In an increasingly connected digital world, we recognize the need for a diverse marketing and lead generation strategy. Sometimes that means testing and trying a variety of tactics and partners. Today we’ve got a guest post that talks about the importance of lead validation.
In the real world, there are a number of ways merchants can discern which of their patrons are likely to become paying customers and which ones are not. For example, a patron who asks a lot of questions about a particular product may be looking for that extra little push he or she needs to make a decision. On the other hand, a patron who refuses all offers of assistance and wanders aimlessly around the store is most likely just trying to kill time window-shopping. Although the real world makes it easier to tell who your customers may end up being, the Internet offers no such clues at first glance. Even if you get a conversion on your website, there is not a guarantee that a click will turn out to be a customer.
In fact, we’ve found that nearly half of all website conversions are not serious sales leads. However, too many Internet marketers make the mistake of assuming every conversion is a sales lead, and that puts them at serious risk of making some crucial mistakes. Because Google Analytics doesn’t distinguish between conversions that are true sales leads and those that are not, marketers may allocate their resources in the wrong places. This can lead to wasted money and lost opportunities.
For this reason, lead validation needs to be a critical component of any lead generation campaign. Lead validation examines every conversion generated on a website and verifies whether or not they are actual sales leads or “dead-end” conversions — such as incomplete form submissions or customer service inquiries. With that information in hand, marketers have the ability to optimize their websites in a way that will guarantee the best results. The following presentation goes into more detail about the lead validation process and why it’s so important for Internet marketers. You may not be able to tell which website conversion is a sales lead just by looking at it, but don’t let that stop you from knowing the truth.
Brad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, an Internet marketing company in Chicago that provides SEO, PPC and web design services. With more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Brad has been featured in leading online publications including Forbes, Moz and American Marketing Association.