Recently I decided to do a little digging into Mautic’s contributor logs to see who was doing big things when it comes to Mautic’s marketing automation code. I also wanted to compare how we compared 2016 to 2017 since we’re fast approaching the end of 2017. It seems hard to believe that we’re almost ready to close the book on another year!

I thought the best thing to do would be to look at a variety of stats first comparing different metrics between last year and this year. One thing that I believe is very important to mention at the beginning before we start looking at specific numbers is how much of Mautic community growth can NOT be measured by a number or a specific number of lines of code. The following metrics simply report on one aspect of the overall community and should in no wise be considered indicative of the community as a whole (good or bad). The code aspect is merely one facet of our community.

Number of Developers

The number of developers contributing code to Mautic can be viewed in several different ways so I’ll share a few of them and let you draw your own conclusions.

This first graph shows the growth of developers and reviewers over the past two years. As you can see we have a steady increase in the number of “contributors” over the past 24 months. This time period covers Mautic versions 1.2 through 2.11 and does not include the month of December of this year, 2017. There are significantly more reviewers than developers but this is expected and both are still considered contributors as Mautic requires reviews to be done before a pull request can be merged. The Mautic company is identified by the dark grey in the chart as well. You can see that although proportionally Mautic the company (MCO) contributes the greatest number of developers than other companies there are increasingly more and more months developers and reviewers from the community.

There is an important side note that should be considered when reviewing the number of contributors and the relationship between MCO engineers and community developers. The amount of code contributed by MCO engineers comprises approximately 82%. This means that although the number of developers in the community is increasing MCO is still the largest single contributor by a significant amount.

But just to give a bit more recognition I’d like to share a specific list of the top 20 individuals who have contributed code to Mautic in the past year. This list isn’t exhaustive; there are many more (as the stats above demonstrate). But these individuals deserve a special specific callout for their work. Here is a list of the top 20 individuals and the number of lines of code they have contributed to Mautic.

• • alanhartless*, 91179
  • escopecz*, 55362
  • dongilbert*, 39954
  • mqueme*, 33581
  • stollz, 22008
  • virlatinus*, 20850
  • GaberNeighbor*, 12113
  • Maxell92*, 10950
  • kuzmany, 6768
  • thecodeine, 5525
  • drmmr763*, 5287
  • npracht, 3783
  • MarkLL, 2541
  • mikegillis677, 2309

• Woeler, 1546
• shulard, 1439
• jordan8037310, 964
• isleshocky77, 750
• lightweight, 678
• Dreiser*, 634

But code contribution is more than just lines of code. (I’ll be the first to suggest that the number of lines of code may be a terrible metric for judging activity…more on that later). So here is a second list. This list recognizes the top 20 individuals and the number of merged pull requests to the Mautic code. Again, they each deserve recognition for their contributions.

• alanhartless*, 628
• escopecz*, 390
• mqueme*, 150
• dongilbert*, 98
• kuzmany, 83
• virlatinus*, 76
• mbabker*, 37
• MaxWebmecanik*, 27
• drmmr763*, 23
• Dcoutelle, 18
• isleshocky77, 16
• arulrajsm28, 12
• phil-davis, 11
• shulard, 11
• SamWebmecanik, 11
• chandon, 10
• jordan8037310, 9
• Woeler, 9
• npracht, 9

Comments & Pull Requests

The second chart I would like to share with you is in relation to the overall comments and pull requests that the Mautic codebase has received over the previous 24 months.

This chart highlights the pull requests (in red) and the comments (in blue) as they have occurred since January 2016. Here again we see a gradual increase in contributions (trend lines added). As you would expect the amount of discussion surrounding code contributions increases over time and there is a gradual increase in the number of pull requests submitted as well. Peaks typically correspond with the various release dates of the Mautic code.

Code Comment Growth

The next chart demonstrates a comparison between comments on code between last year and this year (again keeping in mind that this year we are not showing data from the month of December).

