The Top 4 Lead Generation Problems and How to Solve Them
Are you struggling with growing your lead generation campaigns?, If so, you’re not alone (in fact, far from it). Even here at Driftrock (a lead generation software company!), we were struggling to scale our marketing efforts.
That was until we took a methodical approach to optimisation across each of the 4 big lead generation challenges;
1. How to increase Lead volume
2. How to improve Lead quality
3. How to increase your Conversion rate
4. How to decrease Cost per lead
If you are also struggling with these lead generation challenges, then this is the article for you! We’ll cover learnings from Driftrock’s own lead generation campaigns, as well as learnings from our awesome customers.
1) How to increase Lead Volume
This first lead gen problem is the most obvious! The marketing funnel thrives on a consistent flow of leads, and increasing lead volume may fix most problems.
Higher the lead volume = More data and insights to optimise your campaigns and fix problems
We have all heard the claim, “focus on quality leads instead of quantity for better lead generation”. However, how to optimise for better lead quality without the quantity of leads to run tests and experiments with?
The question then is: how to increase lead volume for enough leads?
- Boosting lead volume starts with identifying the right channels. There are many viable platforms to choose from — the trick is to determine which platforms are most effective for your business. It’s also important to assess ad types, formats, and settings — and this largely boils down to experimentation.
For example, here at Driftrock, we decided to run an experimental campaign on Facebook. Initially, we set the campaign objective to optimise for more clicks, which allowed us to see which ad and creative worked best.
Next, we selected the top-performing ad and changed the goal to conversion. This video ad performed well and we achieved some excellent results! So we decided to do what any rational marketer would do - we tried to increase the target market reach and tried running the same ad campaign on LinkedIn newsfeed…and it tanked.
Additionally, even though our LinkedIn newsfeed ad was a miss, we get great results with LinkedIn InMail for lead generation. This demonstrates that it’s not just about the platform — the ad types/formats within each platform can also be a huge factor in the success of your campaign.
Here’s a list of some of our high converting lead generation sources:
With nearly 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world. This unparalleled scope makes it a powerful channel for reaching the masses and scaling campaigns. You can read our detailed Facebook Lead Ads guide here.
Among Millennials, Instagram has essentially dethroned Facebook as the preferred social network. Its high engagement rate makes it a leading option for connecting with existing and new consumers.
As a search engine, Google is the only platform on this list that isn’t a social network — and that comes with a distinct advantage. Since it runs on search queries (rather than passive scrolling), traffic from Google can be extremely high-intent.
For B2B lead generation, LinkedIn reigns supreme. As the premier professional networking platform, LinkedIn is an ideal space to promote business products and services.
As a platform centered around career development and networking, LinkedIn offers access to over 774 million members, including decision-makers and industry influencers. By utilising LinkedIn's advertising solutions, such as Sponsored Content, InMail, and Lead Gen Forms, businesses can deliver tailored messages and offers to prospects based on their industry, job title, or company size.
Leveraging LinkedIn lead generation can result in higher-quality leads, better conversion rates, and stronger business relationships, ultimately driving sales and business growth.
• TikTok
Seemingly overnight, TikTok exploded in popularity, now boasting 1 billion monthly active users. This growth was largely driven by Gen Z, making TikTok a compelling new option for reaching younger demographics (however, slowly the demographics are changing and you can reach a wide range of people on TikTok - not just younger demographics).
Some brands use live streaming on TikTok to reach followers and potential customers directly. This approach can help brands establish trust and credibility with potential customers.
• Snapchat
Snapchat lead generation allows businesses to tap into a highly engaged audience. By leveraging Snapchat's unique ad formats, such as Snap Ads, Sponsored Lenses, and Sponsored Geofilters, businesses can create immersive, interactive experiences that capture the attention of potential leads.
With advanced targeting options, businesses can zero in on their ideal audience, ensuring that their message reaches those most likely to convert.
Embracing Snapchat lead generation can result in higher engagement rates, improved brand awareness, and ultimately, increased conversions and sales.
To maximize your lead gen efforts on these platforms, you should strongly consider using native lead gen ads. Each of the above platforms offers a native ad type that is specifically designed to capture leads.
Native lead generation ads often achieve a 50% reduction in CPL compared to standard ad formats. This enables advertisers to 2x their lead volume with the same ad spend.
That being said, it’s still necessary to test and optimise. For instance, you’ll need to find a balance between asking too many questions on the form and not asking enough. Asking too many or irrelevant questions can hurt the conversion rate, whereas asking very few questions may lead to lower lead quality.
Explore our library of 20+ lead gen sources to discover lead gen platforms right for your business and target audience.
The lower lead quality brings us to our next section!
2) How to improve Lead Quality
Lead volume is important — but a high number of leads will not get you very far, if the leads are low quality leads, it may be a waste of resources. This is why we should focus on optimising for quality leads!
Optimising for High Quality Leads will increase sales efficiency and marketing ROI. Here are three tips that have helped us and our clients to improve lead quality:
- Track and analyze leads that convert
Without a system for tracking leads throughout their journey down the marketing funnel, you’re essentially “flying blind.” You may have an idea of what a quality lead looks like, but when a lead converts, do you attribute it to the original campaign it came from? Do you know all the steps that lead went through before converting to a sale?
If the answer to these questions is “No,” consider implementing a lead tracking and analysis tool to gain deeper insights into your leads and funnel. Doing so will help you better understand where quality leads are coming from, allowing you to optimise accordingly.
