10 Interactive Forms Builders for Surveys & Lead Generation
Lead generation is the cornerstone of B2B marketing.
In fact, acquiring qualified leads is critical to growing your bottom line fast.
If you want to get hard-hitting results, you need an effective strategy that fills your sales funnel with quality leads. You also need to deploy effective lead nurturing tactics.
But here's the hard truth: B2B lead generation and nurturing is not a walk in the park. It’s certainly not a task for marketers looking for magic wands. Despite spending billions on marketing efforts, 61% of businesses admit they struggle with generating leads and traffic.
The B2B sales funnel is complex and the sales cycle is longer. Searching for the right B2B sales leads can feel like an uphill struggle. Not only do you have to navigate a minefield of savvy buyers, but you’re also surrounded by rivals competing for sales leads.
What’s more? Searching for leads in the wrong places or using ineffective tactics will keep your lead gen efforts failing.
To help you navigate these challenges, we’ll delve into practical ways you can attract and nurture B2B sales leads in your sales funnel. We’ve also sprinkled templates, tips and best practices to get you started on the right foot.
Before we get right into it, here’s a short selection of 8 customizable lead magnet form templates you can easily edit and publish with Visme. View more templates below:
Every marketing channel has the potential to reel in leads. A survey by Clutch and R2i revealed that companies rely on an average of eight different channels to connect, engage and convert leads.
However, B2B lead generation is a different piece of cake compared to B2C lead generation. This means that, in reality, not every lead source is right for your B2B company.
HubSpot’s State of Inbound Marketing Report cites SEO (14%), email marketing (13%) and social media (12%) as lead gen goldmines for B2B companies. Results also show you can’t rule out offline lead sources like referrals, partnerships and trade shows.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 80% of marketers use content as leverage for generating the right leads.
These channels are just half of it. B2B marketing experts have also identified other genius B2B lead sources, such as:
Undeniably, the opportunities for attracting conversion-ready leads are endless. But you need to do much more than just test different strategies.
The other important piece of the puzzle is measuring the effectiveness of each lead source.
How do you determine what lead sources are working and where to channel your efforts? Obviously, you want to evaluate your lead sources to find out specifically:
To learn this, start by setting realistic goals for each lead source.
Then, gather data from each source on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
Next, organize and analyze the lead data to draw valuable insights (more on this in the latter part of this article).
Sales and marketing have the same overarching goal: win business and grow customer relationships.
However, their responsibilities for achieving this objective in the B2B sales process vary.
While marketing is largely responsible for generating qualified leads, the sales team is saddled with the responsibility of prospecting, nurturing and closing deals.
When both teams are in sync, lead acquisition, conversion and nurturing happen seamlessly. According to SuperOffice companies with incredible sales-marketing alignment get
But when sales and marketing teams aren’t aligned, that’s a recipe for chaos.
Sales teams blame marketing for sending in low-quality teams and marketing teams blame the sales team for not optimizing their sales process.
The end result? Over time, sales funnels dry up and sales and revenue start to stagnate or decline.
As a result of sales-marketing misalignment, about 60-70% of B2B content isn’t well utilized and up to 75% of marketing leads never convert into a sale.
The worst part is that this misalignment is estimated to cost companies more than a trillion dollars yearly.
So much so that over 200 marketers have listed it as their third highest marketing priority— behind generating more leads and converting them to customers.
When sales and marketing alignment fail, here’s what’s probably happening behind the scenes:
Believe it or not, teamwork makes the dream work. Let's show you how to get your sales and marketing teams aligned fast.
The key to effective alignment is meetings, communication and collaboration.
In fact, in a study by Demand Gen, 49% of sales executives and marketers admit that communication is the biggest challenge in aligning teams.
And by communication, we don’t mean one-off meetings. We’re talking about frequent strategy sessions, brainstorming meetings and knowledge-sharing sessions.
Start with a kickoff meeting with sales and marketing leaders. The purpose of this meeting should be to set shared goals (more on this later), discuss and answer the following questions:
Hold monthly and quarterly meetings to discuss results and key metrics, like
Touch on quotas and goals for the next period. Highlights the resources required to achieve set goals and results. You can also share content ideas, campaigns, offers and more.
The marketing and sales teams have different goals. On top of that, their performance is measured based on different KPIs and metrics.
