When did you last audit your Marketing and Sales software? I love doing this in January. We’ve just gotten out of a busy period with a lot of ‘I’ll deal with it next year'. The second workweek of the year means no more putting off this task!
Conducting regular audits of your marketing and sales software is crucial to ensure that your systems are running smoothly and optimizing your business operations. By auditing your software, you can identify any issues or inefficiencies, update outdated information, and make necessary improvements to enhance the effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts.
Here are some key items that should be on your audit checklist:
Integrations
When conducting an audit of your marketing and sales software, one of the key areas to focus on is your integrations. Start by ensuring that you have your entire commercial tech stack documented. This includes all the tools and platforms that your team uses for marketing and sales activities. It's important to have a clear overview of all the systems and how they work together.
Next, assess the up-to-dateness of the documentation on your integrations. Check if any changes have been made since the last review and update the documentation accordingly. This will help ensure that everyone on your team has access to the most accurate and current information.
Additionally, pay attention to any sync errors that may have occurred. Sync errors can be a sign of integration issues that need to be addressed. Investigate the cause of these errors and take steps to fix them to ensure smooth data flow between your marketing and sales systems.
Evaluate whether your current integration setup still serves your team's needs or if a larger review is necessary. As your business grows and evolves, your technology requirements may change. Take the time to assess if your current integrations are still meeting your needs and consider whether any adjustments or upgrades are needed in the coming year.
- do you have your entire commercial tech stack documented?
- How up-to-date is the documentation on your integrations?
- What about sync errors?
- Does this setup still serve your team or is a larger review warranted at some point this year?
Fields or properties
Another important aspect to consider when auditing your marketing and sales software is the state of your fields or properties. Determine how many fields or properties have changed since your last review. This could include additions, modifications, or removals of fields. It's essential to keep track of these changes to maintain accurate and relevant data.
Identify if any unnecessary fields have been added by you or your colleagues. Over time, it's common for new fields to be created that may no longer serve a purpose. Cleaning up these unnecessary fields will help streamline your data management process and prevent clutter.
Review the automation processes that update values across fields and objects. Ensure that these automations are still current and functioning as intended. If any updates are needed, make a note to implement them during the audit.
Take a closer look at which properties are used most frequently and which ones are underutilized. This analysis can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts. Look for any surprises or patterns that may indicate areas for improvement or optimization.
Dig into the lifecycle stage, lead status, and lead score fields. Examine your reports to see if any anomalies or discrepancies stand out. This can help you identify any issues with data accuracy or system performance that need to be addressed.
- How many fields or properties have changed since you last reviewed your documentation?
- Have you or your colleagues added unnecessary fields that need cleaning up?
- Is all automation to update values across fields and objects still current?
- Have you been missing out on something that needs updating this year?
- Which properties are used most and which aren't? Any surprises?
- Dig into lifecycle stage, lead status and lead score. What do your reports show you? Does anything look wrong?
Analytics
Analytics play a crucial role in assessing the performance of your marketing and sales efforts. During your audit, review your overall traffic analytics to ensure that they align with your expectations. Look for any significant deviations or inconsistencies that may warrant further investigation.
Assess the volume of traffic you receive from each channel. Compare this with your expectations and industry benchmarks. If there are any notable discrepancies, consider exploring ways to optimize your channel strategies.
Evaluate the conversion rates across different stages of your sales funnel. Look for any abnormal patterns or fluctuations that may indicate underlying issues. This analysis will help you identify areas for improvement and prioritize your optimization efforts.
Verify that all your reports are correct and accurately reference the appropriate fields. Reports are essential for data-driven decision-making, so it's crucial to ensure their accuracy. Take the opportunity to consolidate and clean up any redundant or outdated reports and dashboards for improved efficiency.
- When you review your overall traffic analytics, does it look like you’d expect it would?
- Do you see the volume you’d expect from each channel?
- How about conversion rates? Does anything look off?
- Are all your reports correct and referencing the correct fields?
- Are all reports and dashboards relevant or could they be consolidated and cleaned up?
Email and database health
Your email and database health are vital for effective marketing and sales operations. Review your subscription types to determine if they are still relevant. Over time, your subscription offerings may need to be updated or streamlined to better align with your target audience's needs.
Audit your sender lists to identify and clean up any bounced or unengaged email addresses. By maintaining a healthy list of engaged subscribers, you can improve email deliverability and engagement rates.
Evaluate the engagement rates by source to identify which sources contribute positively to your database health and which ones yield mixed results. Use this information to refine your acquisition tactics and focus on channels that generate higher-quality leads.
