Top 5 Lead Generation Techniques for Business Success

We have observed a shift in attitude towards lead generation over recent years.

More advertisers are allocating significant budget to lead generation tactics as part of their customer acquisition plans. This is particularly effective for automotive brands, where lead generation is utilized as a key tool to generate consumer interest, reach potential new buyers and develop internal CRM databases.

Indeed, our experience has shown that this channel is one of the highest converting and most efficient when compared to other digital media in this sector. Implementation and execution of any campaign is integral to ensuring its success. We have outlined our top five recommendations for ensuring a successful lead generation campaign in the automotive industry below:

1) Consider the information you collect from the consumer and how it’s presented to them.

Leads are generated through a number of different communication methods such as on-site overlay, email and mobile. Whatever the source, the customer should feel comfortable in terms of the data they are providing and how it will be processed. Additionally, having too many required fields will lead to a higher page drop-out rate, with a negative impact on conversion and therefore costs.

2) Build relationships with the specialists

For this type of campaign, the majority of the leads will be generated through automotive publisher specialists. As a result, it is crucial to build strong relationships with these partners to ensure that they fully understand the business and campaign objectives, alongside promoting the latest car model content and creative assets. Partners are continuously improving their site and targeting capabilities – some marketing tactics may fall outside the traditional lead generation spectrum and may require looking at a hybrid CPL model.

3) Understand true ROI is key

Setting up a process whereby conversion feedback from the manufacturer can be shared between stakeholders is essential, as it will allow publishers to identify which part of their campaign has the highest conversion and allow them to optimize accordingly. The most common optimization tactics involve ensuring the right content and messaging is used in the right part of the customer journey and through incentivizing publishers with a large reach, through monetary gains, to drive the highest possible lead quality.

4) Utilize best practice to process personal and publisher data

Compliance in terms of personal data is a key concern for today’s online consumer and therefore all data collected from a lead generation campaign needs to be handled with the upmost transparency. The customer should be fully aware of the opt–in procedures to receive either a call back or further communication from a manufacturer in order to make the most of that lead. Additionally, a data verification software should be used to ensure that all the lead data provided by the publishers is of highest quality and that only valid leads are being paid for.

5) Don’t let an online lead become cold

Lead quality is one of the top priorities for lead generation campaigns. If call centres are used as part of the campaign, as they are with many of our clients, it is important that the customer is contacted by the dealership as soon as possible to ensure the lead doesn’t turn into a cold lead.