Lead Conversion: Everything you need to know + tips

Marketing and demand generation is probably the easiest step in generating revenue. However, getting prospects to convert is the real deal.Lead conversion is a challenge for many businesses because they are in the dark about the existing conversion rate. This blog post aims to explain lead conversion, calculating the lead conversion rate, and tips on how to improve it.

What is lead conversion?

Lead conversion is the process of turning visitors into leads and leads into paying customers by encouraging them to take the desired action.A visitor on your website is expected to perform certain actions like fill a form or click on a CTA, at which point they become a lead.Lead conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who come to your website, perform the required action, and are captured as ‘leads’. This is an indicator of how successful your business and website are at turning visitors into leads.

Lead conversion metrics

Lead conversion metrics help quantify the efficacy of the marketing and sales teams to generate and convert leads into customers. Let’s understand the most common metric: lead conversion rate.Lead conversion rate is the ratio of the number of leads to the total number of visitors. It measures your ability to convert website visitors into leads.Lead conversion rate = (Number of leads / Total number of visitors) x 100%For instance, your company gets 500 visitors on the home page. Of those visitors, 50 fill out the lead capture form and become a lead. The lead conversion rate is: (50 / 500) x 100% = 10%Some of the other lead conversion metrics:Cost per conversion: The cost of acquiring a customer.Cost per conversion = total marketing cost/ number of conversionsTime to convert: The time taken to turn a visitor into a lead.Time to convert = total time spent by website visitors/ total number of leadsLead Value: The contribution of leads for your business success.Lead value = total sales value/ total number of leadsConversion ROI: The return on investment for every conversion.Conversion ROI = (Lead value - cost) / cost

1. Devising a lead conversion strategy for your business
2. Study the market and collect data about prospective customers.
3. Adapt the messaging and content to their problem.
4. Build scoring systems and metrics to identify leads with a strong intent to convert.
5. Establish contact as soon as they perform an action that denotes intent.

Lead Conversion Strategy: an example

Techsys is a company looking to implement a chatbot on its website. Your company is into the business of developing chatbots. A person from the Techsys team is evaluating different chatbots before they can arrive at a decision. They land on your website and read the gated content. They’re added to the lead nurturing sequence and an email is triggered, prompting them to take action. When they do, the marketing team will qualify them and pass them on to sales.The sales rep will receive information about the lead and their activity. Ideally, the salesperson will use this opportunity to convert the lead while the interest is still high. The conversation starts when a salesperson, assigned by a tool like RevenueHero, reaches out to the point of contact from Techsys.

How to improve lead conversion rate

According to Wordstream, the median conversion rate for all websites is 2.35%, with the top performers at 11.45%.Below is a list of tips to turn more visitors into leads and more leads into customers; ultimately boosting the lead conversion rate.

Study analytics and messaging

Product analytics tools help understand the current standing of the conversion rate. Leverage heat maps to analyze the performance and placement of different CTAs.Use the data from this exercise to convert visitors into leads. Some questions to ask yourself at this stage would be: “Does the messaging and CTA maintain the brand promise?”, “Does the offer matter to the audience enough for them to leave their contact details?” etc.

Refine the lead qualification process

It’s time to revisit the lead qualification markers when the sales department complains about irrelevant leads. Optimize sales and marketing lead qualification (SQL & MQL) for quality over volume. Ask comprehensive questions in the lead capture form to understand their requirements and intent.This will result in instantly qualified leads and more meeting bookings. It also means spending less time on leads that are less likely to convert into customers.

Facilitate automated lead nurturing

The lead is now qualified and is in the funnel. The next step is to engage them at each stage of the buying process. Email campaigns are the most common way of nurturing the lead. Automate the sequence and set the frequency. This helps deliver personalized emails at large with less effort.This nurturing process puts your brand on the top of the mind and helps the prospect come back when need arises, at which stage they can be directed to the sales department.

Decrease the response time

When the interest is high, connect them to the sales immediately. In other words, increase speed to lead. The faster you make contact with a lead, the more likely they are to convert.Reduce the time to connect with a lead with faster routing. Include appointment scheduling to enable them to book a convenient time to speak with a sales rep. This allows closing the deal faster because the intent is high.

Final thoughts

“You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” It’s imperative to evaluate the lead conversion rate to understand the status quo. No matter the step of your journey, these tips will help to improve your lead conversion rate and convert more leads into customers.

Related Resources

• Best sales automation tools
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• Lead conversion everything you need to know tips