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How to get a 45% more MQLs as an ad-tech company:
Epom x NetHunt CRM

Epom is an ad tech company that offers a wide range of advertising solutions to advertisers, publishers, and ad networks. Epom’s flagship products are a white-label ad server and DSP. Their platform includes display, mobile, video, and native advertising formats, as well as programmatic advertising capabilities, real-time bidding, and targeting options.

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80% of routine

automated for the billing team

+45%

increase in MQLs with NetHunt's Workflows

Better alignment

between all departments

The challenge

When Epom was just starting out, they relied on a cobbled-together system of Excel spreadsheets to manage their customer database, sales and marketing processes, and sales forecasts. But as their business took off and their customer base expanded, they quickly realised they needed something more sophisticated to stay on top of things. Enter CRM.

Epom tried not one, but two CRM solutions before they discovered NetHunt CRM. Unfortunately, these systems just didn't cut it.

Epom was seeking a system that could help them overcome several key challenges:

  • The ability to gather and store all leads in a central hub for easy access and management.
  • Automation of sales sequences to nurture prospects who had already been converted, streamlining their sales process.
  • The ability to effectively align the sales and marketing departments, easily pass SQLs, ensuring everyone was working together seamlessly towards a common goal.

What was Epom looking for in a CRM system?

As a rapidly growing startup, Epom was in search of a CRM solution that would be scalable. Additionally, they were looking for a CRM system that could benefit not just the sales team but also the marketing, billing, and C-Suite departments.

Lastly, since their primary communication channel was Gmail, Epom wanted a solution that could provide all the necessary CRM functionality within the Gmail inbox.

“Gmail CRM is so important, less complicated, and has more resources for data control.”

<b>Sergey Schelkov</b>Sales Executive
Sergey SchelkovSales Executive



When creating a shortlist of CRM solutions to test, Epom paid close attention to the vendors who offered the following features…

  • Integration with Gmail
  • Multiple sales pipelines
  • Contact management functionality
  • Email marketing functionality (email marketing analytics)
  • Sales automation
  • Unified dashboard
  • Collaborative functionality
  • Extensive roles and permissions
  • Reporting functionality
  • High level of customisation

Why Epom chose NetHunt CRM, and how they use it

Gmail integration to save time and increase productivity icon Gmail integration to save time and increase productivity

Epom faced a major issue with the previous CRM solutions they used before NetHunt CRM: the complex user interface. The learning curve was too steep, making it difficult for employees to begin working with the CRM immediately.

NetHunt CRM, on the other hand, is a system that lives within the Gmail inbox. As such, its interface is already familiar to the team, making it easy to navigate and intuitive to use.

With NetHunt CRM placed right inside Gmail, Epom employees can create customer records from incoming and outgoing emails in just a few clicks. Additionally, all correspondence between Epom and its leads and customers is automatically saved and linked to the relevant customer record, eliminating the need for manual data entry and saving employees precious time.

“If you’re a sales manager working with leads and customers, you spend most of your time in the email inbox. Powering up our Gmail inbox with the functionality of a fully-fledged CRM system proved to be a very welcoming change compared to the systems we had used previously. It allowed us to get much more things done.”

<b>Sergey Schelkov</b>Sales Executive Manager at Epom
Sergey SchelkovSales Executive Manager at Epom

Workflows to automate business processes and never miss a single sales opportunity icon Workflows to automate business processes and never miss a single sales opportunity

Epom is an avid user of the NetHunt CRM sales automation functionality, Workflows. Different departments across the company leverage Workflows to streamline their processes.

For instance…

  • The billing team has set up automated sequences to simplify the billing process, invoicing and PDF-generating tasks in particular.
  • The sales team benefits from an automated lead nurturing sequence to establish contact with leads at the early stages of the sales pipeline. On top of that, they also use Workflows to automatically distribute leads among sales reps based on specific criteria.
  • The marketing team has configured a series of sequences that generate MQLs from gated content web forms on the Epom website and automatically send emails with the requested content upon form submission.


