A sales lead is, in the simplest terms, a person potentially interested in a product or service. In the article below, we will analyze the types of sales leads and explain how they influence sales growth in the e-commerce industry.
In the field of online marketing, a sales lead refers to data that a user has left on the website of a store or company whose product they are potentially interested in. A lead can also refer to data obtained in ways other than through a website form. Generally speaking, a sales lead is any contact that makes it possible to reach a specific person or company.
A lead most often includes a first name or company name, phone number, or email address. Sometimes, a lead also contains other information that helps better tailor the offer to the potential customer.
The process of acquiring leads is referred to as lead generation. This task is most often handled by marketers, who use tools such as newsletters, dedicated landing pages, social media apps, and other forms.
The term lead magnet refers to a free item or service offered to encourage users to leave their contact details. A lead magnet is an effective tool for generating sales leads because it increases the chances of turning a potential customer into a buyer.
Lead magnets come in many forms. They can be a free ebook, a free product sample, a trial subscription, a demo version of an app, or another incentive related to the product you offer. Although there are different types of lead magnets, their goal is always the same – exchanging free content for basic contact details.
Why does it work? Because potential customers are happy to receive a piece of the product for free – without the pressure of buying anything. And the best-converting lead magnets share several important characteristics:
There are three types of leads: cold, warm, and hot. The “temperature” of a lead depends on how ready the customer is to purchase your product or service.
At the very beginning, all leads are cold. Your current warm and hot leads were actually once cold too. Depending on whether you introduce specific actions, you will either accelerate sales or cold leads will remain cold forever.
A cold lead requires the most time and effort to turn into a potential customer. Such a user usually has little or no knowledge of your company. As a result, they would probably never share any information with you or show interest in your services. That is why converting a cold lead into a warm one is one of the most difficult tasks.
A warm lead has already taken one step toward purchasing your product or service. They have visited your website or replied to an email. That is why they are aware of the value you offer and share their contact details with you. A warm lead may not make a purchase immediately, but they are ready to learn more about your offer.
A warm lead is a transitional stage between a cold and a hot lead. If you handle it properly, it can turn into a hot lead and then into a potential customer. Cold leads are not very eager to receive your emails or visit your website. Leads that have passed this stage become warm and ready for further marketing activities.
Example of a warm lead:
A hot lead is a person who is convinced they want to take advantage of your offer but has not yet completed the purchase. Every business strives to acquire hot leads. Converting them into sales usually takes the least time, but requires a quick response and immediate service. Negotiations are short and, in most cases, end with a purchase agreement. Why? Because these people have already reviewed the offer and are almost certain about their purchasing decision.
Example of a hot lead:
Landing page literally means a page where a user “lands.” It is also referred to as a destination page or product page. A landing page is created mainly to sell products and services or to generate leads.
A landing page is usually the first place a customer reaches when they are interested in the product we are advertising. The destination page typically does not contain a traditional menu, but only a short product description with particular emphasis on its benefits.
A landing page created to generate leads should include a form encouraging users to leave their contact details. It can also include a lead magnet – an additional benefit for sharing their data.
A landing page plays a huge role in generating sales leads. It is worth making sure that the design, colors, and other elements on the landing page are consistent with the brand. Additionally, the content should clearly present the benefits of purchasing the product or service.
Lead generation is most often associated with the financial industry. However, this method of acquiring data can be used in virtually any industry. Above, we present an example of a landing page for a construction company building a database of customers interested in building a house. In this case, the lead magnet is a free quote.
A good example of generating warm sales leads is building an email mailing list for a newsletter. It is a way to collect contacts from people interested in the topic, but not yet convinced to start cooperation.
Above is an example from our own experience – the free ebook “How to Make Money with Affiliate Links.” Its purpose is to encourage users visiting the website to leave their name and email address.
Above, we present an example of a landing page in the financial industry. The landing page prepared for ANG is designed to generate leads from people interested in a loan. The form requires users to provide their first name, last name, email address, phone number, city, and type of loan. A lot of information is required, but this is common practice in this industry.
The landing page above was prepared by the mortgage comparison engine jakikredyt.pl. Before the user is asked to provide an email contact, they must answer several questions. The amount of required information is large, and completing the survey takes more time. Thanks to this, the advertiser can be sure they are acquiring valuable leads – people who are genuinely interested in a loan for a house or apartment.
The insurance company Generali decided to collect only phone numbers on its landing page.
There are many ways to generate sales leads. We will present the most popular ones, but we encourage you to test different methods and analyze which are most effective for you.
According to Statcounter Global Stats, around 92% of internet users use the Google search engine. This is why many companies use the advertising tool that is Google Ads. Advertising on Google allows you to reach customers actively searching for specific products. For example, people who want to buy an apartment often type mortgage loan for an apartment into the search box. For a bank, this is an opportunity to acquire a hot sales lead.
Creating an optimized campaign with well-matched keywords allows you to reach potential customers with your offer with high effectiveness. But launching the campaign is not the end of the effort. You also need to redirect people who click on the ads to a landing page with a contact form. There, they will be able to leave their details or find information that allows them to contact the company.