This disparity makes alignment much harder.
In the traditional sales process, the marketing team cares more about lead volume than quality. Likewise, the sales team blames the marketing team for passing on low-quality leads.
Here’s where it goes from bad to worse: One Gartner study revealed that only about 49% of sales and marketing teams have a shared definition of what constitutes a lead.
Share the bigger picture with everyone in the company—not just sales and marketing. Everyone should unite toward a common goal and track the same metrics. Be it conversion, revenue, CLTV, etc.
According to the Revenue Marketing Alliance, 64% of successfully aligned sales and marketing teams have shared goals and KPIs. It turns out that 72.2% of teams also host regular joint meetings.
For example, in marketing, the metrics for success won’t just be the volume of leads generated. You want to measure granular data like qualified leads generated, opportunities created and revenue generated from marketing efforts.
Have a common definition of what constitutes a marketing-qualified lead (MQL), a sales-qualified lead (SQL) and a high-value account. Adopt a strategy for lead scoring, categorizing warm and hot leads and prioritizing which accounts to go after.
Encourage marketing and sales teams to share dashboards, reports, analysis and KPIs during strategy sessions.
Start by co-tracking key metrics like the conversion rate of MQLs, churn rate and customer retention rate. As your lead gen, demand generation, attribution and lead-to-revenue models evolve, incorporate additional metrics for a comprehensive analysis.
The B2B buyer's journey is more of a maze than a linear path. To generate demand and attract the right B2B leads, you need the right content.
Also, your brand messaging must be consistent across multiple touchpoints, whether it’s email, social media, blog, landing page, etc.
Creating valuable content isn’t just the responsibility of the marketing team. The sales, marketing, product and customer service teams have insights that can help improve content quality.
You should take advantage of these insights to create content that resonates with customers at each phase of the buying journey.
According to joint research by the Content Marketing Institute and LinkedIn, when sales and marketing are in sync, they better understand how and when to use content and how to measure its effectiveness.
Here are some simple steps you can incorporate into your content strategy.
Invest in technology that streamlines sales and marketing alignment.
Adopting the right tools eliminates silos, improves communication and makes work easier. These tools also support collaboration and data sharing.
In the Revenue Marketing Alliance study we shared earlier, 78% of aligned sales and marketing teams used integrated data-sharing tools.
Here are other key tools that help bridge the gap between sales and marketing.
Store brochures, presentations and sales one pagers and other sales materials in a shared folder, like Google Drive. This way, the sales team can quickly access what they need to support their work.
Include your marketing strategy, campaign schedule, relevant offers, blog posts and content for specific customer types in this folder. Having more relevant info will help the sales team customize their pitches effectively.
Content is the engine of lead generation. Beyond acquiring leads, B2B marketers rely on high-quality content to convert and nurture B2B leads.
The stats don’t lie: A DemandGen report shows that 47% of B2B buyers consume at least three to five pieces of content before contacting a salesperson. A 2023 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report shows B2B buyers rely on content for research and making purchasing decisions.
Publishing great content amplifies your brand's reach and exposure. It also helps you build authority in your niche.
But don’t create content for the sake of it. You want to make it insightful, valuable and relevant to your audience at every stage of their purchase journey. Also, create evergreen content that stays fresh on search engines and never goes out of style.
When your content checks these boxes, your audience will likely buy from you because they trust your knowledge and expertise.
Creating content isn’t a one-time activity. Use a content calendar to help you stay organized and consistent.
Research shows marketers who published 16 or more blog posts gained 3.5X more inbound traffic than companies with fewer than four monthly posts. And that’s for blog posts alone.
Wondering what type of content to share at different stages of the buying process? The infographic below shows the different types of content you should be creating.
The best part? You can create all of these and more using Visme, whether it’s for marketing or sales enablement. We have a comprehensive library of professionally designed templates for various content types, ideal customer profiles, roles and industries.
Everyone loves free stuff. And that’s exactly why lead magnets are enticing and irresistible, even for B2B audiences.
Lead magnets are free and valuable resources or content you offer prospects in exchange for their contact information. This can be a white paper, checklist, ebook, newsletter, demo, free product sample, etc.
Why lead magnets for your business?
