Resources Hub » Blog » 3 Lead Generation Tactics to Increase Your Conversion Rates

For most marketers, lead generation is a top priority. In fact, 85% say lead generation is their most important content marketing goal for the year ahead, according to Content Marketing Institute.

But many marketers face the same problem – they have trouble converting those leads into customers. When there’s a disconnect between lead generation and conversion, all of the hard work spent getting new leads can go to waste.

If you’ve been looking for some new tactics that can help boost the conversion rate around your lead generation efforts, you’re in the right place.

In this post, we’ll look at three tactics to improve your lead generation conversion rates and some strategies for continued lead nurturing down the road.

1. Contests and giveaways that are super relevant

Contests and giveaways leverage a few important conversion tactics: fear of missing out (FOMO), a curiosity gap, and free stuff. Unbounce found that adding a contest to their lead gen efforts boosted leads by more than 700%.

Here’s an example of a lead-generating giveaway in action from Buffer:

Buffer - Lead Gen Tactic - Giveaways

In this case, Buffer is using a contest to drive their lead generation efforts using an email sign up, but that’s not the only way you can boost conversions. Giveaways and contests are also powerful conversion-drivers that can help re-engage subscribers that haven’t interacted with your emails in a while.

When using contests and giveaways, you need:

  • A strong premise that defines what you’re asking participants to submit as an entry
  • A relevant, valuable prize that appeals to your target demographic
  • A clear promotion strategy that spreads the word about your contest

Having these elements within your contest-based lead gen efforts helps ensure your contests are optimized and objective-oriented.

2. Interactive content paired with email

From publishers to advertising agencies, to retail brands, marketers are finding that interactive content paired with email marketing can produce impressive results for lead generation efforts, driving thousands of conversions.

Interactive content also helps boost conversions after the initial experience has ended. For example, DDI, a consulting firm, found that those who completed their interactive quiz on leadership styles were 6x more likely to open their follow-up emails.

So, what is interactive content? It’s interactive quizzes, assessments, calculators, and other types of content that demand engagement from the user. These are experience-based pieces of content, as seen in the example below.

When interactive content is integrated with email campaigns, readers get an additional experience within the inbox. The email content supports the results of the interactive content. It’s engaging, educational, and moves the relationship forward.

Ultimately, interactive content helps both marketers and their leads learn about each other. These experiences give users the opportunity to learn about their needs. At the same time, marketers can learn more about users from the data they share during the experience.

 

3. Events and webinars that provide education

Events and webinars are highly effective tactics that can drive conversion rates. For both B2B and B2C businesses, these activities present an opportunity to educate and to connect with a highly relevant audience in a low-stakes environment.

You can get the path to conversion rolling with an email that promotes your upcoming event or webinar and includes a CTA for registrations or sign ups.

You can capitalize on the forward momentum after the event or webinar has ended, too. Follow-up emails that continue the conversation can help you move leads down the conversion path through additional education, opportunities, and promotions.

From lead generation to lead nurturing

Once you’ve generated initial leads through these efforts, you can begin nurturing them to drive up conversion rates via automated, segmented workflows. Lead nurturing is all about offering other value-add content that educates and trains until a person is ready to become a paying customer.

There are many ways you can nurture leads via automated workflows. They often include elements such as:

  • Segmented lists based on subscriber activity and behavior within earlier campaigns
  • Automated, relevant content for leads at different stages of the conversion funnel
  • Follow-up materials for converted leads

Nurturing leads in this way helps make your lead gen efforts even more worthwhile because it means you have an automated journey for each different type of lead that enters your conversion funnel. This way, each lead gets the right content at the right time.

Using automated journeys is effective– we’ve looked at tens of thousands of automated lead nurturing emails and found that the average open rate is 40% and the click-through rate is around 35% for these types of emails.

To keep leads moving towards conversion once you’ve gained their interest, nurturing should be the next step in your strategy.

Wrap up

From lead generation, to lead nurturing, to the point of conversion, email should be a big part of your strategy. Think about how you can tie in these three lead gen tactics to get more leads into your funnel. From there, consider how you can leverage automated emails to turn leads into customers. In no time at all, you can take a lead gen strategy and turn it into a powerful sales tool that consistently converts.

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This blog provides general information and discussion about email marketing and related subjects. The content provided in this blog ("Content”), should not be construed as and is not intended to constitute financial, legal or tax advice. You should seek the advice of professionals prior to acting upon any information contained in the Content. All Content is provided strictly “as is” and we make no warranty or representation of any kind regarding the Content.
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