“If marketers are judging the success of their campaigns (SEO, PPC, email, etc.) on quantity of inquiries instead of quality, they could be overestimating their results by as much as half. “
This is one of the findings set out in a presentation called the “Importance of Lead Validation” from Straight North, an SEO agency in Charlotte.
The data in the presentation indicates that about 50 percent of a company’s website inquiries are not leads. For the purposes of this study, the authors defined a lead as a person who would listen to phone inquiry recordings and read form submissions. The authors state that this process allows a company to separate actual sales leads from other non-sales inquiries.
Two key takeaways from the study include:
- The first web site visit is vital: 85 percent of site visitors converted on the first visit. This lets us know that many visitors are simply searching for the best company and vetting it based on website quality — and once they find that match, they convert into a sales lead.
- Overstated results lead to:
- Slow improvement of campaigns.
- Inaccurate determination of which campaign generated each validated lead.
- Investing in campaigns thought to be contributing to ROI but are actually generating minimal returns — or worse, losses.
There are more stats in this slide presentation, including which days of the week are best for lead conversions.
http://www.slideshare.net/StraightNorthIM/the-importance-of-lead-validation
About the author:
Aaron Wittersheim is Chief Operating Officer at Straight North, an Internet marketing agency.
