Best Practice Article
How to start a successful online lead generation campaign
A report written in conjunction with Econsultancy and Clash Media stated 73% of online marketers agree premium lead generation delivers high ROI with online lead generation making up for 42% of the total sales in B2C marketing. Used to its full advantage, online lead generation can be a powerful marketing tool for customer acquisition.
It is important to understand the basics when planning a successful lead generation campaign. Firstly the true meaning of a qualified lead is when the user signs up and gives their contact details, correct profile and permission to be contacted by you for a specific reason, or to sign up to your regular communications. The consumer should give their express consent to be contacted e.g. by clicking an opt-in checkbox. It is important that the consumer should not be misled to opt-in in order to complete a registration to an unrelated subject, service or offer.
To help support your in-house team many companies use a 3rd party lead generation provider. This is when a company runs a lead generation campaign to collect leads on your behalf. This campaign is run usually on a CPL (cost per lead) basis. This can be known as co-registration campaign as a person is opting in to receive information from you without having to visit your website. The 3rd party company can either be a lead generation company or a partner who offers a complementary product or service. For example an online travel company may offer sign-ups for holiday insurance. Or a health spa may offer the chance to sign up to a health care product.
There are many benefits of online lead generation but by far the highest advantage is the cost effectiveness. A clever lead generation campaign gives you the ability to increase your prospect list as well as expanding your customer base. Your lead generation supplier should allow you to obtain certain attributes, age, gender, location, interests. Other benefits include giving you the ability to qualify the lead as well as the flexibility and transparency to qualify the lead.
What are your key objectives of using online lead generation?
1. Build your database with a similar profiles as your existing users
2. Break into new markets
3. Help promote a new product or event
4. To be able gain new business prospects
5. Kick start your social media campaign
6. Gain customer insight through surveys
Top rules when conducting a lead generation campaign
Know your boundaries: a lead should not be asked to give away personal information that is not relevant for your product or service.
Be transparent: be clear about what the user is signing up for, and how they will be contacted e.g. email, phone call or direct mail.
Opt-out is key: the lead should be able to unsubscribe from any further marketing communications at any time he or she desires and you must agree to deactivate or delete the user in accordance with legislation set up by our legal department.
Stick to your incentives: the incentives to encourage the generation of leads should always be clear and terms and conditions should be in place to avoid any legal implementations.
Obtaining your leads: when using a lead generation supplier, there are several options to obtain your generated leads. Real-time data transfer is the best option as it will enable you to start your marketing programme as soon as the leads completes the form. This is normally done through a live feed. Batch delivery is another option and files should be transferred securely via a password protected FTP or SFTP. Remember to clarify the frequency your supplier delivers the leads and create a receipt of confirmation after each delivery.
Act while the lead is hot: It is important to start communication while the consumer has engaged with your brand. Before starting the lead generation campaign set up a welcome programme for more advice visit our best practice article: How to develop your email marketing lifecycle programme
In conclusion, online lead generation is an excellent way of growing your database quickly. Start by collecting leads internally, on your website, through consumer surveys and perhaps partner companies. Once this programme works well for you, expand this to lead generation suppliers. Always use reputable 3rd party suppliers that provide you with premium leads. Be clear of your objectives; thoroughly check the companies you are using, and be clear to the consumers how you have obtained their details and what further communications they will receive.
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