Website visitor identification – a secret weapon in lead generation

Blog · Partner: POLISH YELLOW PAGES® · since 1991

A post from the POLISH YELLOW PAGES® blog (formerly DATABOT.PL), originally published on 18.11.2022. Some information (tools, prices, regulations) may have changed since then.

Website visitor identification – the secret weapon of B2B lead generation

According to statistics, almost 70 percent of all companies in Germany have their own website. The figure rises with company size ; among small firms with fewer than ten employees only about 60 percent have a website. For businesses with 50 or more employees the share is already over 90 percent.

The available statistics do not clearly distinguish between B2C and B2B companies. It can, however, generally be assumed that the proportions in B2B are the same or, if anything, slightly lower .

If you or your company have a website, you certainly know about the many functions and benefits it brings to a communication strategy. But let’s quickly sum them up:

• a medium of information
• a medium for self-presentation and brand building
• a contact interface for interested people and (future) customers 
• a lead generation tool

What is website visitor identification?

A website’s lead generation options are limited in most cases to calls to action (CTAs) : often when visiting a website you can sign up for a newsletter or downloadable content – this is how companies collect revealing contact information. Even so, as a website visitor you have to actively sign up for something.

Website visitor identification takes a different approach. Figuratively speaking, every website visitor leaves digital “fingerprints” that can be evaluated with specific identification and tracking tools. These tools give the website operator valuable information.

FYI: There is a difference between website visitor tracking and website visitor identification . The former collects anonymous information about the visitor and their behaviour on your website, while the latter identifies “who” the visitor was.

Google Analytics and other website analytics tools that complement Google Analytics  reveal a variety of information about website visitors, including:

• where the visitor comes from (country, region)
• the visitor’s source (the previously visited website that links to the page visited)
• time spent on individual web pages and the order of pages visited
• the type of device or software used to access the page visited

Lead Forensics and other tools identify who the visitor is, e.g. which company accessed your website, blog or landing page.

This kind of contextual information can be used for website optimisation . Classic tracking tools, by contrast, record statistical audience information such as the visitor’s IP address, which makes it easier to understand them, but without the “who” context. How does the tool know the IP address, you may wonder? We’ll come to that in a moment!

Is using website visitor identification data compliant?

Every device with an internet connection is assigned a unique IP address. The numerical code serves as a delivery address that makes data exchange possible. With its help a visitor or subscriber can be uniquely identified. Private internet users usually receive a new IP address from their provider every time they connect to the internet.

What about German regulations?

However, in Germany and the EU the last three digits are anonymised . In this respect, only the provider can identify the subscriber by storing logs. For most Business internet users the situation is different: a company operates with a static, i.e. permanently unchanging IP address , that can be clearly assigned to it. Identifying the IP address of a website visitor is no problem – technically!

In principle it is also possible to assign further personal data to the IP , which goes hand in hand with tracking all the activities of the website visitor. However, website operators face clear limits on the use of such data, in particular in the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR). This applies above all to private website visitors or B2C companies. The situation is different in B2B, where companies can in principle use the B2B data obtained to initiate contact .

How does website visitor identification work?

If you own a phone line, you may know the so-called reverse lookup : when you have a phone number, you can establish the owner of the line .

Reverse DNS lookup works on the same basic principle . A reverse DNS lookup can be used to determine the network domain for a (static) IP address. This means you can clearly identify the company that left its IP when visiting your website.

Website visitor identification traces an IP address back to the company that accessed your website 

Now, if you want to assign further data to a company found via its IP address, you can choose from various visitor recognition services. They have been developed by companies carrying out extensive research. Linking company data to network addresses requires detailed research. However, more and more providers are dropping this and instead use data obtained via the Google Analytics API . In general, though, information provided this way is considered relatively inaccurate and error-prone.

Source:  www.whatismyip.com

How can you benefit from website visitor identification?

Of course, IP or visitor identification and the subsequent reverse lookup require effort and some cost. So you may ask what your benefits are as a website operator, and who exactly visits your website or company websites in general. You would be very optimistic to assume that all visitors to your website will become future customers . Remember that among the daily visitors there are always employees , casual visitors, job applicants or visitors who are simply looking for information. The latter occur above all when the site offers specialist content .

Research shows, however, that B2B decision-makers primarily gather information on a supplier’s website before deciding to buy . It is therefore reasonable to assume that among your website visitors there is also a corresponding share of potential customers . Website visitor identification gives you a company name which, once enriched with further information, you can use in your marketing and sales for lead generation and acquiring new customers.

How to use identity tracking data wisely?

One difficulty when using visitor identification is the accuracy of the information collected by the identification tool. At best, a reverse DNS lookup provides the name of the company behind the visitor’s IP address .

However, it is also possible that you are dealing with an  IT service provider that hosts IP addresses on behalf of various companies. Even if you are sure it is the company itself, the information does not reveal which employee visited your website. When all you have is a company name, data enrichment becomes your best friend. The key is reliable data sources, which can be obtained either from public data through painstaking manual research, or automatically– with the help of a sales Intelligence tool such as DATABOT. 

FYI: you can also use visitor identification to find out who reads your blog!

With sales intelligence you can, with little effort, compile a whole company profile from a single company name. This information can then be used for strategic activities .

Source:  www.hubspot.com

Based on the target group you have defined, you can immediately see whether the identified company is a target customer and whom in the company it is best to contact first.

In addition, sales intelligence, e.g. systems based on artificial intelligence , provides you with extra information you can use as highly individualised conversation openers! This will not only improve your conversion rate , but also save a great deal of time and research.

Sales intelligence provides, for example, trigger events that reflect current or foreseeable changes in the target company. Such business-relevant events include an announced move, a change of management or a new product. In addition, with one click you can see an upcoming merger, investment or acquisition , reports of a large order and even business information such as annual accounts!

On the one hand, trigger events help identify opportunities , because they signal a need. On the other hand, they also serve to assess risk by giving early warning of expected payment difficulties. In addition, trigger events give your sales team the ideal starting point for opening a conversation!

Conclusion – website visitor identification is a real opportunity

Today a website is essential for a company – more than ever in B2B. Your customers can get to know your service or product for the first time, download prices, find out about features and much more. Analysing traffic on your company website is therefore a good way to learn more about the people who visit your site. Knowing the behaviour of website visitors can help you continuously optimise your website .

Besides, your company website is also an excellent opportunity to generate leads, and therefore a tool for winning new customers that should not be underestimated. With IP identification and reverse DNS lookup, website operators in B2B can learn even more about who specifically visited their website. You can then enrich the data received with sales intelligence tools and turn those visitors into leads!

Mariusz Biniak – creator of the POLISH YELLOW PAGES® brand (formerly DATABOT.PL) and author of a blog on B2B sales. Disclosure: the author is connected with the publisher of THE BUSINESS TIME.

What do you think?

Which ways of winning customers work in your business? Tell us in the comments below the post.

Source

• POLISH YELLOW PAGES® (databot.pl) – original blog post

© POLISH YELLOW PAGES® / Argonauts Media Group Limited. Copying, downloading and distribution without the publisher’s written consent are prohibited. Illustrative photo: Pexels.