5 SIMPLE WAYS TO ENHANCE B2C LEAD GENERATION

Do you run B2C Lead Generation Campaigns? Of course you do, that’s why you’re here….

This blog will list five simple ways to improve the efficiency of your campaigns and the quality of leads generated. Think of this as sort of check list of key ideas… run through them all!

This blog will provide an overview made up of simple tips. I will refer back to each individual point in more depth in future blog posts, so make sure you sign up to our marketing emails to avoid missing out.

CHOOSE QUALITY

When it comes to lead generation we have all been seduced by quantity. This seems an easy measure of success, an empirical ROI we can hold up as a prize for the campaigns we run. A short term win…

This kind of thinking has been the basis for (literally) billions of wasted pounds in spray and pray advertising. Some people even say the wastage is a necessary evil, averaging it out against the small percentage of conversions of such campaigns to show a “respectable” CPA.

Instead, I propose a shift in mindset where we begin searching for the highest quality of lead possible. If the opportunity cost of this is fewer leads coming in that is completely fine, providing the quality of lead we do generate is high enough. After all, the true value of a lead can only be qualified by chance of conversion. The following ideas can be used to begin implementing this shift in mindset, striving for quality and consequently seeing a far better ROI.

- BE SPECIFIC

The first step towards shifting mentality - aiming for quality over quantity - requires using specificity as your byword. By aiming for greater specificity in both the message you present and the audience you target, you instantly narrow in on more concentrated, more receptive prospects. To ensure B2C Lead Generation Campaigns are running as efficiently as possible, as marketers we must be as specific as possible in every choice we make.

- USE POWERFUL VALIDATION

This may seem obvious, but employing powerful validation tools in your B2C Lead Generation is an absolute must in ridding campaigns of inefficiencies. Whether leads come in with genuine mistakes (typos, incorrect numbers) or whether fraudulent leads are arriving in your system, powerful validation tools can be used, very simply, to eradicate this waste in your campaigns.

- MACHINE LEARNING IS THE FUTURE

The idea of aiming for quality over quantity cannot effectively be looked at without talking about machine learning. Applying machine learning to collected data fields to reveal unique insights into your lead generation campaign is without doubt the single most effective way to improve the quality of leads you bring in.

Imagine creating a lookalike audience, then enhancing that even further until almost every lead in your audience comes in almost guaranteed to convert. It is not overstating it to say we are not too far from that point. The knowledge and insights we can gain by using machine learning with our lead generation campaigns will vastly revolutionise the industry. The idea of paying for leads that have little chance of converting, of running spray and pray campaigns, will soon seem embarrassingly antiquated.

If you would like to learn more about how you can being using machine learning today, click here for a free demo:

LANDING PAGES ARE KEY

• A good landing page is key in turning a prospect into a lead.

• A good landing page will succinctly express the specific message that brought the prospect in. It will then concisely develop that message and convince them to take the next step of the journey.

• A good landing page will deliver the correct content to the correct prospect.

• A good landing page will improve your SEO and boost the amount of inbound traffic to your site.

• A good landing page will represent your brand, company and website perfectly.

• A good landing page will have the correct form and allow you to capture all necessary details to continue your lead’s journey (more on that later).

Clearly, a good landing page (or multiple pages) is key to the success of a B2C Lead Generation Campaign. With that in mind, it is key to ensure that you build your landing pages to maximise potential. It is important you control every aspect of your landing page to decrease any inefficiencies.

What better way to do that than to build your own landing pages, within your lead generation and management platform, and ensure this key aspect of any campaign is performing as well as possible?

Did you know Databowl has its own software that allows you to build your own stunning landing pages, simply and efficiently? Find out more by requesting a demo here:

A CAMPAIGN IS A JOURNEY

All B2C Lead Generation Campaigns should be thought of as a journey. This refers to both the journey a prospect will go on before becoming a “lead,” and also the journey required for a lead to be converted into a client/sale/etc…

A PROSPECT’S JOURNEY

Too often B2C Lead Generation Campaigns rely on a two point stop in the planned “journey” to turn prospects into leads. Marketers will run an ad, aim for a good CTR to a designated Landing Page and hope this brings leads in. In reality, the journey is far more complex and we should plan it several extra stops to reflect this. Very rarely will someone see an advert, click through and instantly submit their details.

RETARGET, RETARGET, RETARGET!

One big mistake people make is failing to distinguish between strangers and prospects. This is a step of the journey people often ignore. In reality, even if we create an incredibly specific lookalike audience based on current sales / clients, most people seeing an ad for a first time should be thought of as stranger. The chance of turning a stranger into a sale can be slim, thus we need to put in the next stop.

The point where we first gain interest (say an initial click through to a custom built landing page) is the point where we can legitimately call a stranger a prospect. We must then retarget these people with far more gusto than we run the cold ads… as they will be more engaged. The engagement rates on retargeting ads almost invariably outperform cold ads, thus as part of any successful lead generation campaign, must be utilised efficiently.

A LEAD’S JOURNEY

Whether you are forwarding leads internally to an in-house sales team, or whether you are selling them on externally, a lead’s chance of conversion is the way to measure success. This links in with the idea about quality, but looking specifically at this part of the journey is absolutely vital.

5 GOLDEN MINUTES

I like to think of a sort of countdown beginning the moment a lead is received. According to research, the 5 minutes following a submission are the most engaged a lead will ever be. After that point we face diminishing returns so we need to act fast.

Source: http://www.leadresponsemanagement.org/lrm_study

As can be seen from the above data, the faster we act, the greater the chance of success. With this in mind, employing real time distribution (either internally or externally) has the ability to make a huge difference in enhancing the results of B2C Lead Generation Campaigns.

Databowl offer real time distribution to help you overcome this issue and maximise opportunity and performance. Learn more by requesting a demo:

STING LIKE A / B

Run two campaigns and one will perform better than the other. Once you accept that you cannot do anything BUT A/B test everything you do.

If a new campaign performs 0.25% better than the existing one then we can improve and enhance our lead generation by a quarter of a percentage with that knowledge. The same principle can be applied to every single advert, landing page or email funnel we choose. We can apply the same idea to creatives and copy. By testing everything we do we can make marginal gains across the board that add up to a large increase in efficiency within the entirety of the campaign.

This may seem obvious, but too often lead generation campaigns can be allowed to run with moderate success. Unless you test everything and constantly strive for improvement there are hidden inefficiencies in everything you do.

At Databowl we have in-built A/B Testing functions to allow you to test new ideas and accurately record results to allow for constant improvements. Use Databowl and sting like A/B (sorry, just really wanted to use that play on words for a while).

OFFER SOMETHING OF VALUE

“Do you run B2C Lead Generation Campaigns? Of course you do, that’s why you’re here…. “

I began this blog like that for a reason. I wanted to qualify you. I wanted to sell to you. If you don’t run B2C Lead Generation Campaigns (why are you still reading?!) then this would be a waste of time for everyone. Instead, I wanted to offer you something that would be genuinely useful in the hope that would entice you to sign up to either a demo or at least sign up to receive similar useful blogs for your work.

I’m not going to explain Inbound Marketing, but rather, use this tip in a different way: By offering something of value you are inherently qualifying leads at the earliest stage of the process. The only leads we will receive on the back of this blog, for example, will be people who run B2C Lead Generation Campaigns. At the first step of the journey I have set a filter for quality. Hopefully, if you run B2C lead generation campaigns, then you will be interested in software that can help you achieve all these ways to enhance the performance of your campaigns.

With that in mind, I now invite you a final time to learn even more about how you can improve your B2C Lead Gen today.