The term lead generation covers the process and actions used to persuade interested parties and thus potential customers (leads) to develop an interest in a service or product and to provide the company with their data in return.
Lead generation is key for online marketing – both in B2C and B2B. Through lead generation campaigns, interested parties voluntarily leave their data behind – therefore, these do not have to be purchased and already know the company to some extent. The company can only increase its sales if leads generated with different online marketing measures are converted into customers.
Lead generation is possible both offline and online.
Classical channels and measures for lead generation are:
- Trade fairs and congresses
- Search engine advertisements
- Social media (e.g. raffles, advertisements)
- Website (through white papers, case studies, newsletter subscriptions)
- Webinars
- Banner ads
In e-commerce, the main factors for successful lead generation are good user experience, easily available information and the targeted use of CTAs. These ensure that a potential customer’s interest in a product or service is raised – and that the data is made available to the company.
The more leads a company can generate, the higher the reach will be for further advertising campaigns.
Whether a lead generation campaign was successful can be measured using various KPIs – including cost per lead, conversion rate or return on investment (ROI).