As part of my ongoing series on Marketing Decision Management solutions I got an update from Lattice Engines recently. Lattice is focused on data-driven (analytic)business applications. The solutions combine “big data” with sophisticated predictive analytics to help companies market and sell more intelligently. Lattice was founded in 2006 and delivered their first application (a sales solution) in 2009 and a marketing solution more recently. They are privately held and venture funded with a head quarters in San Mateo California.
You can understand Lattice’s applications in terms of the overall sales funnel – from marketing and prospecting through qualification, sales and closing. Each predictive application focuses on part of the funnel and uses analytics to drive improved results. The Lattice applications are designed to bring predictive modeling to bear on business problems in the marketing and sales arena without needing to bring in complex analytic tools or teams with advanced analytic skills. Lattice for Marketing and Lattice for Sales are the two main packages of apps and are sold with the Lattice Data Cloud (for assembling the relevant data) and Lattice playMAKER (a foundational product that comes along as part of the Marketing and Sales applications) with integrations including Marketo, Salesforce, Eloqua and Oracle CRM On Demand.
Lattice’s underlying capability for analytics is playMAKER, a product intended for business users to build and visualize their own predictive analytics, particularly through providing a business user interface for segmentation and prediction.
The Lattice Data Cloud has 10,000 or more sources that include public data and third party data providers like LexisNexis, Experian and PIERS . This can be extended to include client licensed data and internal client data for a complete view. A few sources have an additional fee for clients that use them but mostly Lattice handle all the negotiation and management of these data sources, allowing clients to access the data simply by working with Lattice.
From a product perspective, Lattice for Marketing includes a set of apps for the top of the funnel and Lattice for Sales focuses on the apps at the bottom of the funnel. Use cases here include:
- Identify the “digital fingerprint” of the best potential prospects
In some industries the average cost for B2B leads is $43 and average cost for a new customer is over $250. - Match right segments to the right campaigns
What message will get people to convert? Where are they in the buying cycle and how should they be nurtured? - Which leads are most sales-ready
Most leads are not ready, perhaps no more than a quarter, so focusing on the right leads improves the hand off between sales and marketing.
This third one is the primary use case for their Predictive Lead Scoring application – the first packaged Marketing App (the remaining scenarios are currently supported using playMAKER). Predictive Lead Scoring uses the Lattice Data Cloud, blends this with marketing automation or CRM systems (Activities, Profile, Accounts etc), and then compares this to successful leads to find the most predictive attributes for leads. This combines company-level and individual-level factors that could range from job postings by the company or its industry, or an individual’s webinar attendance or role. A lead score is then written back to the marketing automation or CRM system. These scores can be used in segmentation or to drive handoff to sales. A set of visualizations allows customers to see distributions, set handoff thresholds etc.
The application has a simple set up screen to integrate data and then scores all the leads. The app then displays the distribution of scores in the marketing database as well as the top predictive variables. Users can interact with the predictive variables, eliminating variables if they want, and this information is often different to expected (title may not be important for instance). Visualizations include variation in lead quality over time or by lead source, lead acceptance and conversion rates by segment etc. Scoring is batch with an hourly commitment for new leads. The whole lead base – individuals and companies – is re-scored on a weekly basis.
The bottom line is the ability to reduce the number of leads passed to sales, perhaps by 50%, while still increasing revenue dramatically because the difference between the best and worst opportunities could be more than 4x.
Overall Lattice emphasizes its customer base, the Lattice Data Cloud as a source of “buying signals,” their data science and domain expertise, and their secure, cloud-based infrastructure. But mostly they focus on their understanding of the realities of marketing / the sales funnel and the role of analytics in this. Clients include large tech, financial services and retail companies.
You can get more information on Lattice Engines here.
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