MarTech Podcast ™ // Marketing + Technology = Business Growth Episode: Unbound’s Acquisition Of Insightly
Release Date: December 2, 2024
Host: Benjamin Shapiro
Guest: Val Riley, VP of Marketing and Strategy at Unbound

Introduction

In this insightful episode of the MarTech Podcast ™, host Benjamin Shapiro engages in a comprehensive discussion with Val Riley, the Vice President of Marketing and Strategy at Unbound, regarding Unbound’s strategic acquisition of Insightly. Released on December 2, 2024, this episode delves deep into the motivations behind the acquisition, its impact on the marketing technology landscape, and the broader trends in mergers within the MarTech space.

Background of the Acquisition

Unbound’s Position in the Market
Unbound has established itself as a leader in landing page optimization, offering robust tools that allow marketers to create, test, and optimize landing pages effectively. However, while Unbound excels in conversion metrics, it previously lacked comprehensive insights into the entire customer journey post-conversion.

Insightly’s Role
Insightly, recognized for its CRM, marketing automation, and customer service tools, provides a holistic view of customer interactions beyond the initial landing page conversion. This acquisition brings together Unbound’s strength in capturing first-party CRM data with Insightly’s extensive customer journey mapping capabilities.

Key Discussion Points:

• Val Riley on the Acquisition Story:
  “Unbounce is the absolute category leader in landing pages. The limitation was that they couldn’t tell you anything beyond that landing page conversion” (03:50).

• Integration Benefits:
  By integrating Insightly, Unbound can now offer a more comprehensive suite of tools that track the customer journey from initial landing page interaction to final sale and renewal, thereby enhancing the ability to measure and optimize revenue and customer lifetime value.

Benefits of the Acquisition

Enhanced Data Utilization
The merger allows Unbound to leverage first-party CRM data, providing marketers with more comprehensive metrics vital for revenue and customer lifetime value. This integration transforms raw conversion data into actionable insights that span the entire customer lifecycle.

Val Riley’s Insights on CRM Integration:
“Giving marketers that type of insight as part of their landing page builder experience is really just helping them with what the market is demanding of us right now” (06:08).

Improved Customer Journey Tracking
With Insightly’s CRM capabilities, Unbound can track not just the success of landing pages but also subsequent customer actions, such as demo participation, opportunity creation, deal closure, and customer renewals. This end-to-end tracking is crucial for understanding and optimizing the complete sales funnel.

Future Projections

Three-Year Outlook
Val Riley envisions the combined Unbound and Insightly platform evolving into a sophisticated revenue intelligence platform. This platform will integrate marketing tools like segmentation, email journeys, landing pages, and marketing attribution, positioning itself as a formidable competitor against established players like HubSpot, particularly appealing to sales-led organizations.

Val Riley’s Vision:
“We’re looking at really being able to solve a revenue intelligence problem for organizations that are primarily small to mid-market, but really sales-driven organizations” (10:20).

Market Trends and Acquisitions in MarTech

Increased Acquisition Activity
The episode explores the growing trend of acquisitions within the MarTech sector, attributing it to several factors including the need for comprehensive solutions, the influence of private equity firms seeking to deploy capital efficiently, and the strategic moves by large companies to maintain their market advantage.

Benjamin Shapiro on Market Dynamics:
“As interest rates start to creep down, money starts to get a little cheaper. People start to focus on revenue growth instead of revenue optimization... you start seeing the transactions happening more frequently” (13:51).

Notable Acquisitions Highlighted:

• Salesloft and Drift: A significant merger that combines two major SaaS platforms, enhancing efficiency and market reach.
• SEMrush and Third Door Media: An acquisition indicating the consolidation trend within the SEO and digital marketing space.

Val Riley’s Perspective on Innovation and Acquisitions:
“Large companies really struggle to innovate. When they're looking for growth, it's really going to happen by acquisition... they have the capital to deploy” (15:10).

Strategic Advantages Over Competitors

Differentiation from HubSpot
While HubSpot caters primarily to marketing-led organizations, the Unbound and Insightly combination targets sales-led enterprises. This strategic positioning allows them to cater to companies with strong sales teams but limited marketing resources, offering integrated solutions that align sales and marketing efforts seamlessly.

Val Riley on Competitive Edge:
“HubSpot’s very appealing to marketing-led organizations and Insightly is much more appealing to sales-led organizations” (10:20).

Conclusion

The acquisition of Insightly by Unbound marks a significant step in the evolution of integrated marketing and CRM solutions. By combining Unbound’s expertise in landing page optimization with Insightly’s comprehensive CRM and customer journey tools, the partnership is set to deliver a powerful revenue intelligence platform tailored to the needs of sales-driven organizations. The episode underscores the broader trend of strategic acquisitions in the MarTech landscape, driven by the need for holistic solutions and the strategic deployment of capital by private equity and large enterprises.

Notable Quotes:

• Val Riley: “What's powerful about this is leveraging all this first-party data combined with the powerful conversion metrics that Unbounce gives you really is a full picture” (05:35).
• Benjamin Shapiro: “We have the ability to change all this front end stuff, but really all we know is like, did somebody click a button?” (06:08).

Connect with Val Riley

For more insights and to connect with Val Riley, visit her LinkedIn profile. Additionally, explore Unbound’s offerings at unbounce.com and listen to Val’s podcast, Closing Time, available on YouTube.

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Timestamps

• 03:50 Val Riley discusses how Unbounce couldn’t measure beyond landing page conversions.
• 06:08 Val Riley emphasizes the importance of generating high-quality leads that convert into operational success.
• 07:03 Val Riley explains the CEO’s experience as a critical factor in the acquisition.
• 08:25 Val Riley distinguishes Insightly’s comprehensive platform from point solutions like Pipedrive.
• 10:20 Val Riley outlines the three-year vision for the combined platform.
• 13:51 Benjamin Shapiro analyzes the macroeconomic factors driving increased acquisition activity.
• 15:10 Val Riley comments on innovation challenges in large companies and the role of acquisitions.
• 16:33 Summary of the episode’s key takeaways and final thoughts.

Note: Timestamps correspond to the podcast transcript segments for precise reference.