Lead generation for startups can be particularly expensive, especially if you think about the costs of putting up various landing pages, designing and creating lead magnets and the content around them, and promoting them via advertising channels. It can be a time-consuming and expensive process, especially if you’re new to it.
Recently, we’ve been using Facebook Lead Ads and LinkedIn InMail Ads. This approach can be efficient because they are easy to set up, relatively inexpensive, customizable and you can generate leads almost instantaneously.
There are some real concerns you might have, though. For example: Is there quality in the leads? Will you be generating leads cheaply, but they won’t convert at all (or have minimal conversions at best)? And, for more expensive channels, is there actually ROI to be found there?
Everyone will have a different answer for this because it’s not one-size-fits-all. It’s more about evaluating all the factors and testing until you find which one works for you.
Lowest Cost Per Lead
If you’re looking for a quick, low-cost way to get something up and running, Lead Ads, in my opinion, would be the quickest solution because all you need are a few display creatives and copy to test with.
Based on our tests, the leads through this channel come in quickly, and more oftentimes than not, they are inexpensive. In some cases, we’ve generated leads as low as $1. That said, just because the leads are cheap doesn’t mean they are the best option, because what we care about most for our clients is conversions.
Let’s say you have a budget, and finding high-quality leads vs. a volume of leads is a more important goal for you. In this case, you might want to consider using a conversion-focused campaign, where traffic is driven via social channels to landing pages that live on your website, and you can offer a lead magnet like an ebook, whitepaper or webinar that provides value to potential customers so they will give you their information.
If you decide to go with this tactic, you’ll need to have a solid strategy defined around your goals, and you will have to build out the following:
• Landing page (I’d recommend two, to A/B test)
• Lead magnet content (e.g., white paper, ebook, webinar)
• A few pieces of creative for the ads
Generally, we’ve seen leads come in here a little higher cost but at a much higher conversion rate than Lead Ads because of the barrier to entry and value that is given.
The Testing Process
Testing multiple landing pages can be cumbersome and take a lot of time and effort. That said, you can streamline the investment by using an online landing page creation tool to find templates and quickly A/B test pages, iterating through the variations. And if you have landing pages built on your web platform, you can use an A/B/Multivariate testing tool that will allow you to test variations of your landing pages by testing messaging, content placement, calls to action (CTA) and much more.
There are a few key factors to think about when testing landing pages:
• What is the goal of the test? Conversions? Button clicks? Clicks to call?
• Do you have statistical significance to ensure your tests are effective?
• Are you driving the right audience for the data to be meaningful?
• Do people really want the lead magnet you created?
With LeadAds or InMail, the testing process can be much more simplified because the amount of content, design and development work is reduced. You can test messaging, offers and designs while testing and changing out targeting very quickly.
Which Is Better: Lower Or Higher Barrier To Entry?
Something important to note here is the difference between these two types of channels. Lead forms directly within social channels are lower barriers to entry, typically drive much higher lead volume and, in most cases, have a cheaper CPL (Cost Per Lead). But a user who enters more information on a landing page might be more likely to convert because of interest, value creation from the lead magnet and effort.
Also, you have to understand the costs on the backend of generating these leads. Generating tons of low-quality leads can be taxing and slow down the efficiency of your sales team. If all leads are going into a drip marketing funnel, this is a non-issue.
Taking the above into account will allow you to find what works better for your audience and market.
Which Lead Generation Tool Should You Use?
This is very dependent on the goals you have. If your goal is simply “drive more leads,” Facebook Lead Ads might be the most optimal solution due to the ease of launching campaigns quickly and easily.
If your bottom line is revenue, we generally recommend building a holistic funnel for all your lead generation practices to tie into. The full lead generation flow of building landing pages, lead magnets and content might be best because of the interaction and value received.
Remember, each industry is different, and each company’s goals are different. The strategy, design, creative and content can all impact these numbers and impact your costs and conversion rates. But through testing, you can find what works best for your company to generate the highest-performing results possible to fulfill your goals.