There are tons of lead magnet ideas you can use to draw in quality leads. Ultimately, your lead magnet should be relevant, offer expert knowledge and help your prospect address a real pain point.
Creating engaging lead magnets doesn’t have to be daunting. Visme has thousands of ready-made lead magnet templates for creating interactive ebooks, charts and graphs, workbooks, newsletters, guides, lead magnet PDFs and much more.
Check out some of the lead magnet templates that Visme has to offer
You can share your lead magnets as downloadable files or embed them behind a subscriber-only portal or web page. This is great for sharing interactive resources with leads, such as flipbooks with links, animations and videos.
If you want to collect valuable leads and drive conversions faster, create targeted landing pages. And then redirect prospects to these pages from organic or paid channels.
According to Omnisend, landing pages attract a conversion rate of 23%. But targeted landing pages convert even better because they:
And it makes sense. When a prospect lands on a page that resonates with their unique needs, pain points, or interests, they're more likely to engage with the content and take the desired action.
Landing pages also have SEO value. The more SEO-friendly, targeted landing pages you build, the better you can rank for relevant keywords and terms in search engine results.
Here are other best practices to make your landing pages effective
At Visme, we have created dedicated landing pages tailored to our products and various potential customers. For example, we have landing pages for different ICPs, including sales teams, human resources and marketing.
When it comes to converting traffic into leads, lead forms are invaluable.
It's the first step to building your email list and growing your audience.
However, if your lead gen forms are not optimized to convert, you’re probably leaving leads on the table. Captivating lead gen forms can help you drive more signups and attract high-quality leads.
When creating your lead gen form, stick to this expert formula.
For years, website forms have looked the same. But Visme's Form Builder is changing the game. Our no-code form builder makes it easy for anyone to design beautiful, engaging and interactive lead gen forms for your landing page or website in minutes. Visme also provides templates for building high-converting contact forms, email sign up forms, email collector forms, popup forms, registration forms and feedback forms.
Here's a sample lead form template to get you started.
The animated and customizable 3D characters create an immersive experience, making the forms stand out. The snapshot of the result from our case studies revealed that Visme forms outperformed traditional forms.
Over half of the world’s population (60%) now uses social media. The growing numbers make it a goldmine for lead generation.
Start by finding out where your prospects spend most of their time.
When it comes to B2B lead generation, LinkedIn is generally considered the most effective channel. A LinkedIn report revealed that 82% of B2B marketers realize their biggest wins with the platform.
Another study by the CMI revealed similar results, with 77% of B2B marketers seeing their best organic results on LinkedIn, closely followed by Facebook.
One word of caution: Don’t sleep on other platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Quora, Reddit and even TikTok.
Now, think about this. Quora boasts over 300 million visitors every month.
A whopping 67% of people admit they are influenced to shop while browsing TikTok, even if they didn’t intend to.
You’re probably wondering what this has to do with B2B audiences.
Whether your business targets B2B and B2C firms, NGOs or governments, you're selling to real people.
If you peek behind the scenes of buying processes in every firm, you'll discover that purchase decisions always come down to real people. And what fuels these decisions?
Sentiments! Emotions!
The key is to create engaging, valuable and viral content that:
Be sure to leverage various content types and formats like videos, GIFs, carousels, static posts, lives, challenges and interactive stories. They keep your feeds fresh and interesting, cater to different emotions and boost visibility.
Invest in the paid advertising available on different platforms. Paid ads get your brand in front of the right prospects. Grind more results from your social media posts by optimizing your profile for search engines.
Capitalize on current trends and use relevant hashtags to make your content more discoverable.
Don’t just sit back and wait for leads to reach out. Keep the conversation in full swing by reaching out and responding promptly to comments, mentions and DMs.
Be sure not to undervalue the power of groups and communities. They get you in front of prospects, thought leaders and influencers.
But here's the thing. You can't just show up and expect people to start throwing business your way. You have to participate, engage and offer valuable insights to build credibility and establish authority in your field.
It doesn't matter if it's a Facebook group, a LinkedIn group, or a Reddit thread—the principle is the same. Partner with relevant influencers to get exposure to their followers. Leverage user-generated content to build trust and credibility with potential leads.
When you’ve acquired leads, move them through your sales funnel by offering demos, trials, or consultations. Keep nurturing them until they become paying customers.