Stay up to date on the latest email authentication requirements for senders. Compliance with these standards is essential for ensuring your emails reach the recipients' inbox and maintain a positive sender reputation.
Examine the contacts you are paying for in your software subscriptions. Implement automation processes to regularly clean up and remove contacts that no longer meet your criteria or show engagement. This will help optimize your subscription costs and ensure that you are targeting the right audience.
Refer back to the lifecycle stage and lead status fields. Assess how long it takes your team to respond to leads and evaluate the conversion rates between different lifecycle stages. This analysis will help you identify areas for improvement in lead nurturing and follow-up processes.
Investigate the status of duplicate records in your database. Clean up duplicates and identify the root causes to prevent future occurrences. This may involve updating data entry processes or implementing data validation measures.
Review your import processes to ensure that you are following the correct procedures for importing records.
- When did you last audit your sender lists? Clean up bounces and unengaged email addresses.
- How about engagement rates by source? Which sources add to your database health and which sources give mixed results? Adjust your acquisition tactics this year.
- Are you up to date on the new email authentication for senders?
- Which contacts are you paying for in your software subscriptions? Do you have automation running to keep this segment clean?
- Back to lifecycle stage and lead status. How long does it take your team to get back to a lead? What do your conversation rates from one lifecycle stage to the next look like?
- What is the status of your duplicates? Clean up duplicates and investigate what caused them in the first place so you can change these processes.
- Review your imports, are you all still sticking with the correct process to import records?
Workflows are an essential component of any marketing and sales system, driving automation and ensuring streamlined processes. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully manage and maintain your workflows for optimal efficiency. Here are some key aspects to consider when assessing your workflows:
Naming Convention and Description: Having a consistent naming convention and clear description for each workflow is essential for easy identification and understanding. Make sure that every workflow is appropriately named and described, allowing team members to quickly grasp its purpose and functionality.
Unused Workflows: Over time, your business needs may evolve, leading to the creation of new workflows or the modification of existing ones. However, it is important to periodically review your workflows and identify any that are no longer in use. Unused workflows can clutter your system and create confusion, so it is advisable to disable or delete them to maintain a clean and organized workflow setup.
Workflows with Errors: Errors in workflows can disrupt the smooth flow of data and automation, leading to inefficiencies and inaccuracies. It is crucial to identify and address any workflows that are experiencing errors promptly. Review error logs and investigate the cause of the errors to rectify them. This will help ensure that your workflows are functioning as intended and delivering the desired outcomes.
Workflow Cleanup and Consolidation: As your business evolves, it is natural for your workflows to undergo changes. Some workflows may become redundant or overlap in functionality, leading to unnecessary complexity. Conducting a thorough audit can help identify workflows that can be cleaned up or consolidated. Streamlining your workflows will simplify your system, making it easier to manage and maintain.
By addressing these aspects of your workflows, you can optimize the efficiency of your marketing and sales systems. Regularly reviewing and refining your workflows will ensure that they align with your evolving business needs and contribute to the smooth functioning of your processes.
- Is there a correct naming convention and description for every flow?
- Are there unused workflows?
- Are there workflows with errors?
- Are there workflows that should be cleaned up or consolidated?
Forms
Forms play a crucial role in capturing valuable information from your audience and guiding them through their buyer journey. It is essential to regularly assess and update your forms to ensure they align with the different stages of your buyer journey.
Begin by evaluating whether your forms match the stages in your buyer journey. Each stage may require different information from your prospects, so it's important to customize your forms accordingly. For example, in the awareness stage, you might ask for basic contact information, while in the consideration stage, you might gather more specific details about their challenges and goals.
Another aspect to consider is the conversion rate across your forms. Have you noticed a drop in conversion rates? It could indicate that your forms are too lengthy or asking for unnecessary information. Streamline your forms by removing any fields that are not essential for your lead nurturing process. This will help improve the user experience and increase conversion rates.
Reflect on any changes that have occurred in your persona or buyer journey over the past year. Have you updated your forms to reflect these changes? It's crucial to ensure that your forms are collecting the right information at each stage of the buyer journey. By capturing relevant data, you can better understand your audience's needs and tailor your marketing and sales efforts accordingly.
Consider implementing progressive profiling in your forms. Progressive profiling allows you to gradually collect more information from your prospects over time. Instead of overwhelming them with a long list of questions upfront, you can gather additional details as they engage with your content or move through the buyer journey. This approach helps build trust and avoids overwhelming your prospects with too many form fields.