I share this chart because it signifies the engagement aspect from the community. Again, comments and involvement increases around release times as you would expect, but the overall trend line demonstrates increased discussion occurring around the code over time.

Of course all of these charts above are specifically related to the pull requests submitted and as a result there is a significant portion of the contributor engagement that is not represented by these charts. The reason for this lies in the feature request section of GitHub. Feature requests are ideas generated by the community for future consideration within Mautic. Because they are not associated with a specific pull request they do not show in the above stats.

Current Code Status

Let’s now take a look at our current GitHub status and repositories and draw some conclusions about where we have come and where we are going to go from here. This is also a chance to identify ways we need to improve processes and new areas of focus for 2018.

Currently in GitHub there are 726 issues and 103 pull requests. Breaking the issues down further we have the following stats:

• 321 issues marked as Bugs
• 308 issues marked as Feature Requests
• 171 issues marked as Backlog
• 98 issues not labeled
• 20 issues marked as Pending Feedback

There are several conclusions we can draw from this. First, because we use GitHub for our bugs and feature tracking there is a slight skewing of perception when viewing the open issues on Mautic. Instead of there being almost 730 “bugs” in Mautic code, it is better to view this list with the appropriate filter applied. When you do this you’ll find that the relationship of bugs to pull requests is much closer to a reasonable ratio with 1 pull request existing for every 3 bugs.

The second item that is a problem for Mautic is the 98 issues that are currently unlabeled. This means someone has written up an issue but it has not been reviewed by anyone with appropriate permissions for applying a label. This is a problem. There are two possible explanations. Either we don’t have enough active community members monitoring the GitHub repositories to mark new issues with the appropriate labels or we don’t have enough community members with the knowledge to apply the appropriate labels and therefore they don’t add them.

Side Note: There’s also the problem presented by GitHub repositories and permissions that allow or disallow access to label creation and application of those labels. This is something Mautic has not yet solved successfully.

In the future we need to educate community members on reading and assigning labels to issues so that they can be correctly categorize as they are created. We also need to determine the number of community volunteers actively monitoring GitHub repositories. One of the first ways we can determine this number is by looking at the number of reviewers we saw in the charts earlier. This number gives a suitable estimates of those contributors capable of responding to issues and therefore also capable of attaching labels to issues.

There are several advantages to correctly categorizing issues. With proper categorization we can more readily identify which bugs need to be resolved first and which are feature requests instead of actual bugs. This will increase productivity from the developers writing pull requests as well as clarify public understanding of the project’s status.

Lastly, from the list of issue stats we can see that there are a significant amount of feature requests. We can draw a conclusion or two from this metric as well. Feature requests can mean the software is not completely fulfilling everyone’s ideal marketing solution (though this is a more delicate issue as Mautic should never attempt to be all things for all people). More importantly the relationship between number of feature requests submitted and number of pull requests submitted suggests that the community is made up of more end-users (marketers) or implementer types of users rather than coders or developers. In fact, when we take this ratio and compare it to the downloads from Mautic.org of the software we find a fairly similar breakdown of user types. This means the assumption we draw from the feature request submissions is accurate.

Understanding the make-up of our community when it comes to the Mautic code helps us to continue making improvements and growing. I hope that as you have read through this you’ve been able to get a better understanding of how I look at things and what the different metrics you might see or hear actually mean. Once we have a shared understanding of how to look at the Mautic codebase we will have a greater opportunity for moving faster.

As I reflect on that post, we find ourselves meeting and in many cases exceeding our expectations. We are indeed meeting the needs of small businesses, adding incredible features and gaining access to bigger markets. But this has not happened without the incredible support from our community.

With every update, we see individual names of people who are making incredible contributions to Mautic. Every time I survey the forums or Slack, there are passionate, driven people who have dedicated themselves to see this community and solution grow.

