Before adopting HubSpot, FAAC managed a customer database spread across multiple tools and digital touchpoints, including Mailchimp, Excel sheets, the UK office, the company website, and social channels like Facebook and LinkedIn.
This fragmentation hindered accurate lead segmentation and communication personalization. "We struggled to personalize our communications based on the interests of our contacts, and this prevented us from achieving optimal results," says Michele Boaretto, Marketing Manager at FAAC Technologies. The result was the sending of generic messages to potential customers, without considering their specific needs or interests, which often impacted the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Moreover, FAAC lacked an automated system to assign contacts to area managers, as well as tools to accurately measure the return on investment from trade shows. Despite being a key part of the commercial strategy, participation in trade shows proved inefficient in terms of collecting and managing the contacts acquired during these events.
Aware of the need to centralize contact management and optimize marketing and sales activities, FAAC chose HubSpot as its CRM platform and partnered with DMA as a technological partner to implement Marketing Hub Professional.
"The choice of HubSpot was clear from the start: we needed a platform capable of centralizing and automating the management of our contacts in a strategic way," explains Boaretto.
The main goal was to create a unified Customer Platform that integrated data from various sources and tools, enabling more precise contact segmentation and enriching profiles with relational and transactional data. This also included the creation of new properties within the CRM to gather additional information, such as industry, market of interest, and geographic areas of origin.
DMA worked closely with the FAAC team to customize the CRM based on the company's needs. Segmented lists were configured, automated workflows were set up for contact management, and privacy compliance solutions were integrated through Iubenda, ensuring that the data collected during events always complied with European data protection regulations (GDPR).
The implementation of HubSpot CRM represented a true leap in quality for FAAC. DMA centralized data related to leads, prospects, and customers to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of contacts. This significantly improved profiling. "With HubSpot, we finally have a complete view of the customer: we know who they are, what they are looking for on our site, and how we can best support them," Boaretto remarks.
Thanks to this solution, FAAC's marketing team has benefited from advanced segmentation, which now allows them to send personalized communications based on specific behaviors. The communications have become more relevant to recipients, increasing email open rates and overall lead engagement.
One of the most innovative aspects of the implementation was the integration of DMA’s strategy called ExpoBoost for the digital management of trade shows. During the project, FAAC participated in major international events, such as Data Centre World, Passenger Terminal Expo, TAPA EMEA, and Airport Show Dubai, using HubSpot to manage and profile contacts collected at the shows in real time.
ExpoBoost combined technology and automation to maximize the return on trade show investments. By using iPads and QR codes linked to personalized vCards of sales representatives, FAAC successfully digitalized the contact collection process, making visitor registration and profiling easier. The contacts were automatically added to segmented lists and managed through automated workflows. This process drastically reduced follow-up times and improved the effectiveness of post-show activities.
During the Passenger Terminal Expo, FAAC collected hundreds of contacts and sent them automated thank-you emails, achieving a 33% open rate. Contacts who showed interest in a business meeting could schedule an appointment directly at the stand, optimizing the sales team's time and improving the quality of the leads generated.
Today, we are able to turn every trade show into a concrete business opportunity. We no longer just collect business cards; we manage contacts in a strategic and automated way. Those who express readiness for a business contact can potentially have a meeting with one of our sales representatives at the trade show," emphasizes Boaretto.
Thanks to the implementation of HubSpot and the enhancement of trade show events, FAAC has created a customer platform that now includes thousands of profiled contacts, ready to be activated in targeted marketing and sales campaigns. HubSpot dashboards allow for accurate monitoring of the return on investment from trade shows, with detailed reports providing a comprehensive overview of activities and lead behavior, from the first interaction to conversion into sales opportunities.