Lastly, review your opt-ins and consent language. Ensure that your opt-ins are clear and transparent, providing your audience with the necessary information about how their data will be used. Double-check that your consent language aligns with the latest data protection regulations and best practices.
By regularly assessing and updating your forms, you can optimize the data collection process, improve conversion rates, and ensure compliance with data protection regulations. This will ultimately contribute to the overall effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts.
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- Do your forms match the stages in your buyer journey?
- Has conversion dropped across your forms?
- Has anything changed in your persona or buyer journey in the past year and have you updated your forms to reflect the information you need at each stage?
- Are you using progressive profiling everywhere?
- Are your opt-ins and is your consent language correct?
Lead handover
Lead handover is a critical aspect of any marketing and sales system. It ensures a smooth transition of leads from one team or individual to another, allowing for efficient follow-up and nurturing. However, it is essential to regularly assess and refine your lead handover process to maximize its effectiveness.
Start by gathering feedback on your current lead handover process. Speak to both the sending and receiving teams to understand their perspectives and identify any pain points or areas for improvement. This feedback will provide valuable insights into how well the process is working and what adjustments may be necessary.
If there have been changes in your team, such as new hires or role restructuring, it is crucial to ensure that these changes are reflected in your lead handover setup. Review your workflows and systems to ensure that the right individuals or teams are assigned to receive and work on leads based on their expertise and availability. This will help streamline the handover process and ensure that leads are directed to the most appropriate individuals.
Take a close look at your outreach sequences to assess their performance and determine when they were last reviewed. Outreach sequences play a vital role in engaging and nurturing leads, so it is important to regularly evaluate their effectiveness. Measure key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to determine how well your sequences are performing. If it has been a while since they were last reviewed, consider conducting an in-depth analysis to identify any areas for improvement or optimization.
Compare conversion rates between different sequences or teams to identify any variations. Look for patterns or differences in approach that may be contributing to the variations. For example, one team may be using more personalized messaging or incorporating more interactive content, leading to higher conversion rates. By understanding what different teams are doing differently, you can identify best practices and potentially implement them across the board to improve overall performance.
In conclusion, regularly evaluating and refining your lead handover process is crucial for maximizing efficiency and ensuring that leads are effectively nurtured. By gathering feedback, reflecting team changes, reviewing outreach sequences, and analyzing conversion rates, you can make informed adjustments that will contribute to the overall success of your marketing and sales efforts.
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- What has the feedback on your lead handover process been?
- Are there changes in the team that need to be reflected in your setup?
- What do your outreach sequences look like? How are they performing and when have they last been reviewed?
- Do conversion rates differ from one sequence or team to the next? What are they doing differently?
Deal pipeline
Managing your deal pipeline is crucial for the success of your sales process. It allows you to track and evaluate the progress of your deals, ensuring that they are moving forward efficiently. However, it is important to regularly assess and optimize your deal pipeline to ensure its relevance and effectiveness.
Start by reviewing your pipelines. Do you have multiple pipelines? While having multiple pipelines can be beneficial for different product lines or customer segments, it's important to assess whether they are all still relevant. Over time, your business priorities and strategies may change, and certain pipelines may become obsolete. Consolidating or eliminating pipelines that are no longer necessary will help streamline your sales process and improve efficiency.
Next, evaluate the stages in your pipelines. Are all the stages relevant and used effectively? Each stage should represent a key milestone in the sales process, and it's essential to ensure that they align with your actual workflow. Review each stage and determine whether it accurately reflects the progress of a deal. Additionally, assess whether the probability assigned to each stage matches the reality of your sales performance. If certain stages consistently result in different outcomes than expected, it may be necessary to update the probability associated with those stages.
Consider the data collected at each stage of your pipeline. Is there crucial data missing that could provide valuable insights into the progress of a deal? It's important to identify any gaps in information and make them required before a deal can be moved to the next stage. This will ensure that you have all the necessary data to make informed decisions and effectively manage your deals.
Check for any stages that are being skipped in your pipeline. Skipping stages can lead to a lack of visibility and misalignment in your sales process. Ensure that each stage is completed before moving a deal forward, as this will provide a comprehensive overview of the deal's progress and enable accurate forecasting.
Lastly, assess whether there are any old deals stuck in the pipeline. Deals that have been inactive for a long time may no longer be viable or relevant. Consider closing these deals as lost to maintain the accuracy of your pipeline and focus your efforts on more promising opportunities.
