10 Lead Generation Best Practices That Really Work

Customer expectations evolve constantly. What people want today may be different from a few years ago. Give it a little more time and you would be looking at a totally different marketing landscape. Marketers must be equally fluid in their lead generation strategies if they hope to create true value that meets the needs of their target customers.

If you ask most marketers, lead generation is the one thing that keeps them on their toes. It is the lifeblood that keeps businesses alive, from small startups to the behemoths in the industry. Even the most revolutionary products would not get decent headway in sales without following the lead generation best practices relevant to the current trends.

Those who have been in the marketing game for some time probably have spent a fair amount of it looking at the marketing funnel. This would be more than enough for them to realize that generating leads with high quality and at a high quantity is one of the biggest challenges in their chosen field. 

To complicate things further, the process of generating leads changes as new technologies continue to emerge. Some stick stubbornly to traditional methods, failing to see the opportunity that lies within the challenges it presents. But to others who are willing to embrace new things, more possibilities are within reach.   

If you are open to some change, here are the latest lead generation best practices you can use to drive today’s version of consumers through your conversion funnel and turn them into loyal paying customers. 

Related: Lead generation for lawyers

#1. Guarantee Quick Response With Live Chat

It is no secret that today’s generation of consumers expects no less than exceptional customer service. They want faster resolution of their problems and quicker response to their queries. Anything short of that and they would lose interest and move on to the next company.

Most consumers who go online looking for a product or a service are willing to buy when they enter your website. However, not many of them are willing to wait patiently as you try and get back to them via email or a phone call.  Their possible course of action is to turn to your competitor instead of investing more of their precious time.

Having live chat technology gives you the capability to engage visitors the minute they get to your website. You are better able to answer questions, provide assistance, and help consumers make decisions faster. It also gives you the chance to eliminate any of their apprehensions about the product or service you are offering or reinforce positive sentiments and make a sale quicker.

With real-time lead generation efforts like live chats, you can significantly reduce waiting time and increase customer satisfaction. It is the closest experience of dealing with an actual salesperson. It fosters trust and attracts more visitors, giving you the chance to generate more leads and increasing the likelihood of converting them into paying customers. 

With some creativity in your customer agents’ work schedules, live chat can be made 24/7, making it possible for potential customers to contact you. It ensures that you do not miss out on any opportunities or potential leads. 

Another benefit of live chat is being able to gather more customer contact details. You can ask visitors for their email and phone number before connecting them with an agent. You can use these contact details later on for follow up. It will also be easier for customers to return to your website and initiate a live chat, which builds a better relationship and helps bring success to your lead generation strategies.

The whole idea of live chat sounds good in theory, but statistics can help make its case even stronger.

Based on a recent survey, websites with live chat capability encouraged 38% of their visitors to eventually make a purchase, while 63% of those who used the live chat are more willing to return to the website in the future. 

Other studies show more of the same thing, saying that customers who engage in live chat are 3.5 times more likely to make a purchase compared to those who do not. It reduced cost by 1,500% aside from increasing conversion in one case. 

The evidence pointing to the benefits any business can get from live chat is overwhelming. However, consistent effort is needed for it to work its magic.   

#2. Use Chatbots to Automate Lead Generation

Using chatbots has had a significant impact on the way businesses engage their target customers and is an essential part of current lead generation best practices. It is a good way to supplement the work of your sales agents, especially for times where they are not available.

You can train a sales bot with relevant sales questions that can be used to prequalify leads. Based on the response the bots get, they can redirect the visitor to the appropriate sales agent or team. They can also be used to field simple queries while live chat support takes care of the more complex ones.   

Chatbots can help you reach out to a larger number of potential customers without interfering with your sales team’s value.       

Effective sales bots can also help segment your target audience based on useful metrics such as interests, expectations, and needs. This will be useful in identifying and nurturing leads throughout their journey in your conversion funnel. Purchases made by nurtured leads are 47% bigger than those made by immediate buyers.  

#3. Take Advantage of the Power of CRM Software

The modern marketplace is increasingly becoming so competitive that you should leverage the best lead generation strategies you could think of. You need to constantly analyze and plan for trending consumer behavior to generate leads and increase conversion. The question is, how best to do it.