- Refine your ideal customer profile & buyer personas
Targeting the right audience is key for high-quality lead generation. In order to get to the right target audience, it is important to understand and define your ideal customer clearly.
It is also necessary to foster a strong alignment between the marketing and sales department for the same. Too often, Sales and Marketing operate in silos without enough communication and collaboration between the two departments. To solve this, encourage the two teams to come together and discuss what the company’s ideal customer actually looks like.
Once you’ve established a detailed ICP and/or buyer personas (which includes demographics, interests, pain points, etc.), you can then proceed with more precise lead gen campaigns.
- Use more in-depth lead forms with required fields
In the previous section on lead volume, we touched on the importance of finding a balance of the number of questions on your lead gen forms. If you’re struggling with poor lead quality, you may want to consider reworking your forms to improve lead data and filter out low-quality leads.
With native lead gen ads, contrary to what you might expect, adding more required fields to the form doesn’t usually increase the CPL much (thanks to the algorithm!). However, you’ll need to ensure that the questions are relevant and that you don’t go overboard. Again, it’s all about finding the right balance.
For more tips on lead quality, check out our articles on 5 Tips to Increase Lead Quality, 12 Tips to Increase Facebook Lead Quality and our Social Media Lead Quality Guide.
3) How to increase your Conversion Rate
As a marketer, few things are more frustrating than planning out a campaign, running it, driving high traffic…only to discover that the traffic just won’t convert!
Similarly, perhaps your website is receiving a good amount of traffic, but you’re having a hard time converting visitors into leads.
To increase conversion rates, start by evaluating the user journey from beginning to end. How smooth is the user experience of that flow? To elaborate, here are some key elements to consider:
- Website load time
People have very short attention spans online. Even a few extra seconds of loading can cause people to grow impatient and bounce. So, be cognizant of your site’s page load time.
- Responsive web design
This refers to a website’s ability to seamlessly adapt to different devices and screen sizes. Given the amount of web traffic that comes from mobile, responsive web design is a must.
- Ease of use
When users engage with your forms and landing pages, convenience and intuitive functionality are key. The act of signing up (converting) should be as simple and effortless as possible.
- Call-to-action (CTA)
Ultimately, your call-to-action is what’s going to compel visitors to convert into leads. Ask yourself: is our CTA clear, prominent, and enticing? Experiment with different words, placements, text sizes, etc. to test for conversion.
In addition to the user experience considerations above, you should also reflect on the value you’re providing to your audience. The more value you provide, the more likely people will be to share their contact information with you.
Moreover, if your conversion pathway is fairly one-dimensional, consider expanding into other offerings (downloadable content, free trials, newsletter signups, etc.) to diversify your lead capture methods.
Lastly, it’s critical to note that many users will not convert on the first engagement — but that doesn’t mean they’re a lost cause. Rather, multiple touchpoints are often required to spur an individual to take action. For this reason, you should be heavily invested in retargeting initiatives, which will often convert at much higher rates.
One of our clients managed to increase their website lead conversion rate by 400%. The Car Expert focused on a frictionless journey and utilised the Driftrock banner lead form, which was very similar to native lead gen forms. You can read the entire case study here.
4) How to decrease Cost Per Lead (CPL) Lead Cost
Volume and quality can be regarded as two of the three core pillars of modern lead generation. The third? Cost. If the cost-per-lead (CPL) is too high, this will essentially reduce the ROI and, consequently, the overall success of a lead gen campaign.
On the contrary, a low/affordable CPL allows marketers to achieve an excellent ROI and scale upward to profitably grow revenue.
Lead volume, conversion rate, and cost are directly related. So, some of the tips we’ve outlined in the previous sections on volume and conversion rate are also applicable to lead cost. For example, native lead gen ads (i.e. Facebook Lead Ads, LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, etc.) have proven to be a highly effective means for lowering CPL. Additionally, by increasing your conversion rate, there will be an effective reduction in CPL as a result.
Building on this theme, let’s explore a few other tactics for cutting down lead costs:
- Utilize A/B testing
To optimise your campaigns, you need to be constantly testing your ads and your landing pages. The most tried-and-true method is the classic A/B test, which runs two versions of an ad (or landing page) side-by-side to determine a winner. You can use a native A/B testing feature for your ads or try a third-party A/B testing tool for your landing pages.
- Hone in on high-performing placements
As we’ve mentioned before, not all ad placements are created equal. Review your lowest-performing ad placements across channels and consider removing them to reduce wasteful spending and optimise your ad budgets.
- Improve ad relevance and quality
If you’re running PPC campaigns on Google and Bing, your ad Quality Score might be hindering your results. To improve your Quality Score, strive to make your ads and landing pages as relevant as possible to the keywords you’re targeting.
- Experiment with automated bidding
Continuing on tactics for Google, it’s worthwhile to try out Google’s automated bidding feature. With automated bidding, Google will predict your ad’s likelihood to generate a click/conversion and adjust your bids accordingly (which can help minimise ad spend).
Remember, the overall key to optimising CPL (and other areas of your lead gen campaigns) is to continually test different tactics and analyse the results. Through experimentation, you’ll be able to uncover what works, and what doesn’t.
Lead Generation Software for the New Era
This article has been all about overcoming lead generation challenges — and that’s exactly what we’re committed to doing here at Driftock.
Driftrock makes it easy to capture, track, and convert leads from over 20+ different lead sources, empowering marketers to generate more leads, enhance lead quality, and boost conversion rates.
To learn more about how Driftrock can help you optimise your marketing process and generate more high-quality leads, Book a Demo to get started free.