Search engine optimization (SEO) improves ranking in search engines.
Why does this matter? The first page of SERPs gets the most clicks. Statistics from FirstPage show the top three organic search results get more than 68.7% of all clicks.
The higher your ranking, the more opportunity you have to attract and convert high-quality leads.
Unfortunately, there’s no universal SEO strategy for getting high rankings.
You must consistently apply current SEO best practices and publish top-quality content to convince Google that your website is trustworthy, valuable and provides an excellent user experience (UX).
Here are some SEO strategies that can move the needle for B2B lead generation.
Consider integrating AI chatbots into your website's live chat functionality. They optimize your lead generation efforts.
AI chatbots are available 24/7, providing instant responses to visitor inquiries without any downtime. They have the ability to handle a significant volume of conversations simultaneously, ensuring that no visitor is left unattended.
This means potential leads can receive round-the-clock assistance and your brand can cater to a broader audience.
In addition, AI chatbots can provide personalized recommendations and solutions. By offering tailored suggestions, you can quickly nurture leads and nudge them through the sales funnel more effectively.
If a complex inquiry arises that the chatbot cannot address, you can seamlessly transfer the conversation to a human representative. This hybrid approach combines the strengths of both humans and AI, ensuring that your lead generation efforts are optimized and efficient."
The best part? This results in higher conversion rates and improved customer satisfaction.
It’s no news that content can radically transform your inbound lead gen efforts.
But thought leadership pieces, original research, case studies and reports take it to a whole new level.
High-Speed Training achieved massive ROI in the hospitality industry with an in-depth buyer report. Their report established them as industry leaders, improved site visibility and earned coverage from 38 media outlets.
Why do thought leadership pieces move the needle for B2B lead generation?
Thought-leadership pieces will help you:
You can even deploy these pieces as sales enablement content. During the sales process, salespeople can share them with prospects to establish credibility and drive interest in your brand. This can be presentations, demo guides or videos or case studies.
Event marketing is a low-hanging fruit for attracting the right B2B leads. Host webinars, conferences, trade shows, networking events and product demos regularly.
The key is to align your event with your business goals. Demos are great for showcasing your product's features and benefits. Webinars let you share valuable insight and position your brand as an industry authority.
Whether you’re hosting a virtual or physical event, you’ll need participants to register and share their contact info, such as an email or a phone number.
Another uptick is that you’re able to track and analyze prospects' actions for lead scoring. You can track how many sessions they watched and for how long. Also, check their participation in polls and Q&A sessions.
Here’s why. Engaged participants are more likely to be interested in getting more information and eventually convert into customers.
With Visme, you can whip up captivating and engaging webinar presentations in minutes. Browse our library of webinar presentation templates or start from scratch and build a stunning slideshow online using our presentation software.
During the webinar, try to answer attendees' questions and illustrate how your product can solve their pain points.
After the event, send a follow-up email to all attendees. To further drive them down the sales funnel:
Be sure to make this an ongoing event. Record your sessions or live webinars and edit them with Visme’s video editing software. Share them on your website and transform them into evergreen content that generates leads long after the event.
Optimizing your website for mobile can also generate quick wins for B2B lead generation. The upside is that you can reach a wider audience.
The stats are clear on the huge potential of mobile. According to Statista, 60 percent of the global internet population accesses the internet via mobile devices.
B2B buyers aren’t left out either. Google’s research indicates that half of B2B search queries are made via mobile phones. According to Frost & Sullivan, 91% of B2B buyers’ searches are carried out on a mobile device.
Research also shows that mobile is gradually reshaping the B2B buying process.
In a study by Boston Consulting Group, B2B marketing leaders admit:
In BCG's research, you can see that B2B mobile leaders are driving higher mobile engagement, as measured by search queries, site traffic, lead generation and transactions.
Optimize your website, landing pages and emails for mobile users.
Be sure your designs are responsive and adapted to different screen sizes and orientations. This will provide a smooth user experience for visitors accessing your content on smartphones or tablets.
Also, make your website forms mobile-friendly. Minimize the number of form fields and make sure they are easy to fill out.
Let’s face it; getting leads is tough work.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re spinning your lead generation wheels, you’re not alone. About 61% of marketers rank lead generation as their number one challenge.