It just so happens that every time a visitor or customer interacts with your business, it generates information about consumer behavior. When a potential customer picks up the phone or initiates a chat, or someone follows up a lead, you can learn something new that could prove useful in understanding your target audience to generate more leads. 

Vital consumer data is everywhere. The challenge is how to capture and analyze them so as to yield actionable results. And this is exactly what a customer relationship management or CRM software is for.

CRM software is one of the current lead generation best practices. It can provide you with consumer analytics that will help you understand your target consumers better. Using this, you can retrieve relevant customer data such as purchasing habits, age, and location. You can use this information to optimize the way you reach out to potential customers and generate leads. 

A good way to connect with clients and capture relevant data is through various social media platforms. You can post surveys and process the data you collect from them in your sales CRM. Once your CRM software has crunched the data, it has a built-in email marketing capability that can help you reach out efficiently by contacting the right customers at the best time possible.  

And that is not all.

You can integrate your CRM software into your live chat activities. This way, you can record chat threads and conversations then review them later for analysis using your CRM tools. With relevant information like this at your disposal, you can serve more customers with much more efficiency. CRM can also work with other tools such as email marketing, screen sharing, and co-browsing.      

#4. Smart Use of Interactive Content

To have a website that stands out and offers extra value to your target audience, use interactive content. Mind you, not all of your content has to be interactive, but adding a few interactive pieces in key spots of your website can bring more return to your lead generation efforts. 

Interactive content can engage users and give them more value. How? For starters, it can be fun. An excellent example is a product recommendation quiz that can help participants determine which of your products are best for them. In return, you can get useful information like their contact details and budget, which you can use later on to generate personalized emails to target specific users.

Another way to provide the value that consumers would appreciate is by offering rewards or incentives through your interactive content. You can give away some of your own merchandise to those who join. This is a good way to introduce your products to consumers and gives you the chance to gain a loyal following.  

Customers are more willing to part with relevant information as long as they get something of value in return. 

#5. Encourage Your Customers to Leave Online Reviews 

In a survey done involving customers of local businesses, 88% of the respondents say that they trust online reviews and actually depend on them before trying a product or service for the first time, while 68% expressed willingness to leave an honest review if they were asked to. 

This statistic shows the impact that online reviews have on the purchasing decision of consumers. What is even more interesting, particularly about the second statistic, is that only 33% of businesses actively seek out reviews from their customers. It points to an opportunity that many businesses fail to tap into.

Encouraging your existing customers to leave online reviews and share their experience is an effective step in lead generation best practices, a good way to entice new customers and increase brand awareness. 

#6. Post Great Content That Creates Value for Your Visitors

The ultimate goal of your website is to convert visitors into paying customers. However, it will do you no good to sell your wares blatantly through your content. It is off-putting to the readers and does nothing to help your cause. 

While you do not need to present your product or service as the solution to all their problems, there is a way to grab the users’ attention, give them helpful information, and seamlessly insert your product or service in a manner that looks natural and organic. This way, you would not come off too “salesy” and readers would be able to accept your content more as an authority instead of just a failed attempt at self-promotion. 

One example of lead generation best practices is to include information like what your company does and your standing in the industry. If done right, you can create an image of your company as market leaders, worthy of the consumers’ trust and patronage. 

Another way is to give a more generic topic related to the product or service you offer instead of focusing on your particular brand. This will give users a more general view of the subject while you help them with useful information. In doing this, you position your company as an expert on the subject.

#7. Post Your Contact Number at a Prominent Spot

For any business to thrive, it is important to gain your consumers’ trust. And this may seem hard to believe, but something as simple as posting your phone number at the header of your web pages can help cement your credibility among your visitors. 

Studies have shown that it can increase your conversions by as much as 53%. It is especially effective if done on the home page and every other page on your site. Having a clearly visible contact detail makes it easier for customers and potential clients to reach you for any information they may need. It leads to more sales and a higher chance for conversion.

Even if visitors do not make the call, seeing your contact numbers clearly on the website helps your customers relax knowing that they could get in touch with someone from your company when they need to. It shows them that you have nothing to hide and that your company is trustworthy. 

Additionally, not everyone has the time or inclination to fill out a form or write an email and check regularly for a reply. Making your contact numbers available will widen your reach and add a more personal touch that some people might appreciate.  