But this growth hasn’t been without it’s challenges. Developing a feature rich solution that meets the demands of a growing industry, while tackling the many bugs that gets in the way, can be trying. But we are as committed as ever to listening to you, responding to your needs and exceeding user expectations, every step of the way.

It’s clear to us that real focus is needed in the community. This is simply a reality of our rapid growth. We realize that more resources are needed to bring value, while creating a place where each member is represented and recognized.

To that end, I’ve been asked to lead the community management effort at Mautic. Since I began working at Mautic over a year ago, I’ve been working in a number of capacities, but have developed a real passion for engaging our community and fostering relationships that connect people to value, while equipping them to add their own.

There are a number of key growth areas that we’d like to tackle in the near term. But in order to be successful, it requires input and support from the entire community. To that end, we will be reaching out in a focused way to solicit that feedback regarding these areas soon. They include;

• Forums: One of the ways we engage as a community is by connecting with one another via our forums. Unfortunately the existing forum application limits us from accomplishing other things like recognizing contributors, up-voting specific problems and so much more. We’d like to explore other tools that will bring even more value to the community in this area.
• Onboarding: This continues to be an area we’re excited about further developing. The current onboarding process is challenging at best, and we recognize it needs to be addressed. Our goal is to make every new user to Mautic feel supported while setting up, configuring and running their very first campaign. We’ll be taking steps to assess, review, edit and develop more succinct tools.
• Marketplace: A community’s strength is found in how it brings value to every member. We continue to believe that Mautic’s greatest strength is in it’s people. The ones who contribute value each and every day. Whether it’s answering a question, or solving a technical challenge, we believe that the value chain should be reciprocal. So we’ll be exploring ways to bring the marketplace to life this year.

I have reached out to many of you already in an effort to ensure that everyone that connects with Mautic, feels supported to grow their business. But if I haven’t connected with you, I’d like to say “hello” and please feel free to reach out to me (via Slack: @jseevers or email) and introduce yourself, or provide a comment below. I’ll be working diligently to bring content, process and structure to the work being done in and around our growing community.

I want to personally thank each and every one of you for how you have come alongside us, supporting users, sharing your experiences and adding value. We could not do what we do without the best people in the world in our community.

We’ve just begun. Be on the lookout, there are incredible things ahead!

…a systematic and repeatable organizational capability to achieve and maintain profitable and significant growth.

With each bug we squash and new feature we develop, we seek to tackle each challenge your business may face. Ultimately building Mautic into an “organizational capability” that will help you fast track your growth.

Your journey is our journey. We are poised and ready to support your growth as you create meaningful experiences with your customers. Release 2.1 carries with it a number of features that we believe will help your business, and ultimately your customers, grow faster and smarter. This release includes the following;

Campaign Management

• Custom Themes: Users now have the ability to upload and use their own custom themes! Create an email or landing page theme/template that represents your brand and use it over and over again. Administrators can upload, download, view or delete themes by accessing the theme menu item in the settings area. All users on the account can access the custom themes from the theme selection area while building new emails and landing pages.
• Multi Lingual Dynamic Content on Emails and Landing Pages: Many businesses work with customers around the globe. Now a preferred language can automatically be associated with a contact based on the language settings in their browser! Users can translate a page or email into various languages and also link different versions together. The page or email is then dynamically displayed into the contacts language! (if a translation exists). The default language can also be set manually.
• New Campaign Builder Experience: Building campaigns should be incredibly fast and intuitive. Well the campaign builder has has gotten a powerful usability increase! A list of available actions are displayed by clicking on the ‘+’ for each campaign item making it more efficient to use the campaign builder. Talk about a time saver.

Contact Management

• Progressive Profiling: Forms now have dynamic fields! When serving up a form, information that the system already knows about the contact can be hidden, and alternate fields can be displayed in their place. This ensures that the contact is only asked to complete limited information every time they fill out a form. This reduces the risk of abandoning a form when they are part way through. Yes!
• Touch Management: There are specific times when you should send information through specific channels. Administrators can now set limits on the maximum number of times a contact can receive a message through a particular channel. Limits can be set per channel, system wide for all contacts and can also be overwritten at the individual contact level. Don’t fall into the trap of over communicating with your contacts.
• New Interface for Timeline Activities: Viewing timeline activities in the contact record can be a struggle. Well, now you can view record detail in a tab-based format, making it much easier to consume and filter activities. Here’s to making information easier to read!

