Frequently Asked Questions about Net-Results
General Questions
1. What is marketing automation and demand generation?
Marketing automation software enables you to automate the internal and external processes of target marketing and communications, such as automatically generating follow up emails to prospects based on their actions. Demand generation refers to the use of sales and/or marketing tactics, such as email marketing and outbound sales calls, to generate interest in your product or service.
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2. How does Net-Results work?
Net-Results is a web-based subscription service that doesn’t require you to purchase or install any software or additional hardware. Net-Results does not utilize spyware or any other invasive technology to infringe on privacy. We simply provide you with a unique code that you or your website manager can easily attach to each of your web pages. That code allows Net-Results to identify your visitors and track behaviors specific to each while they are visiting your website. Basic information will be available instantly without any visitor interaction including: company name, geographic location, entry page, exit page, referral source, time of visit, total visit duration, number of pages viewed, specific pages viewed, duration of page view, repeat visits, search terms, and more. When specific visitor actions are taken (see question #3), Net-Results is able to collect identifiable information from visitors including their name, phone number, physical address and email address.
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3. Does Net-Results infringe on privacy by collecting this information?
No. Net-Results never intrudes into any computer. To identify and track website visitors, our service will place a first-party "cookie" with a unique identifying code on the web browser of every visitor. Use of cookies is a common practice and is not considered "spyware" or invasive to your visitors; it is simply used for informational purposes. A prospective customer will have to take an "opt-in" action such as opening an email, filling out a web form, or making a purchase to personally identify themselves.. The information we collect about companies, referral sources, geographic location, etc. are regularly obtained by most major analytic technologies. We do recommend that an appropriate privacy policy be published on your website.
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4. How is Net-Results different from Google Analytics and other free tools?
When you become a customer of Net-Results, you will notice one major distinguishing feature: analytics can in no way show you identifiable visitor information, such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers. When specific "opt-in" user behaviors occur, Net-Results can provide this information.
While traditional analytics and web statistics provide some very useful knowledge about your website visitors as an entire group, Net-Results allows you to focus on precise details about individual users. For example, analytics can determine the geographic locations of people visiting your site. Separately, analytics can also list the sources of referral traffic to your site. However, analytics is not able to combine multiple elements on a per-visitor scale; it won’t tell you the exact referral source of a distinct user (including their name and email address) from a particular geographic location. Net-Results compiles large amounts of information about unique visitors and provides detailed data for each, including identifiable information when certain conditions are met.
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5. How is Net-Results different from other mass email tools?
If you have used basic emailing services in the past, you may have noticed the lack of in-depth reporting. Most email marketing solution providers, particularly the less expensive ones, will allow you to create and send custom emails. But you might be less than pleased with the results returned once an email has been sent. You may be able to see who opened the email and who clicked certain links, but you may not be able to see what they did on your website after that. And, you will not be able to know if they have previously visited your site and when they come back. You are simply left with a few small pieces of information with little indication of how big the puzzle of user interaction could really be.
Net-Results not only provides the features and reporting of standard email services, such as open rate, clickthrough rate, email templates, contact management, and list management, but also provides tracking on everything recipients do after they click through your email. This includes tracking individual users with identifiable information by which pages they view, how long they spend on each page, how long they stay on the site, exit pages, and more. Plus, you’ll know if they have previously been to your site and every time they return, regardless if subsequent visits come from the initial email. You’ll also be able to create extensive drip campaigns and remarketing opportunities unlike any other service you’ve tried.
While some other email service providers can be integrated with analytics and other tracking services, they still don't compare to Net-Results. Within a single web portal, all of your visitor tracking and email reporting data is easily be obtained, sorted, and analyzed in ONE place. It's accurate, complete, and fully integrated with all features and capabilities in a central location. You will not have to go through additional set up, search for data in multiple places, manually upload information to another location, or fail to understand the data as analyzed.
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6. How is Net-Results different from CRM tools like SalesForce.com?