#8. Use Pay-Per-Click Advertising   

Free ads can give you good results, but if you want your company to go from good to great, investing in paid ads will increase your chances significantly. Pay-per-click ads or PPCs have long been a staple of lead generation best practices, and they still work. 

There are many ways that PPCs can still impact your business. It gives your brand maximum exposure in the most popular search engines by showing useful information about your product or service to a highly appropriate audience. 

Within an hour or so of posting, you can expect more visitors on your website from people clicking on your ad. What is more, your website is getting visits from the highest quality customers who were reeled in by targeted traffic. 

With PPCs, you can run your ad campaign and easily see if it is working or not. This allows you to make adjustments until you get the desired results. You can easily change your keywords until you get the right combination and start attracting your target market. PPCs can give you full control over the message you want to send to users and the type of users you want to reach. 

PPCs do not come cheap, but they do give the exceptional results that can catapult your brand to new heights if done well. Make sure you have done your due diligence in keyword research and target market analysis. Set the budget you are willing to part with and call in the people with the right expertise. Plan your campaign well, check, then double-check before running it. Otherwise, you would be staring at a lot of wasted money that you cannot get back. 

#9. Increase Your Website’s Credibility With Testimonials   

Testimonials on your website will go a long way in establishing your credibility, especially if it came from a reputable expert on the subject matter. Or a famous person.  

But do you know what is more powerful than the vote of confidence from a celebrity or prominent figure? The testimonial of a regular person who has actually used the product or tried the service. 

A public figure’s endorsement, while helpful in increasing brand awareness, may seem too contrived to others. What they want is someone who is just like them saying “take it from me,” someone who customers can actually identify with and use as a more accurate basis for making purchasing decisions. It is much more powerful than you enjoining your target customers to just “take your word for it.” 

Aside from boosting your credibility, testimonials from actual clients can paint a clearer picture for potential customers who do not only want to know that you can solve their problem or meet their need but how you can do it better than the competition. It creates a deeper, more personal approach to branding your company.

If you need more convincing, we can do the math too: 

Based on a study, featuring your customers’ testimonials on your website can consistently help increase your revenue by 62%. Ninety-two percent of the respondents say reading the testimonials for a product or service can influence their decision when considering a purchase. The same study says that 88% of them trust personal recommendations as much as they do reviews. And finally, 72% of the respondents trust a business more if they have positive testimonials and reviews.    

To put things simply, would-be customers naturally gravitate to other customers. They put more weight on the personal account of fellow consumers who were satisfied with their experience. Real customers becoming brand advocates are most effective in building trust and credibility with other potential clients. 

If someone enjoyed your product or service, encourage them to leave a testimonial. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts when it comes to your connection with your target audience. Consistent lead generation efforts when employed with other marketing techniques, it amplifies further the message you are trying to send to target customers and increases your conversion rate. 

#10. Gain Seals of Approval    

Trust is a difficult thing to build. It takes years of positive experience that is mutually beneficial. However, most businesses could not afford to go through this natural course of gaining trust and be profitable at the same time. They need a faster return on investment that would not take years to nurture and only minutes to lose. This is true for all forms of business, but more so in e-commerce. 

The internet is a double-edged sword that affords its users unmatched convenience but may cast a shadow over the safety of their purchases. It is this apprehension among online consumers that has been the bane of some less-established businesses. Trust is hard to come by, but it is a pre-requisite if your business is to survive online.  

Fortunately, there are many ways that you can increase consumer trust. We have discussed many of them in the previous sections. Another way is by using trust seals. It is also a vital part of the current lead generation best practices. 

Trust seals, otherwise known as secure site seals, appear as small badges displayed on a website, especially in payment pages. Some of them show trust scores or sales metrics that indicate to potential customers how safe the website is. Others will tell you if they use SSL/TLS, which simply means that all data transmitted between the user’s browser and the web server are encrypted, and is, therefore, safe to use. 

Trust seals can come in all shapes and sizes. But an excellent example is the one being given by BuySafe. This seal indicates that purchases of up to $500 are guaranteed. It also assures compensation of $10,000 if sensitive contact details of a customer get stolen.   

Visitor trust is essential for businesses with websites, especially for those with online sales. That is why trust indicators such as the seal from BuySafe have a significant impact on your ability to attract potential customers. Adding trust seals to your website can give visitors the needed confidence to make the journey through your conversion funnel and come out at the other end a happy, satisfied customer.