Epom is particularly fond of the Wait for email interaction Workflows helper that allows registering customer intent, automatically changing their lead score in the system, and proceeding with a timely automated follow-up.

Email marketing functionality to launch marketing newsletters and analyse their effectiveness icon Email marketing functionality to launch marketing newsletters and analyse their effectiveness

Launching an email newsletter was among Epom’s key aspirations. With NetHunt CRM’s email marketing functionality, it became possible:

  • Epom can accurately segment its database and send emails in bulk only to the newsletter subscribers.
  • They can further segment the audience to share better-targeted, more personalised information.
  • They can send visually appealing, branded email newsletters thanks to NetHunt CRM’s support of HTML emails.
  • They can track the performance of their email campaigns (opens, clicks, bounced, replies, etc.), understanding what content resonates with their audience.

“NetHunt is our go-to tool for email campaigns. It allows us to track performance and segment records effectively. It's also handy for outreach activities, as each email campaign has statistics, such as opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounces, and replies.”

<b>Kate Novatska</b>Head of Content at Epom
Kate NovatskaHead of Content at Epom

Custom views and filters to segment the database icon Custom views and filters to segment the database

Custom views and filters that allow segmenting the database are among Epom’s most cherished and most used NetHunt CRM features.

For example, the marketing department has filtered the database of lost deals by the reason lost and uses the information from that view to run effective re-engagement campaigns.

Similarly, members of the sales team have custom views that contain leads with the highest scores, allowing them to focus their efforts on the most valuable deals.

Collaborative functionality to ensure sales and marketing teams are on the same page icon Collaborative functionality to ensure sales and marketing teams are on the same page

One of Epom's top priorities was to unify its sales and marketing teams through the implementation of a CRM solution.

Some of the collaborative features most highly regarded by the Epom team include…

  • Tasks. Users can assign tasks to their colleagues, set deadlines, and share notes, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
  • Mentions. Team members can tag each other on customer records when they seek for assistance or provide valuable updates regarding deals.
  • Shared database. Teammates can look through customer records, check previous communication, and give high level of support when their colleagues are on holidays.


Moreover, thanks to permissions, Epom gets to decide which users access which information, protecting business data against unauthorised access.

Multiple sales pipelines icon Multiple sales pipelines

Since Epom offers several different products — a white-label ad server and a white-label DSP, — it’s vital for their sales team to be able to create a separate sales pipeline for each one.

Besides, they also use multiple pipelines to track deals from different sources, such as inbound leads, outbound sales, and partnerships.

It helps them customise their sales approach and provide each deal with the attention it deserves. By leveraging multiple pipelines, Epom can keep track of their deals and ensure that they're managing their sales process efficiently.

“NetHunt CRM helped us build a sales pipeline for segmented contacts, track deal progress through various stages, and automatically score leads according to their behaviour.”

<b>Serhii Shchelkov</b>Sales Executive Manager at Epom
Serhii ShchelkovSales Executive Manager at Epom

Reporting functionality icon Reporting functionality

Thanks to NetHunt CRM’s reporting capabilities, Epom can analyse the effectiveness of their sales and marketing processes, spot the activities with the highest ROI to scale them and remove the ones that don’t generate profit.

For instance, the marketing department regularly creates and reviews the Lead source report to identify the most effective lead acquisition channels and assess the effectiveness of each lead source.

The results

Considering the fact that iPlan implemented NetHunt CRM at the very start, the company's rapid growth is, among other things, associated with the successful use of the CRM system.

+45%

Increase in Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) thanks to NetHunt CRM’s sales and marketing automation functionality, Workflows.

80%

Increase in the billing team’s productivity thanks to automated invoicing and PDF-generating tasks.

Alignment between departments

Thanks to NetHunt CRM’s collaborative functionality, such as shared database, dashboards, and @mentions.

Better resource allocation

Across lead generation sources thanks to more accurate insights into the performance of different lead acquisition channels.

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