The end goal of marketing should always be qualified leads that end in conversions. No matter how great the views on an ad are or how high your metrics are, if you’re not getting qualified leads then it means nothing. Having people view your ads just for the purpose of viewing them doesn’t lead to sales or help your business progress. You need conversions.
Knowing how to analyze your metrics and qualify your leads is essential for a successful marketing strategy.
Today we’re going to share 4 ways you can qualify leads for better clicks through rates and conversions.
What is Lead Qualification?
Lead qualification helps make sure the leads you attract through your marketing campaigns and other ads are those who are most likely to fulfill your business goals. Qualified traffic to your website is more likely to take action, and qualified leads are most likely to make purchases from your business. Lead qualification is key for leveraging the most out of your lead generation efforts.
Why is Lead Qualification Important?
If the end goal of your marketing is sales, you know it’s important to get more out of your marketing than just clicks. On the financial side of things, you want to get the most bang for your buck from your campaigns.
If you are running paid ads and you have a high click-through rate, that means your ad is working in the areas of copywriting and having an eye-catching offer! That’s a great first step. But is it actually appealing to the customers who are most likely to achieve your goal of ____ (fill in the blank: make a purchase, sign up for your email list, etc.).
If your ad is pulling in plenty of clicks, you may be paying less per click, but if you’re not getting conversions, what’s the point? Those numbers mean nothing if they don’t achieve your overall goal. Plus, you’re not really saving money, you’re wasting it on unqualified traffic.
While click-through rates and cost per click are important, your conversion rates are the most important for your ROI. Conversion trumps vanity numbers.
How to Set Parameters
The first step in being able to qualify leads is knowing your target audience. Every business has a unique target audience and unique lead qualification parameters that are specific to that audience.
To help you learn about your audience, there is a simple acronym: BANT. This stands for budget, authority, need, and timing. Below we’ll break down each of these.
Budget: What is their spending ability? Can a potential customer afford your products/services?
Authority: Are they the ultimate decision-maker?
Need: What needs do they have and do these align with your product/services?
Timing: In what time frame will they need a solution for their need?
While your landing page and information collection forms will help to qualify your leads, they don’t solve the issue of attracting unqualified clicks, to begin with. To help resolve this issue, we’ll share 4 ways to qualify clicks.
1. Be specific in ad copy
The simplest way to qualify potential customers is to be concise and honest in your copy. Layout who your ideal customer is. The more specific your copy is, the more targeted it will be. While it may turn away some of the people who previously would have clicked on the ad, remember you’re here for the paying customers and not just the numbers.
2. Add price extensions to your Search ads
One way to keep unqualified leads from clicking onto your ads is to put the price or starting price of your product in your ads. Sticker shock will ward off people who couldn’t afford your product or services in the first place. This will help you save your marketing dollars for people who can afford it!
3. Optimize lead forms for quality, not quantity
Within platforms like Google and Facebook, you can choose to opt for more volume or more quality leads. The default for these platforms is volume/quantity because they love seeing padded numbers to keep companies coming back to advertise and spend more money with them. All you have to do is simply choose “quality” or “high intent” or “more qualified” in your lead form type option.
4. Add more questions to lead forms
The fewer questions you ask someone, the easier it is for them to fill out your lead forms. In some circumstances, platforms like LinkedIn, Quora, and Google may even offer to auto-populate data for users so they don’t even have to fill out the form. This means people don’t have any skin in the game and may fill out your form with no intention of purchasing from you. By adding a couple of more questions that can’t be auto-filled you will find unqualified leads won’t take the time to fill them out while qualified leads will.
These four simple steps will help you amp up your conversions. As a fair heads up though, you may see a dip in your click-through numbers as you’ll be getting fewer unqualified leads. This is a great step and means your ads are working. It can be tough for some marketers to adjust though to seeing vanity numbers fall below what they are used to. Simply keep in mind that in the end, your conversion numbers going up and you getting more business is all that matters.