IP Tracking, which tells you the organizations that have been on your website, has been around for a long time. There are a lot of options, at various price points. Most of my clients run some version of it. Here's what I've learned from implementing it.
1. The first time you turn it on, everyone - especially CEOs - are amazed.
When you learn that the company that you've been pitching for years has been on your website, it's an exhilarating experience.2. Approximately three seconds after seeing that information, most companies go, "Now what?"
IP tracking software provides you with data. But data is just that, so now what are you going to do with it?3. My smallest clients actually like it the best.
IP Tracking software can quickly become overwhelming.... if you're a typical B2b tech company, it's not uncommon to get 20-50 identified visitors or more per day. However, if you're only getting five, it's easier to pay attention. For instance, if you're a commercial construction company, the flow/quality tends to be much higher.4. My largest clients like it, too, but they use it differently.
Large companies with well-trained SDRs love IP tracking. It's a clue for outbound hunters to follow up on. It's only a single data point, of course, but SDRs in large companies use these data points to prioritize their time.5. My medium sized clients tend to ignore it.
Simply put, if you don't have an outbound plan in place and the sales force is small, and if you have other marketing tools in place, this ones tends to get the least amount of attention. Granted, it's my job to help them maximize technology buys, so I own this failure, too.6. There are obvious implications about Work From Home
Today, more people are working from home. The savviest of companies say they have ways to identify that a person working for a ABC legal firm from home actually works for ABC. Does it work? I don't know. I suspect it works.... ok. But because this isn't the sharpest tool in my bag, I don't overthink it. I still get value from the tool.7. If you want it to be more than a parlor trick, consider options with APIs or custom notifications.
Once you turn IP tracking on, it starts throwing off data, and keeps adding to it. Some allow you to use this data to create or update accounts in your CRM. I suspect others allow you to see when multiple people from the same org have been on your website, which has obvious ABM implications. At any rate, companies that want to weaponize this data will select options with APIs for this reason.8. It's a good litmus test for your website in general.
Your website content should be built around your ideal client profile. Juxtaposing the companies that visit your site with your ICP tells you if you're attracting the right type of bee with your honey.9. It's cheaper than most marketing tools and easier to deploy.
For many of my clients, I'll deploy MergedAnalytics on their website. It's less than a hundred bucks per month and is relatively battle-proof. It doesn't have some of the high end API integrations I'd like to see, but it's perfect for most applications.10. I'm not sure why, but Pardot's IP tracking seems inferior to other solutions.
I'd been running IP tracking software for a couple of years when I first deployed Pardot in '08, which has IP tracking (they call it "identified visitor"). Because Pardot was larger and more sophisticated, I assumed their IP tracking would be better than stand-alone offerings. By and large, I don't think that's true. That's why I tend to deploy IP tracking even if the client is running Pardot.
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