioned to solve, then crafted their strategy in five phases, each of which correspond with a phase of the customer’s journey.
Reach. Phase one is all about identifying which consumers might be best served by their products, and how to reach them to trigger that First Thought.
Attract. Phase two involves determining how to best attract consumers in Passive Looking mode, focusing on introducing them to the brand and product.
Convince. Phase three amounts to uncovering the most effective ways to convince consumers in Active Looking mode that you represent the best solution to their struggle.
Educate. Phase four means ascertaining how to best educate the consumers in Deciding mode, in order to help them get more value out of your product.
Delight. The fifth phase is all about continually delighting the Using customers so that these customers become fans and promoters of the product.
Intercom growth March 2014—September 2015
Intercom launched this new approach in March 2014. The result? They saw their unique visitors increase from 35k to 220k over the span of just 18 months. That’s more than five times the uniques they started with the previous spring.
And they’re still growing. By 2021, the tenth anniversary of their launch, Intercom was reporting $200 million in sales. There’s only one other SAAS company that has grown faster (it’s Slack, in case you were wondering.)
Actualizing this Framework
The beauty of this framework is that it helps Intercom determine which marketing activities will be most effective. And it gives Intercom’s team the confidence to take a measured, deliberate approach that targets customers in each phase of their purchasing journey. What does this look like in real life?
First, Intercom starts by meeting their target customers where they are, literally—sponsoring and/or attending trade events, pursuing speaking engagements, making podcast appearances. In other words, they show up wherever their potential customers are congregating, working to prompt that First Thought.
Intercom then aims to get on (and stay on) the radar of their target customers. They help these folks become familiar with their brand by providing bite-sized morsels of entertaining, friendly marketing (like this 15-second video ad.) Consumers who are in Passive Looking mode get a taste of Intercom—just enough to be left wanting more.
Next, Intercom works to convince customers in the Active Looking phase that Intercom is the best solution to that customer’s struggle. For Intercom, this means creating informative product landing pages, writing tons of blog posts, and even publishing books. Intercom’s co-founder Des Traynor has been quoted as saying that their blog posts have been their most effective form of marketing. If you read a few, you’ll see why. The content is just as valuable as the products they sell. It’s useful, actionable; and this instills a level of trust that can’t be bought.
Intercom also focuses on helping their customers get more value out of their products. Customers in the Deciding phase have the option to try Intercom for free. Once they’re in, they get timely, targeted messages to help them navigate the world of Intercom. They’re also provided with training webinars, a help center, and Interconnected, an interactive customer community.
Finally, Intercom asks this very important question: How do we delight customers in the Using phase so that they become promoters of our products? The goal here is to make their customers so satisfied that they become Intercom’s free marketing engine. This work requires a deep understanding of the customer’s needs and motivations (or Jobs to be Done) so that when Intercom releases new features and improvements, they actually help customers solve their “jobs” even better than before.
Intercom’s record-breaking growth over the past ten years speaks for itself—and provides valuable insights for arts leaders. Don’t let your nonprofit status prevent you from emulating their example.
