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Generating good quality leads is no easy feat and it takes plenty of time and effort to get your strategy right. With enough time spent on your marketing materials and social campaigns driving visitors to your website, anyone can generate a decent number of inbound leads, but this is where a lot of marketing teams fall down. In lead generation, it’s easy to fall into the trap where teams are given lead targets and a lead is a lead, which results in the misconception that quantity is as valuable as quality. If you churn out marketing campaign after marketing campaign with the aim of generating as many leads as possible in any way possible, the chances are that you’re not going to achieve much. Equally, the stance that even those leads that don’t seem that good on the face of things might turn into warm leads with enough perseverance from the sales team doesn’t stand up too well either. Instead, you want to ensure that the user experience is of the highest standard from the first interaction, regardless of how warm the lead is at this stage.

Create a personalised lead generation process

If someone’s first impression of your brand is “yeah, I like them, let’s see what they can do for me” then you’re already taking the first step towards a good quality lead - not just another addition to your pipeline - because you have taken the steps to personalise your approach so it resonates with your target audience and their needs. 

However, if someone’s impression is “these guys don’t really care about ME” then that person will take the view that you’re out for any leads you can get and are likely to head somewhere that gives them a more personalised experience.

In the case of the latter this can have a detrimental effect on your lead conversion rate, and nobody working in sales or marketing wants to see that. After investing so much time, effort and creativity into your latest lead generation campaign you want to ensure that your strategy bears fruit, so today we’re going to give you five of our top tips to increase your lead conversion rate to ensure that you keep your pipeline flowing and the sales bell ringing. 

Identify your target audience

In order to generate not only leads, but the right leads, you need to understand your market first and foremost. There are a number of factors that come into play here including demographic and geographic data which could be used to paint a picture of who is most likely to be interested in your product or service. Then you can take this data and personalise your approach to meet their individual needs in the shape of the content you produce and your method of targeting them.

Research and filter your leads before reaching out

You often get a feel for a lead when the enquiry comes in. As a business you might be in the fortunate position where you’re generating a great number of leads each week or month, and it’s down to you to filter these out to capitalise on the most relevant opportunities with the greatest chance of conversion. 

Once you’ve started to filter out those that are not likely to be interested, and moved the potential opportunities to one side for the timebeing, you can get to work on researching the higher quality, warmer leads so you can - again - personalise your approach when you reach out to them.

Strike while the iron is hot - make contact ASAP

When someone responds to a marketing campaign message whether that’s an email or a social media post, it’s important for you to reach out to them at the earliest opportunity. Of course, you need to ensure that this lead is relevant, but while you have them at the peak of their interest with your brand fresh in their mind you increase your chance of converting them or at least moving them down your pipeline. 

Get to know the lead on a personal level, not just as a lead, so you can listen to and understand their needs and then deliver a personalised service that explains how you can deliver a solution. By doing this you create a personal bond and this resonates with leads who are looking to invest in not just your service, but you as a salesperson.

Utilise testimonials and reviews

When someone takes the time to leave you an online review or testimonial for your website they don’t just do it because they’re happy with what you’ve done for them, but so that you can use their experience to aid others. 

A positive review or detailed testimonial on your website can be used as a case study to show your leads how you’ve helped similar businesses in the past, quashing any concerns they may have and answering niggling questions that would otherwise hold them back (or completely prevent them) from converting.

Follow-up on ALL leads

Staying in contact with all of your leads will help to keep the conversation alive and your brand in their minds. A good follow-up strategy will enable you to re-engage with leads that may have started to cool, and those that you spoke to several months before when you didn’t have a promotion or when it may not have been the opportune moment for them to convert.

By checking back in with them you might find their circumstances have changed in terms of budget allocations, new business opportunities and contracts; so by staying in touch you can revitalise older leads as well as the more recent prospects who didn’t convert on the first engagement (which very rarely happens!)