Let’s dive into these common challenges and how you can solve them.
Targeting the target audience is a game changer for finding qualified leads.
You can’t afford to wing this step. The implication is that you’ll
Ultimately, your lead generation efforts will flop.
The first step to addressing this challenge is to develop your ideal customer profile and buyer persona. This will enable you to:
Gather insight into your ideal customer profile and buyer persona using Visme’s wide range of templates.
Here’s one to get you started on the right foot.
Content is a key component of inbound sales and marketing strategies. However, B2B marketers still struggle to create high-quality content that resonates with their target audience.
According to HubSpot, 27% of marketers find it difficult to create engaging content. In the same study, 23% of marketers admit they struggle to find ideas for new content.
Develop a content marketing strategy that focuses on providing value to your target audience. Focus on creating engaging content in different formats and for different channels to cater to their target audience’s preferences.
To streamline your content marketing effort, we recommend Visme, an all-in-one visual content tool that lets you create captivating and valuable content.
You’ll find templates for creating hard-hitting lead magnets, marketing materials and sales enablement content such as whitepapers, case studies, ebooks webinars, videos and much more.
Increasing the volume and quality is a heck of a challenge.
Top factors like relying on a few channels, low visibility and high competition make it even worse
Why should you care about this? The higher the number and quality of your leads, the more likely you are to get more leads that result in a sale.
Here’s how to push up your lead volume
Lead nurturing is a critical piece of the lead generation puzzle.
Unfortunately, a Demand Gen Report reveals that 60% of marketers haven’t quite figured it out.
That’s a lot of missed opportunities left untapped.
While lead generation fills your sales funnel with quality prospects, lead nurturing increases their interest and nudges them toward the bottom of the funnel—conversion and loyalty.
Successful lead nurturing yields 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.
Data is the core of every successful lead generation strategy. Without accurate B2B data, you’ll throw lead gen ideas at the wall, hoping they stick. In a study by Ascend2, 35% of sales leaders admit that a lack of quality data is the biggest barrier to lead generation success.
Deploying a data-driven approach helps you focus your efforts on leads with a high intent to buy. B2B data also streamlines the process and maximizes conversions.
It’s notoriously hard to measure the ROI of lead generation.
Once the numbers are in, the key questions people ask are:
B2B sales cycles can be lengthy and complex. Sometimes it may take months or even years to track the effectiveness of a campaign or strategy. It's not always easy to assign credit correctly, especially in complex sales cycles with multiple interactions across various channels.
There’s also the challenge of quantifying soft conversions. Marketers struggle to attribute a specific dollar value to lead generation goals like brand awareness and thought leadership.
By implementing these solutions, you can overcome common B2B lead-sourcing challenges and drive more conversions for your business.
Looking to beef up your sales pipeline? Build a strong team. More importantly, provide them with the training and resources they need to succeed–it’s a no-brainer.
But here’s where it gets trickier:
Meanwhile, implementing AI-powered sales QA tools can help automate and streamline much of this feedback and improvement process.
Having a funnel filled with leads is great. But it’s not enough.
The real magic lies in nurturing those leads into paying customers. Otherwise, those leads won’t have any real monetary value for your business.
The fact is that lead nurturing pays off. Nurtured leads make 47% more purchases than non-nurtured leads. But the type of results you get depends on your tactics and execution.
Now let’s discuss practical strategies for nurturing B2B leads.
Once leads have entered the funnel, you need to follow up quickly.
How fast? A legacy study from "Dr. James Oldroyd" found that “the odds of the lead entering the sales process, or becoming qualified, are 21 times greater when contacted within five minutes versus 30 minutes after the lead was submitted.”
Don’t sit and wait for your prospect to express purchase intent. You can start nurturing leads as soon as they engage with you through any channel or touchpoint.
And guess what? You don’t need to break the bank; you need the right tools to make this happen.
Tools like AI chatbots, CRM and email automation can help streamline your lead-nurturing funnel. By setting customized rules, you can start the nurturing process even if you’re not physically available.
B2B lead nurturing requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach.
To generate a positive ROI, you need a personalized, targeted approach. And that’s where Account-Based Marketing (ABM) thrives. In a survey, 76% of marketers reported that ABM generates a higher ROI than other marketing strategies.