A sales lead is not only contact details left on a website through a specially prepared form. It also includes people who make a phone call after seeing an ad creative. The Google Ads system makes it possible to place a phone call immediately after such an ad is displayed, using a dedicated button. This process is extremely simplified and intuitive, which is why it stands out with a high conversion rate.
Social media marketing is just as popular a way to generate sales leads as a Google Ads campaign. The better the communication channel is matched to the industry, the higher the conversion rate will be. Facebook is the most popular social media platform, visited by nearly two-thirds of all internet users. TikTok is Generation Z’s favorite app, while LinkedIn is a business-focused medium. Each channel therefore has a slightly different target audience.
Free lead generation in social media is a natural process, because a given profile is followed by people interested in a specific person or brand. As a result, they are much more likely to respond to what is offered through these channels. By sharing materials showing the behind-the-scenes activities of the company and the people who build the business, potential customers are more willing to leave their details and learn more about the offer.
Social media platforms offer advertising systems (e.g. Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads) that make it possible to launch marketing campaigns focused on specific objectives. One of these objectives can also be generating sales leads. Setting up a campaign to acquire leads involves several basic steps. The first is defining the target audience, the next is choosing the ad format, and finally selecting the right lead magnet.
The internet is saturated with a huge amount of content. Unfortunately, not all materials are valuable enough. Some texts are created only to fill empty sections on a website. As a result, internet users find it difficult to filter high-quality content from content that has not been prepared reliably.
A company blog can be a great tool for generating sales leads if you provide users with unique, interesting content that expands their knowledge. Content marketing involves creating and publishing attractive and useful content designed to interest and retain the audience, so that in the future they decide to use a given product or service. Such activities help turn cold leads into warm and hot ones.
It is hard to resist the impression that the influencer market is constantly growing. It is estimated that the value of the influencer marketing market will increase by almost 20% in 2022! No wonder brands are increasingly willing to allocate part of their budget to campaigns involving influencers. Many internet users (43%) use ad-blocking tools. That is why an influencer’s channel is a much more effective place to promote products.
The market is saturated with all kinds of goods – it is difficult to stand out. A person looking for a specific product, such as a food processor, in a popular online store can choose from food processors from over 50 brands! Which one should they choose? Customers often rely on recommendations from trusted people, who often include influencers.
When choosing an influencer to work with, it is worth paying attention to several factors. You should not be guided only by their reach. It is better to check the engagement of their followers and whether they inspire trust among their audience. Another important factor is the subject matter of the influencer’s channel – ideally, it should align with the industry you operate in. A manufacturer of doors and windows is unlikely to achieve very high results by promoting its products through cooperation with a fashion blogger.
Cooperation with an architect who runs an Instagram or YouTube account may work much better. The target audience of a door manufacturer and an architect has a similar profile, which means it may be more interested in this type of product than the community of a fashion blogger. Thanks to this alignment between the cooperating parties, influencer marketing offers strong potential for generating sales leads.
Affiliate marketing is another way to effectively generate sales leads. How does it work? An advertiser launches an affiliate program in an affiliate network and chooses Cost Per Lead as the billing model. This billing model means that the advertiser pays the publisher only for delivering a sales lead.
Paying only for a valid sales lead is a huge advantage of using affiliate marketing. In the affiliate program terms and conditions, the advertiser defines what data a user must leave for the lead to be considered valid and what the rate is for delivering a lead. Usually, it depends on the amount of data needed to complete the form correctly – the more information required, the higher the rate.
A potential customer who leaves their contact details should receive a follow-up response as soon as possible – an email, a phone call, or the promised gift such as an ebook. This applies especially to hot leads, but in fact any interest in your offer should generate a quick response. Do not let the potential customer forget about your offer, or about the fact that they needed something. Otherwise, this user will turn to your competitors or someone else will initiate contact. Internet users looking for a product or service usually send many inquiries to different places. Response speed is of great importance when choosing a seller or service provider.
In this article, we have repeatedly emphasized the role of proper targeting. Even the best offer will fail if it does not meet the needs of potential customers. If you are targeting your campaign at teenagers, remember to adapt the message to them. Take care of the photos, content, and overall mood of the video ad in a youth-oriented style. If you want to advertise anti-wrinkle creams for mature women, you should probably avoid using youth slang in your communication.
The more lead generation sources you use, the more leads you can acquire. Using different lead generation channels will allow you to reach more people interested in your offer and willing to provide their contact details. However, remember that each channel has its own characteristics, so it is necessary to adapt the content to the form of communication.
Analyzing acquired leads provides information, among other things, about which channel the sales lead came from and which content generated it. This makes it clear which leads have the best conversion rate, meaning which ones are the most profitable.
Generated leads can be used in many ways. Some of them are forwarded to sales representatives, who contact a specific customer and explain all matters related to the purchase. Leads in the form of email addresses can be used to send newsletters, provided that the user gave consent when leaving their data.
Can sales lead generation be compliant with GDPR? The answer is yes – but you need to remember a few key issues:
The privacy policy contains all information about personal data processing and does not have to be a boring document. It can be used as separate content, just as Paweł Tkaczyk did on his website https://paweltkaczyk.com/polityka-prywatnosci. As you can see, even the most serious topics can be approached creatively 🙂
Generating sales leads is not an easy task. However, properly exploring the topic, testing different options, and analyzing the results will certainly help you gain experience and achieve the expected results.
