10 Common Lead Generation Mistakes

Companies spend $92 on Driving Traffic Compared to $1 on Customer Experience (Bryan Eisenberg). Such disproportion shows how much emphasis marketers put on Lead Generation. For many of them it’s the key KPI.
But actions they undertake often bring disappointment. Campaigns either don’t attract traffic or entice users only to visit the website, but not to buy or leave their data, so such traffic doesn’t deliver any value.

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That’s why we prepared for you a list of 10 most common mistakes to avoid. Soon you’ll see crowds in your CRM!

1. You discuss children’s names on the first date:

Problem: You want to build a lasting relationship, but maybe you require too much from a new user? Tailor your content and offers to recipient’s readiness and to the stage of shopping process on which she is right now.
For example, don’t expect a new user to register or become interested in a loyalty program. Educate and dispel all possible doubts considering safety or return policy. Let your relationship develop at the pace customer finds comfortable.

Checklist:
• Do you measure contact scoring? It’s a Marketing Automation feature that helps you learn customer’s engagement and knowledge, and address personalized messages.
• Do you know what content should be displayed to the beginning users to present benefits of using your product or solution?

• Do you reconstruct buyer’s journey? Do you know where it starts? From ebook download, watching a demo or browsing a catalog?

2. Beauty trap

Problem: It’s a popular mistake to invest disproportional part of the budget in solutions that have little to do with user’s experience. The classic example of such mindset are beautifully designed websites, which are aesthetically compelling, but they don’t inform the visitor that exactly the company does.
We already argued that ugly websites perform well because they focus on function, not style. Take these tips to your heart. Remove all ornaments that distract user from desired actions: subscription, reading an important piece or subscription

Checklist:

See your website as someone who has no idea about your company would. Can you find needed information?

3. You focus on one source of leads

Problem: You have identified the best lead source for your company. It might be a shopping comparison site, social medium or AdWords. But still you shouldn’t ignore other sources and methods of lead acquisition.
Dependence on one source poses a risk: what if it changes policy or stops delivering results? Don’t stop testing, even if your present solution works just fine. Be ready for change before it happens.

Checklist:
• Which Lead Generation channels you haven’t tested?
• Aren’t you too dependent on one channel?

4. Lack of landing pages

Problem: you create a Lead Generation campaign. To where it links? To your homepage? To the catalog? Is it the best place to start?
A small amount of people decides to buy at the first contact with the brand. So rather think what you can achieve at the first encounter and create a landing page dedicated to that one aim. Knowledge about buyer’s journey will be helpful.
Checklist:
• Do you create landing pages for Lead Generation campaigns?
• Are they responsive?

5. Too many CTAs

Problem: When you create landing pages, remember that by definition they serve one precisely defined purpose. They persuade for example to:
– download materials in exchange for data
– subscribe or register for an event
– buy
– register a demo account.
Thus on your landing page you shouldn’t present any alternatives to the desired action. You should put one CTA (you can multiply it and put a couple of buttons with the same CTA of course). If you start to introduce other options, a visitor will get distracted and while considering whether to download an ebook or buy she will just leave the website.
Exception: There are landing pages that serve segmentation or directing a user to the most appropriate product category or part of the website. On such landing pages, we make users choose (Man or Woman; Specialist or Manager, etc), but that’s a different story.

Checklist:
• Do you have a clear vision of your aim when designing a landing page?
• Do you put one CTA?

6. Hide and seek with contact form

Problem: Why doesn’t anyone subscribe to your newsletter? Why doesn’t anyone fill in contact forms? Maybe they’re hard to find, for example because it requires scrolling.
You have many options of displaying a contact form on your website: it might be put statically, as an iframe, or you can present it on a popup or a sidebar. It should be easy to find and inform a benefit from filling in. You can picture that benefit with personalized forms that use data from user’s visit and refer to her interests.
Checklist:
• Are your forms easy to find on the website?
• Aren’t your forms too long?
• How do they look on mobile devices?

7. You don’t offer gated content

Problem: You ferociously write, create and produce, but content marketing doesn’t generate many leads. Change it with gated content. Glance through your blog: you can collect a couple of posts, edit them, and add necessary information to make it a complete guide on the problem. Now you have an ebook you can offer in exchange for email address. You can also gate longer video or big presentations. If you offer something valuable, ask for the email address!
Don’t overdo, though. Don’t expect a person who is on your website for the first time gave you her full data, including the phone number or company name. Use progressive profiling!
Think what kind of data will be useful and don’t ask for more. The shorter the forms, the better. Also, make sure that if somebody gave you her data once won’t have to fill in the same form each time.

Checklist:
• What kind of content can you gate?
• What user data do you need and could utilize?

8. You don’t tap into the Lead Generation potential of Mobile Apps

Problem: apart from serving many other purposes, mobile apps are great Lead Generation tools, because they help us reach the audience we wouldn’t be able to reach another way.
Still it’s hard to find marketers who know how to do it. The topic is too big to be covered in a blog post, so if you’re interested in it, read our free ebook on the subject: download Mobile Marketing Automation

Checklist:
Do you have a mobile app? Could your business use one?
Do you transfer leads from app to your CRM? Do you treat them as a separate segment and have dedicated messages for them?

9. You don’t test contact forms

Problem: Test, test and test some more. Don’t implement a new solution before testing. Form’s simplicity can be misleading. Check what kind of content works better, do images increase conversion. Try a progress bar, as on Neil Patel blog contact form:

Checklist:

Do you test contact forms? If not, take a look at our new A/B/X testing feature

10. Too late follow-up

Problem: Your work isn’t done when someone gives you her email address. Often users do so impulsively, to get access to interesting materials or tempting discount. When they get a newsletter from a brand after two weeks, they react with surprise, because they simply forgot. In the effect, they mark you as spam or unsubscribe.
When a customer gives you her address, strike while the iron is hot. Start lead Nurturing or welcome cycle. If you send the first email in less than 24 hours from the first contact, you increase the possibility that your recipient opens that message (and next ones).

Checklist:

What happens when a contact is added to your base?
Do you send welcome messages or welcome cycles? They show 50% higher OR and 86% higher efficiency when compared to traditional newsletters (source: Emma).

More leads!

In conclusion let’s add two important remarks:
1. Boosting lead Generation is marketer’s Holy Grail. But remember that your work doesn’t limit to growing the base. Ensure that each user from the beginning gets relevant and personalized offers and content.
2. Don’t force Lead Generation. Don’t pump your base with contacts that won’t become customers. It’s easy to tempt users with contest or giveaways, but it might lead to building a useless base.