Customer Relationship Management or CRM tools are a great way to keep track of your contacts’ information and communications, manage your sales pipeline, forecast revenue, and keep track of schedules. However, a CRM tool is only as good as the information you enter into it. CRM tools are not able to automatically track website visitors and reveal identifiable information the way Net-Results does. Any sales intelligence you gain about a prospect has to be manually entered into a CRM. Generally, CRMs can automatically send email communications, but on a limited scale. Large drip email campaigns are typically not available unless you install a third party application for an added cost. In addition, because CRMs do not track website visits, email campaigns cannot be based on specific user behavior. Integration with third party tools is often a difficult task that goes beyond an entry-level user. Net-Results has fully integrated our visitor tracking with our email campaign system, requiring no additional set-up, alternative billing, multiple report locations, or any other hassles.
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7. Will Net-Results make my website slower?
No. The Net-Results code you install contains specific instructions that allow the entire page to load before data is sent to our servers. Your visitors will not notice a difference in the speed of your website.
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8. How do I become a Net-Results Channel Partner/Reseller?
Becoming a Net-Results Channel Partner is an easy way to enhance your current offerings and make additional revenue. There is no fee to join and we pay generous recurring commissions. Please call us at 877.946.4487 or contact us for more information.
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9. What are the minimum and recommended configurations for computers using Net-Results?
We recommend any of the following browsers for optimal use of Net-Results: Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Mozilla Firefox 2 or higher, and Safari 2 or higher.
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10. Can reports be configured to send to a specified group of people on a continual basis?
Yes, reports can be sent to any number of e-mail addresses, regardless if they are a Net-Results user, and set to run daily, weekly, monthly, or one-time by a specified date range.
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11. Are then any limitations or extra fees for the number of contacts uploaded or added to a single account?
No. You can upload or add as many contacts as you like to one Net-Results account as included in your monthly subscription fee. You are only charged a per-email fee for those contacts you send email.
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Visitor Activity Tracking Questions
12. How does Net-Results identify website visitors?
Upon implementation of the website tracking code, Net-Results will begin collecting information on all of your website visitors. Without visitors taking any action, you will instantly be able to see the following information about each:
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For Net-Results to obtain personally identifiable information, website visitors must "opt-in" to identify themselves ONLY ONCE. They do so by opening an email, completing a website form, registering for a site, logging in to a site, or responding to a direct mail piece. Net-Results tracks every visitor at all times - both before and after a visitor is personally identified. Therefore, once a visitor is known, Net-Results can reveal specifics about an individual's past visit history while continually tracking them through subsequent site visits.
In addition to the points listed above, information on known visitors includes:
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Once Net-Results has begun tracking your website visitors, you are free to call or email them at anytime to start generating new business, upgrade existing customers, or follow up on existing leads.
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13. Once a prospect has been identified, can I see if they have previously visited my website?
Yes. If Net-Results is able to identify a visitor who has previously visited your site anonymously, Net-Results will be able to provide all of the details on prior visits (as long as they have not cleared their browser cookies). The Net-Results service is able to match unique identifying cookies to any of the above listed actions for the life of your account.
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14. Does Net-Results share my visitor information with anyone else?
No. Your visitor information is yours alone. We will not share the personal information of your visitors with any other client to protect your privacy and that of your prospects.
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15. Will people know I am tracking them?
Because Net-Results does not install any software or use any invasive technology, customers will not know you are tracking them. We do ask that you have a complete privacy policy on your website that discloses the use of cookies for tracking purposes.
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16. How can I drive more traffic to my website to track visitors?
Net-Results has numerous solution partners who offer a full suite of internet marketing services, including search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), affiliate advertising campaign creation and management, creative services, website optimization, and much more. Please contact us for more information.
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Email Functionality Questions
17. How do I create emails for campaigns and what formats do you support?
Emails can be created from scratch using HTML and CSS uploader, or you can select from the numerous templates in our template library and manipulate them using our WYSIWYG editor. Net-Results supports HTML and text formats.
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18. How do I obtain a list of email addresses to do a mass emailing?