Account-based marketing is a focused B2B sales and marketing approach that targets high-value prospects to convert them into high-value sales.
ABM is about focusing on quality over quantity by targeting a select few strategic accounts rather than casting a wide net.
Since it’s more of a personalized approach, you need to understand customer needs.
Start by creating a journey map. When visualizing the map, put yourself in their shoes. This will help you identify their pain points, eliminate any friction and speed up their path to purchase.
The next step is to develop an ABM marketing strategy. Here’s how you can do that:
1. Develop an ideal customer profile: This represents the types of customers (businesses) you want to target
2. Identify target accounts—these are companies with high-value potential you’d like to work with. Depending on your business size, these deals could be worth a few thousand to a million dollars.
3. Gather data about prospects within your target accounts: Find the contact information of decision-makers in these target accounts to start nurturing relationships with them. Also, understand the buyer persona, including their roles, titles, motivations and more.
4. Create high-converting content: Develop tailored content that speaks to the needs and interests of your target accounts. This could include personalized landing pages, targeted email campaigns and customized sales collateral.
5. Launch advertising campaigns: Engage key stakeholders and decision-makers within targeted accounts. You can engage them with targeted campaigns like personalized events, direct mail or targeted digital advertising campaigns
6. Measure and optimize: Track the success of your ABM efforts and optimize your strategy based on what is working and what is not. Metrics to consider include:
According to a survey by Databox, nearly two-thirds of marketers believe e-mail is their most effective channel for re-engaging leads.
Why’s that? They are cost-effective—you don’t need a big budget compared to advertising.
With email automation, you can follow up on leads quickly. However, integrating your email marketing software into your CRM tool makes the process super efficient.
You can create an entire personalized and automated drip campaign that guides leads from first contact to purchase. Below is an example of a 14-day B2B drip nurturing campaign.
Made with Visme Infographic Maker
Don’t overdo it; stick to a maximum of two emails per week. There’s a thin line between sending frequent emails and being annoying.
In the data box survey we highlighted earlier, 45.1% of email marketers admitted that one email per week is ideal. Keep in mind that your emails have to be relevant. You can achieve this by segmenting your email list based on their interests and browsing behavior.
In your sales funnel, some prospects may show interest but not make a purchase yet.
Retargeting ads help you reconnect and guide them toward a purchase.
According to SharpSpring Ads, retargeted users are 70% more likely to convert. The most used channels for retargeting efforts are social, search, video, mobile and display.
Here’s why retargeting works. These leads are already warmed up. They have probably visited your website, signed up for a demo or free trial or downloaded a gated resource. So you have a higher chance of getting them to pull out their checkbook.
To maximize the impact of your retargeting campaigns,
Don't just limit your retargeting efforts to new customers. Retarget existing ones as well. Surprised?
You might be wondering why you would want to retarget people you already have. Chances are that you have:
With retargeting ads, the possibilities are endless. Because they’re existing customers, the CTR and conversion are higher. So it doesn’t hurt to ask them to return. You even have a better opportunity to re-engage, nurture, cross-sell and even upsell.
You’ve put your lead generation and nurturing strategy into action. It’s time to track the right metrics to see what you’re doing right and what needs improvement.
Below is a breakdown of the steps for tracking and measuring your sales leads.
Spot key points in the buyer's journey that show progress and interest. This could be when a lead downloads a whitepaper, attends a webinar, or requests a demo.
Conversion points help sales teams understand when a lead is ready for further nurturing or direct sales engagement.
Set up alerts for important milestones or changes in lead behavior, such as when a lead opens an email or downloads a piece of content. This enables your sales team to respond promptly and capitalize on moments of peak interest.
Ideally, your analytics dashboard and CRM should be set up in a way that lets you track where leads come from. Channel (or source attribution and breakdown by month or quarter help you understand sales performance.
To track the effectiveness of each channel, calculate Lead Source ROI. This metric evaluates the return on investment for each channel or campaign that generated the lead, such as social media, email marketing, or paid advertising.
(Revenue Generated from Leads - Cost of Lead Generation) / Cost of Lead Generation] x 100
Lead scoring helps you prioritize high-value leads over others and close big deals. For example, you can assign points for actions such as
Add the scores for each lead. A higher quality score indicates that the lead is more likely to convert into a paying customer.
