"We can’t treat our Docker user base as a monolith. Among 10 million developers, there are thousands and thousands of use cases. It’s important for us to understand the segments and subsets and deliver the experience that’s going to help them get their jobs done better."
Matt Carter, VP of Marketing
With such a large and diverse user base, there’s no single right message or piece of content for all users. The Marketing team focuses on building a path for each user that reflects the logical next step in their journey. A user who has indicated an interest in JavaScript by attending an event might see a tutorial on building secure JavaScript apps using Docker, and then a hands-on demo environment where they can test it out.
At the core of Docker’s mission is the desire to make users successful. Carter points out, “We’re not trying to sell them something that they don’t need. We’re trying to help grow their capabilities in a way that’s valuable and relevant.”
Knowing the users well enough to provide relevant recommendations depends on having a 360-degree view of each user. And each time users have another opportunity to engage, whether it’s at a conference or on their laptop, more behavioral indicators flow back into their data warehouse, further enriching the dataset.
Uncovering sales opportunities that are beneficial to users
Beyond helping the Marketing team, improved access to data also helps the Sales team. A complete view of product usage gives Sales the ability to identify upsell opportunities that are beneficial to users and have more authentic conversations.
Instead of trying to sell every user a solution that doesn’t make sense for their use case, Sales can be smart about approaching the right customers. If, for example, they identify that a certain team is frequently hitting its maximum number of concurrent builds, the Sales conversation can revolve around the customer’s real, demonstrated needs.
"If you have those data points, your conversation becomes that much more authentic. You’re not forcing people, you just know them better."
Matt Carter, VP of Marketing
Without data, it’s impossible to know what works and what doesn’t. One place that Docker wanted better reporting? Its Developer Relations efforts. Docker’s single biggest Developer Relations project in a given year is DockerCon, its annual conference. In 2020 and 2021, the conference had over 80,000 registrations. Instead of letting conference information live in its own system, Docker built their conference systems to tie data directly into Marketo. With this integration, they have a much richer view of both users and prospective users.
Adding conference information to customer data profiles helps Docker see how their investment in Developer Relations affects product usage, subscriptions, and other customer behavior. They can then use this data to make smart decisions about where they invest to ensure their Developer Relations projects are driving growth.
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