Most of our customers currently use email lists of existing customers and prospects to send email marketing communications. This means they have generated a list “in-house” through various marketing initiatives such as online forms, registration cards, business card collection, trade show booths, etc. When customers and prospects provide their contact information and agree to allow contact from your organization, they are considered “opted-in.” We find these “opt-in” lists generally yield a much higher response and conversion rate than lists that are not “opted-in.”
Net-Results respects the privacy of our customers and their prospects. Therefore, we do not provide mass emailing lists to our clients. The power of Net-Results is the ability to track every movement of individual email recipients and remarket to them based on their actions. If you are looking to build an opted-in list from the ground up, we partner with many solution providers who can help you do so. Please contact us to learn more.
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19. I’ve never created an email or set up a campaign before. Can Net-Results help?
Within the Net-Results portal you will find everything you need to quickly and easily set up and send email campaigns. Demonstration videos will walk you through the process step-by-step and provide helpful hints to creating successful campaigns. You’ll also find PDF guides with complete instructions, if you prefer to learn that way. Technical phone support is also available. We have also numerous solution partners with the expertise you need to run a successful campaign. For more information on our solution partners and email campaign assistance, please contact us.
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20. Does your system allow for testing email campaigns prior to sending live?
Yes, you can preview and send your emails to test recipients as needed as many times as you'd like before launching a campaign.
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21. How does your software manage subscribes/unsubscribes?
Net-Results manages all unsubscribes and bounces automatically and instantly. Unsubscribes links are included in the footer of every e-mail; once a recipient unsubscribes using that link they will not be sent future e-mails. If a recipient's email address becomes a hard bounce after an attempted delivery period, they will also be removed from all mailing lists and further communications will not be sent to that address.
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22. How is email tracking is provided?
You will receive email tracking information in real time as it enters our system, including information on emails sent, bounced, opened, not opened, clicked/not clicked, and website visits. Each recipient will be tracked from the moment they are sent an email throughout their complete website visit AND all subsequent visits. If they have been to your site previously in an anonymous state, that visit information will be revealed as well.
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23. Can Net-Results automatically send emails based on activity OR lack of activity?
Yes. Net-Results can send follow-up emails to recipients based on anything they did or did not do after receiving your initial email. For example, you can set up one tier of a campaign to send a specific email to everyone who opened your email, clicked through, and looked at a specific page on your site. You can then set up an alternative tier to send a completely different email to recipients who did not open or click through your initial email. You can create an unlimited amount of tiers, conditions, and actions within any given campaign.
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Subscription/Account Questions
24. Is there a minimum contract I have to sign?
We don’t believe in vendor lock-in. We know that once you use Net-Results, you will remain a customer long-term. We simply ask that you spend enough time with our service and gather sufficient data to truly understand the power of Net-Results. If you are still not convinced that Net-Results is the e-marketing answer you need, you can cancel at anytime.
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25. How do I determine my average monthly page views to know what my price point will be?
When signing up for a Net-Results account, we ask you to estimate your average monthly page views to determine your monthly subscription fee. If you use an analytics product such as Google Analytics, you should be able to login to that system, select a date range for the previous month, and see a total page views count. You’ll want to compare that number to previous months to determine an average range. If you do not have such a system in place, contact your web hosting company as they may be able to provide you with this information. If you are still unable to locate you average monthly page view range, we simply ask for your best estimate. Once you are up and running with Net-Results, we will be able to determine this number and adjust your account accordingly the following month. If your estimate is greatly off in one direction or the other, we reserve the right to adjust your initial month’s billing as well.
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26. Are there any additional charges for integration with our system?
Net-Results is generally easy to implement by most web developers and does not require any interaction with our technical team; therefore, we do not charge an implementation or integration fee. Should you need more assistance with implementation, set up, or getting started with Net-Results, we offer optional Quick Start Packages to help get your initial marketing campaigns up and running and to help familiarize your team with the various services; additional consulting is available based on need.
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27. Are there any costs for new release upgrades?
No. As we release features, your interface will be updated and you will be able to use them right away.
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28. Is there any cost for technical support?
We're here to help! Should you need any technical assistance, please feel free to call or email us at support@net-results.com, free of charge. We do offer marketing automation consulting services for an hourly fee, should you need further assistance.
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