We hear the same complaint again and again from companies trying to generate leads online: “We are getting leads, but the quality is terrible.” Or, “We haven’t been able to get in touch with anyone.” Or even worse, “The leads are taking all of our time but no one is buying.”
Especially if you are marketing a high-end product or service, it can be challenging to find serious buyers. Right Left Agency does a lot of work with high-end consumer products and franchise lead generation. For these clients, the audience is niche, the sales cycle is long, and quality is paramount. Here are some of the steps we take to ensure we are achieving quality, not just quantity:
Quality Tracking
We are big on tracking results. However, when dealing with a lead generation campaign, it’s also important to be able to determine which ad platforms, creatives, audiences, and placements are yielding the best cost per QUALIFIED lead. To measure this accurately, we set up our lead capture forms to trigger a different conversion pixel for qualified leads than for unqualified leads, and we set up our advertising to optimize only for qualified leads.
Feedback Loop
To be successful, we need the ability to see all the way down the sales funnel and to get anecdotal feedback from the sales team. The first step is to set up campaign tracking in whatever CRM platform our client is using, so we can run reports that show what leads are converting into sales over time.
The second step is to set up regular calls with the sales team to get feedback on lead quality. Sometimes, there are things that the numbers just can’t tell us that are important for our ad optimziation.
Automation
When an unqualified lead enters your system, not only did you pay the advertising cost to generate that lead, but you also now have to spend your team’s precious time talking to and then disqualifying them. By implementing automatic lead qualification processes that trigger the relevant email drip campaigns, you can eliminate this factor from your decision-making process.
How does it work?
- The form on your website should be updated to include all your most important qualifying questions
- If the lead is not qualified, they are posted into your CRM with an “Unqualified” marker so your sales team does not engage
- An automated email campaign triggers that contacts the prospect, explains the qualifications, and asks them to respond if you are mistaken
How does this help improve your cost per qualified lead? It allows you to experiment with campaigns that may generate a lower percentage of qualified leads but that make up for it in low cost and high volume – effectively achieving a lower cost per qualified lead.
Targeting
This one is the most obvious, and what most agencies tend to focus on. We make sure to add qualifiers to our audiences like income levels, age, interests, geography, etc. to increase our chances of hitting qualified leads.
Lookalike audiences on Facebook also increase lead quality dramatically. Lookalike audiences allow us to take a list of past customers or qualified leads, provided by the client, and target people with similar interests and demographics to that on Facebook.
Messaging
Your ads should weed out those who are not qualified – and they should create a feeling of exclusivity. When your ads are self-selecting, the ad platforms will more quickly optimize to hit those audiences that the ad is relevant to.
Conveying exclusivity authentically is a bit more difficult. Some tactics include:
- Having an application process
- Telling people about how much interest your concept has received
- Listing the qualifications
- Listing awards and accolades
Without these aspects, it is almost impossible to achieve high quality leads for high-end products and services.