Reporting and Tracking

• Reporting on SMS and Web: You want more detail, we’ve got more detail. Information such as creator, date and category are now tracked for the SMS and Web notification channels. This enables better understanding and visibility of the content sent through these channels.
• Device Granularity: Now you can see which devices contacts are using to view their emails and landing pages! Two new dashboard widgets have been created to show device usage by segment and by channel. Now you can view a breakdown of usage based on devices such as a tablet, mobile or desktop. Device information is also available for each email/landing page, on the contact timeline and in reports. This feature will help you understand what devices your contacts are using to consume your content.

Integrations

• Expanded Salesforce Integration: The integration to Salesforce has been expanded! Now, information from contacts in Salesforce can be mapped back to contacts in Mautic! Timeline activity from the contact in Mautic can be also be written back to the Lead or Contact record in Salesforce. This enables sales users in Salesforce to see what marketing activities the record has interacted with. Win. Win.
• Video Integration: Deeper video integration is here! Users can insert videos from Vimeo or YouTube or any other mp4 platforms onto landing pages with a gate. This means the user can require a contact to fill out a form after the video has played for a predefined period of time. Video consumption metrics including time viewed and percent of the video watched are also available on the contact’s timeline.

We’ve assembled a playlist of videos to help you understand these new features. We’ll be adding to this playlist throughout the day so be sure to hover over the playlist button and scroll down to access them all.

The powerful features we’ve packed into release 2.1 are just that. Powerful. They are designed to help your business move beyond being inspired to grow, and actually create measurable results.

Mautic 2.1 Upgrade Details:

For more detailed information about the release for self-hosted users, please follow this link to the Mautic 2.1 Release Notes. If you experience any challenges accessing or using these incredible new features, please be sure to connect with us on Slack and the Community Forum.

Thank you for being an important part of the Mautic community!

Do you have a green thumb when it comes to marketing? Do you just barely touch something and it springs to life?

The idea of lead nurturing is a common topic in marketing chats and a frequent point of discussion whenever marketers and sales people get together. I used the term “green thumb” because that’s a very common gardening term that usually refers to someone who is naturally gifted (or at least appears to be) when it comes to nurturing plants or flowers in their gardens. They seem to be able to make something grow out of nothing and they can keep plants alive for a long time. That last point is especially tricky for me. For some reason keeping plants alive and growing is insanely difficult for me. Just ask anyone in the office and they’ll tell you – the ideal plant for me is a cactus.

I think just as with gardening there are some people who are just naturally gifted at nurturing and growing leads in business as well. And just as with having a green thumb in gardening I believe everyone can learn this ability and talent. What is lead nurturing you ask? Well, quite simply put lead nurturing is the process of growing and keeping alive a potential customer for your business until they become a customer. This process involves paying attention to their needs, watering them, and providing optimal conditions for their growth. It really is quite similar to gardening. Nurturing in its simplest form is simply the act of encouraging growth and life.

3 Steps to Amazing Lead Nurturing

If we can identify what lead nurturing is and how the lead generation process funnels directly into a lead nurturing process then we can begin to identify how to do lead nurturing right. The process shouldn’t be tricky or confusing. Don’t let the unknown words trick you into not doing amazing lead nurturing. Let’s get started.

1. Lead Nurturing Starts Early

When you’re growing a plant or a flower many times you will start with a seed. There’s not flower, there’s no root system, there’s really nothing more than a tiny seed. It doesn’t look anything like the beautiful flower you believe it will be in the future.

