Swipeclock Accelerates New Product Growth With Gartner Digital Markets

Swipeclock claimed its profile on the Gartner Digital Markets platform to build its brand when launching, ApplicantStack, a recruiting and applicant tracking software. 

“Launching a brand is hard and it’s important to get the exposure on a website that software buyers trust,” said Dan Saunders, senior director of growth and performance marketing at Swipeclock. “If you put together a compelling profile on Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice, you can engage with buyers looking for your specific software or services.”

To position its product for maximum brand exposure, the company upgraded to a Sponsored Profile and launched Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns to be at the top of HR software category pages. Saunders added, “We found that the PPC campaigns did a great job supporting brand awareness. When searching for software, oftentimes buyers type into Google what they are looking for, and what comes up are Capterra listings that help buyers easily view and compare products. PPC campaigns help us get our name out there for people to find ApplicantStack when they're searching on the web.”

To build brand equity for ApplicantStack in the HR software category, the company began collecting customer reviews on the Gartner Digital Markets platform. “Having third-party validation for reviews is what established credibility for ApplicantStack,” Saunders explained. “We have a lifecycle marketing team dedicated to managing and getting review campaigns executed and responding to reviews. We also rely on Gartner Digital Markets’ email campaign service to help us with the execution of review campaigns.” 

As Swipeclock collected reviews, it became eligible for Gartner Digital Markets' top-rated report badges, such as the Capterra Shortlist, GetApp Category Leaders, and Software Advice FrontRunners. Swipeclock has been showcasing its earned badges as another way to establish brand reputation and credibility. 

Saunders noted, “Badging is a big deal for us. We know the importance of third-party validation and the badges that serve as another layer to that strategy. We include our badges across our website and in our email signatures. We want to show off our category leadership to software buyers.”

After experiencing success with its brand-building initiatives, Swipeclock launched Pay-Per-Lead (PPL) campaigns on the Gartner Digital Markets platform to capture more buyer demand and hit pipeline goals. 

To get started, the company set its targeting criteria based on its ideal customer profile, including company size, number of users, and desired features. Then, Gartner Digital Markets software advisors began matching Swipeclock with buyers seeking software recommendations in relevant HR categories.

As a result of the lead qualification process, PPL campaigns became a reliable way for Swipeclock to generate high-quality leads and move prospects down the sales funnel more quickly. 

The BANT qualification process has resulted in a higher conversion rate compared to other lead generation channels. “Our conversion rate is 38% from lead to opportunity when leads are generated from Gartner Digital Markets,” Saunders added. 

The company has also found success utilizing the detailed lead notes shared by software advisors at Gartner Digital Markets to support its sales outreach and save time. “The level of detail and amount of information the sales team receives from Gartner Digital Markets is a huge help compared to when a lead comes in through a basic landing page. The lead notes help prep the sales team ahead of the call rather than having to do all of the discovery work themselves,” Saunders explained.

In the crowded HR software market with strong competition, Swipeclock learned that efficient sales follow up is critical for success. “We know that other providers in our software space are getting those same leads, so it’s very important to us to get on that phone call as quickly as possible. The detailed lead notes from advisors are extremely useful to tailor our sales outreach and close deals,” Saunders said. “We have a 15% opportunity to win rate, so both the sales and marketing teams are very happy.”

With strong go-to-market success for ApplicantStack, the company is also using the Gartner Digital Markets platform to launch its newest product, WorkforceHub. By leveraging PPL campaigns, for example, Swipeclock will be able to “get leads in the door for a hungry sales team,” Saunders stated. Review collection will also be a priority as a way of building brand equity for WorkforceHub, similar to the successful approach taken for ApplicantStack.