The table below from Gartner provides an overview of other key criteria that can be used to score leads:
Monitor email open rates, click-through rates and response rates to gauge interest and engagement.
Use A/B testing to optimize subject lines, messaging and call-to-actions to improve email performance over time.
Use website analytics tools like Google Analytics to monitor how leads interact with your website.
Track page views, bounce rates and time spent on site to understand what content resonates with your audience.
Use heat maps and recording software to see where visitors click and how they navigate your site.
This is the percentage of leads that turn into actual sales. A high conversion rate means you’re doing a great job of nurturing leads and closing more deals.
Lead Conversion Rate = (Number of Conversions Started / Total Number of Leads) x 100%
The total revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their relationship with your business.
Knowing the CLV helps you prioritize high-value leads and focus on building long-term customer relationships.
CLV= (Average Purchase Value x Average Purchase Frequency) x Average Customer Lifespan
Here are some common metrics you should be tracking.
Response Time: The time it takes a sales rep to contact a lead once they’ve filled out a contact form. A slow response time could suggest you’re losing leads fast. A quick response time can nudge more leads down the sales funnel.
Lead Churn Rate: This metric tracks the rate at which leads drop out or disengage from your sales
funnel.
Number of Lost Leads / Total Number of Leads) x 100
Cost per Lead (CPL): CPL calculates how much you're spending on average to acquire each lead, helping you assess the efficiency of your marketing campaigns.
CPL= Total Marketing Spend / Total Number of Leads Generated
Demo Bookings: Track this number to see how well your tactics drive prospects to book a demo. If the numbers are low, that’s an indicator to revamp your marketing campaigns.
Sales Meetings: Segment your leads based on the number of calls they’ve received. This is crucial to assessing the average number of calls it takes for a lead to convert into a paying customer.
Lead-to-Opportunity Ratio: The percentage of leads that turn into sales opportunities. This metric helps you assess the quality of your leads and the effectiveness of your sales team's follow-up efforts.
Lead-to-Opportunity Ratio = (Number of Qualified Opportunities) / (Total Number of Leads)
Opportunity-to-Close Ratio: The percentage of sales opportunities that result in closed deals. Monitoring this metric helps you identify issues in the sales process and improve your closing rates.
Opportunity-to-Close Ratio = (Number of Closed Deals) / (Total Number of Opportunities or Leads)
Sales Cycle Length: The average time it takes for a sale to progress from initial opportunity to close. This metric enables you to plan resources and manage expectations for future sales performance.
Sales Cycle Length = (Total Days to Close All Deals) / (Total Number of Deals Closed)
Deal Size: The value of each closed deal. Tracking this metric helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your pricing strategy and identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell.
Win Rate: The percentage of sales opportunities that result in closed deals won.
Monitoring the win rate helps you assess the competitiveness of your offerings and the effectiveness of your sales team.
Win Rate = (Number of Deals Won) / (Total Number of Deals in the Pipeline)
Pipeline Coverage Ratio: The ratio of the total pipeline value to the annual contract value (ACV). This metric helps you evaluate the health of your sales pipeline and ensure sufficient coverage to meet your revenue goals.
Pipeline Coverage Ratio = (Total Pipeline Value) / (Sales Target)
Pipeline Velocity: This metric helps you assess how quickly leads move through your sales pipeline. Monitoring pipeline velocity helps you identify bottlenecks and optimize your sales process for faster conversion times.
(Number of Deals Closed / Average Sales Cycle Length in Days)
Sales Rep Performance: Key performance indicators (KPIs) for individual sales representatives, such as lead response rate, conversation rate and quota attainment. Tracking these metrics helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your sales team and identify areas for training and development.
Keep your database up-to-date by removing unengaged or bad leads. This ensures that your sales team focuses on high-quality leads and avoids wasting time on dead ends. Regular database cleaning also improves the accuracy of your reporting and analysis.
And there you have it—a practical guide to attract and nurture B2B sales leads in your sales funnel. By implementing the practical strategies outlined in this guide, you'll be well on your way to building a robust sales funnel that generates high-quality leads and drives revenue growth.
However, leveraging the right tools can make all the difference in maximizing your lead generation efforts.
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