Lead generation is a quintessential need for most businesses. A company that excel with its lead generation campaigns will always manage to close more sales and certainly more revenue. Every company wants to increase the number of leads they get and a solid lead generation strategy can do just that.
The realm of lead generation is ever expanding and it is thus almost impossible for anyone to conquer all frontiers. Trying to do everything that others are doing without mastering any niche will be counterproductive. Hence, you need to focus on creating an effective lead generation strategy.
So, how can you create an effective lead generation strategy that can bring positive results for your business?
Not All Leads are Good Leads
First of all, leads that come in aren’t always going to be an easy conversion or they might not even lead to a sale. Many companies commit the cardinal sin of being overjoyed when they get some traffic or some data of prospective customers.
Not all customers are eligible or relevant for a particular product and service. One hot lead is better than a hundred cold leads. Qualify the leads, know your target audience and use lead scoring to know how to target whom.
Lead scoring is quite simple if you know what metrics you are supposed to use. If someone checks out your website and signs up for a newsletter, then allot a few points to that lead, add a few more if the lead watches a video or sends in an enquiry.
If the lead subsequently unsubscribes from your mailing list, then deduct the points you had allotted for subscribing. Use similar parameters and a point-based system for factual lead scoring. You cannot blindly or randomly determine if a lead is qualified enough. It's important to have an objective assessment of each of the leads that come through.
Don't Overlook the Basics
There are certain basic do's and don’ts that most companies tend to overlook. Using a product video is essential, but it doesn’t make textual contents like blogs.
Privacy policies meant to assure a prospective lead shouldn’t instill the very fear it was supposed to fight.
For instance, mentioning at the time of signup that the data would not be used for spam or any other fraudulent activity will raise the red flags. Don’t remind the leads of something that they mustn’t be reminded of.
Too Many Choices
Often, companies keep on offering choices during the lead generation process. Even the sales funnels have too many choices. With our attention span continuing to decrease, it's important to help your prospects stay focus.
Distracting the lead is akin to losing the lead.
Keep your content, website, and even emails minimalistic. Give fewer choices, whether it is content or the product and try to get the focus of a potential customer to something specific, without distractions.
Adjust Call to Actions
Something as simple as changing the text or colour on the submit button or creating new call to actions on the site that stand out can really draw attention to where you want the user to go.
“Click here” and “Go” are the most successful historically, but try to be even more specific with what you’re asking the user to do. “Click here to get a free quote” can often perform better than just a generic message.
You want to let your customers know exactly what clicking the button can do for them. Is it a free consultation? A free eBook or infographic? Or an email subscription to your weekly newsletters?
Form Length Matters
There have been many studies showing the huge increase in conversions when a contact form has fewer fields. A published infographic from Unbounce featured a 120% increase in form conversions when they went from 11 fields to 4 fields.
Often times, a website will feel they need to get as much contact information as possible from somebody filling out a form. This strategy can greatly cut down on the number of leads you could be getting.
The most efficient way to determine what will work best for your site is simple. Test it! You can try different landing pages, new colours, more/less call to actions, add/remove fields from the contact form, lead tracking software and more. All of these things can increase the amount of leads you get from any website.