Now I want you to imagine with me that you’re in a garden with your friend. The two of you have gotten up on a cool spring morning and met in the flower bed behind your house to plant some beautiful tulips you’ve just gotten in. Now as you kneel in the dirt next to your friend you begin the process of digging the holes to place the flowers into. But your friend is not helping! In fact, he’s sitting there with a tulip bulb in his hand. As you watch him he turns it over slowly in his hand and then carelessly tosses it over his shoulder before selecting another from the bag. He does this again and again, until finally you stop him and ask what he’s doing throwing these great tulip bulbs away! What would you say if his response was that these weren’t tulips at all because they didn’t look anything like a tulip. They weren’t even green!

Obviously you’d be shocked and a bit confused that your friend didn’t understand the potential these tulip bulbs held to become stunningly beautiful tulips…when they bloomed. You would have to explain to him that these seeds would turn into beautiful flowers, over time and with the proper care. They might not look like something beautiful now, but with the right care and love they would eventually grow to become a beautiful tulip. Lead nurturing should be done the same way. Lead nurturing must start early, well before your lead actually even looks like a lead. You have to nurture them with attention, love, and care. You have to understand the potential each lead has to become a beautiful customer.

2. Lead Nurturing Is Consistent

Continuing with our story in the garden, the tulips you planted are continually in need of care. You will need to water them regularly, ensure they get proper sunlight, and maintain ideal temperatures. In short, you have to care for their survival with constant and consistent attention. The same happens when you are nurturing leads in your marketing. You have to consistently water (sending timely information), you have to make sure they get proper sunlight (providing relevant information), and maintain ideal temperatures (offer easy ways to respond). Did you get those? Let me highlight them again and provide a sentence or two more detail on each.

Send Timely Information: Don’t flood new leads with information immediately upon the first time you make contact with them. Just like when watering a plant, you want to send information consistently over time. Nurture leads daily, weekly, or monthly as appropriate for your particular market or industry.

Provide Relevant Information: Don’t spam your leads with information that’s not relevant. You want to shed light on questions they have and provide answers to problems. You want to be sunshine and warmth for them in the sense of being an environment that encourages their growth and development. Continually.

Make Responses Easy: You want to be listening to your leads as you nurture them. You need to consistently provide ways for leads to become customers. This is the ideal temperature aspect of nurturing. If you provide a consistent way for leads to respond you give them an optimal “warm and fuzzy” feeling for growth and development.

3. Lead Nurturing Takes Time

The last thing to remember when nurturing leads is the important aspect that everything takes time. If you’ve ever planted anything before you know the results are not instant. You have to follow the process. You have to trust that the things you do day in and day out without seeing any immediate results are serving a purpose and doing something greater. You’ll see the results if you are consistent in following your processes. Your ongoing watering, providing relevant information, and making feedback easy should begin very early and must be consistent. You’ll see results over time. Now, some leads may be much faster to grow and bloom but most will take time.

Lead nurturing requires patient and persistent marketing.

I know one of my own biggest weaknesses is patience. I work all the time on being more patient and letting things unfold but it’s still a struggle I must face every day. Nurturing leads takes time. But let me be clear on this point about one thing. Just because this takes time does not mean passively waiting; instead we must do active waiting.

Lead Nurturing Software

Lead nurturing software like Mautic helps you accomplish these steps. No longer stress about being consistent or contacting each lead at the optimal time. With a strong lead nurturing platform you can automate the lead process and still personalize each point of contact with your potential customer. A lead management software system helps nurture leads by making you consistent in your approach. This is one of the greatest benefits to using a marketing automation and lead nurturing platform like Mautic. I know for myself, this struggling to be patient and consistent is one of my biggest problems and Mautic makes it easy to be both consistent in my lead contact and patient in my approach.

We must stay actively engaged in nurturing and growing a lead using the steps mentioned above. So don’t lose heart, don’t give up easy. Be consistent and be patient. And understand that nurturing your leads takes time. Water those leads and watch them bloom into an awesome customer!