By regularly evaluating and optimizing your deal pipeline, you can ensure that it remains relevant and effective in supporting your sales process. Consolidating pipelines, reviewing and updating stages, collecting crucial data, avoiding skipped stages, and closing old deals will contribute to a streamlined and efficient sales process, ultimately resulting in improved sales performance.
- Do you have multiple pipelines? Are they all still relevant?
- Are all the stages relevant and used? Does the probability match reality or should anything be updated?
- Is there crucial data that's missing at certain stages? Should you make information required before a deal can be moved to the next stage?
- Are there stages being skipped?
- Are there old deals stuck in the pipeline? Should they be closed lost?
Users and teams
Users and teams are an integral part of any organization, and it's important to regularly assess and optimize their roles and responsibilities within your system. Start by identifying any inactive users who should be removed. Inactive users not only take up unnecessary space but also may still have ownership of contacts, companies, or deals that need to be reassigned. By removing inactive users and reassigning their ownership, you can ensure that all data is accurately attributed and managed by active team members.
Additionally, take a closer look at the emails or templates associated with inactive users. It's possible that there are emails or templates in their names that need to be changed to reflect the current team structure. This will help maintain consistency and avoid any confusion when sending out communications to clients or leads.
Security is another crucial aspect to consider when evaluating your users and teams. Ensure that everyone meets the necessary security requirements, especially if they have access to sensitive data or confidential information. Regularly review and update user permissions to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to certain data or functionalities.
Evaluate the number of admins you have within your system. Admins play a key role in managing and overseeing user accounts and system settings. It's important to assess whether you have an appropriate number of admins to effectively manage your organization's needs. Having too few admins can lead to bottlenecks and delays in user management, while having too many can create confusion and potential security risks. Find the right balance and adjust the number of admins accordingly.
Lastly, review your paid seats and ensure that they are assigned to the right people. As organizations evolve and team structures change, it's crucial to regularly assess whether your paid seats are being utilized effectively. Ensure that each paid seat is assigned to an active team member who requires access to the system. By optimizing your seat assignments, you can maximize the value of your investment and ensure that resources are allocated efficiently.
In conclusion, regularly evaluating and optimizing your users and teams is crucial for maintaining a streamlined and efficient system. By removing inactive users, reassigning ownership, updating emails or templates, ensuring security compliance, evaluating the number of admins, and optimizing seat assignments, you can ensure that your system is effectively supporting your organization's needs and maximizing productivity.
- Are there any inactive users that should be removed? Do they own contacts, companies or deals that need to be reassigned?
- Are there emails or templates in their names that need changing?
- Does everyone meet the security requirements?
- How many admins do you have?
- Are you using all paid seats and are the seats still assigned to the right people?
Contracts and renewals
Subscriptions and renewals are a crucial aspect of managing your business's expenses and ensuring that you continue to have access to the necessary tools and services. It is important to have a clear overview of when all your subscriptions renew to avoid any unexpected charges or interruptions in service.
By keeping track of renewal dates, you can plan ahead and assess whether you still need each subscription. In the fast-paced world of business, needs and priorities can change, and it is essential to regularly evaluate the value and relevance of each subscription. Before a renewal, take the time to review your subscriptions and determine if there are any that can be cancelled or downsized. This will help you optimize your expenses and avoid unnecessary costs.
To streamline the renewal process, consider sending calendar invites to your colleagues for relevant deadlines. By sharing this information and involving the appropriate team members, you can ensure that everyone is aware of upcoming renewals and can contribute to the decision-making process. This collaborative approach will help you gather valuable input and ensure that renewals are based on the needs and feedback of the entire team.
Furthermore, before a renewal, it is important to clean up anything that may no longer be necessary. This can include cancelling subscriptions for unused or redundant tools, removing access for employees who no longer require it, or updating user permissions to align with current roles and responsibilities. By conducting this cleanup process, you can optimize your subscriptions, improve efficiency, and reduce unnecessary expenses.
In conclusion, having an overview of when all your subscriptions renew and taking the necessary steps before a renewal can help you effectively manage your expenses and ensure that you are getting the most value from your subscriptions. By regularly evaluating the relevance of each subscription, involving your colleagues in the decision-making process, and conducting a cleanup before renewals, you can streamline your operations, optimize your expenses, and ultimately contribute to the overall success of your business.
- Do you have an overview of when all your subscriptions renew?
- Do you have to clean up anything before a renewal? Send calendar invites to your colleagues for relevant deadlines.
What else is on your checklist? Get in touch if you need a pair of fresh eyes on your setup for a good start to 2024!
If you'd like a template for a full HubSpot portal audit, click the link below:
