Best Practice Spam Protection- A case study

DreamFactory is a SaaS API management platform that runs RingCaptcha as part of its spam protection stack. This article will go into detail about how DreamFactory was able to immediately reduce COGS and increase the quality of their leads via installation of the simple RingCaptcha validation widget.

The DreamFactory Story

DreamFactory is an API generation tool that instantly generates REST APIs for databases and more. Prior to 2019, DreamFactory serviced clients with an on-premises installation of their software. Their marketing funnel was generating 5-10 new trials per week. Each new trial had to go through a call with an engineer for installation so lead quality control was easy to manage. In July 2019 they decided to release a hosted trial version of their platform to allow easy self service sign up to their trials. Their sign up numbers exploded overnight resulting in up to 80 trials a week in the following months.

The Problem

A rapid increase in trial numbers came with a commensurate increase in hosting costs. An increase in COGS is a welcomed expense when it comes with an increase in paying customers. In the case of DreamFactory they found that over 30% of their trial signups were bots, click farms or general spam accounts. Adding to the problem was the fact that their SDR could not reach out to all of the new leads. Indeed the SDR could not determine which leads were most valuable or even valid. This resulted in an increasing AWS bill, lack of quality lead outreach and a decrease in quality of the sales pipeline.

The Solution

While DreamFactory wasn’t necessarily a bootstrapped start up, it was very cost conscious. They could not continue to bear the increase in hosted costs without an increase in quality leads. As a result they decided to implement spam protection tools on multiple levels. This included:

• Google Ads
• Trial Sign Ups
• Lead Information

Google Ads

DreamFactory procured the services of ClickCease. ClickCease automatically blocks fraudulent IPs that click on your Google Ads as well as ensuring bots, competitors or any harmful sources do not get the opportunity to click on your ads. For DreamFactory this represented an excellent first quality sweep of traffic progressing to the trial sign up form in addition to standard audience refinement.

Trial Sign Ups

This is where RingCaptcha really came to the fore. DreamFactory had previously identified that around 30% of their trialers were not valid or committed (signed up and never responded). Through installation of the RingCaptcha widget, a trialer had to be committed enough to enter their phone number and furthermore it had to actually be a number they would respond to. While many SaaS platforms may seek to remove friction from their sign up flows, for DreamFactory this friction was necessary.

Some leads may be wary to give out their phone number for privacy reasons. RingCaptcha is customizable in that it allows you to capture the phone number in order to contact the lead or simply just use the phone number to validate there is an actual human at the end of the transaction. You may choose to inform your leads of that the number will only be used for validation thus alleviating any concerns they may have over privacy and removing perceived friction.

Lead Information

DreamFactory applied a few custom controls to their trial sign up page as a quality filter. DreamFactory, a B2B developer platform, is targeted towards developer teams in small to medium enterprise and not necessarily an individual. With this in mind DreamFactory applied an email control that not only made email a mandatory field to sign up but it also had to be a recognized business email domain. In doing so DreamFactory could identify trends regarding industry, size, location and not to mention a valid business email for the primary contact.

The secondary effect of RingCaptcha is the ability for an SDR to reach out to a lead within five minutes of sign up. Known as the Golden Window, an SDR has immediate access to a validated phone number to call the lead while they are at the height of their consideration. This allowed DreamFactory to increase their speed of qualification and condense their sales cycle. The SDR was able to gather any technical questions that may have otherwise been sent later by email.

The Outcome

Through a combination of the above items DreamFactory was able to achieve the following:

• Decrease AWS hosting costs an average of $1,200 per month.
• Increase lead response time to reach out to 90% of leads within five minutes of conversion.
• Increase the quality of contact information with business email and valid phone number. This lead to custom account based marketing, retargeting and intercompany expansion opportunities.
• Saved over $600 per month on PPC spend.

Aside from the time and money savings, DreamFactory staff were able to have more targeted conversations with their leads to build up their ideal customer profile quicker than they otherwise would have.

RingCaptcha is one of many spam protection tools on the market but it is one of a few that combines spam protection while increasing lead quality. A simple to install widget promotes immediate time and cost savings for bootstrapped startups and maximises the effectiveness of your lead generation. Talk to the team today for a demo or a trial and stop paying for leads