Leadpile’s Blog

After reading some recent advice from some DMNews contributors, I thought I would pass along these suggestions on how to maybe maximize your lead generation efforts.  One suggests providing feedback on the leads to the publishers/companies where you get the leads from. Publishers then can use this information to try and alter the traffic so conversions increase.  Good feedback and bad feedback is always helpful to the lead generation company providing the leads.
Another suggests keeping landing page information short, and try and minimize the information that is asked of the consumers. Others suggest making webinars as simple of a sign up process as possible.  This all kinda correlates together in the fact that the more “simple” things are for companies and the consumers they are trying to capture, creates more success.  One suggestion I would recommend is utilizing your affiliate manager/account manager for information.  They work with campaigns all day long and can probably offer some information that will also help to make your lead generation campaigns a success.  If you have no way of speaking with a live person, then that could make it very difficult to get that extra help.  Find a company that has “live” people to help answer all your questions.

Leadpile Lead Exchange, and I am sure a lot of other lead generation companies, are always looking for ways to improve.  Having a successful experience with us on the advertiser/buyer and publisher/seller side is also our goal.  Simplicity of landing pages and buyer feedback on leads are just a few things we also agree are very important to the success of our marketplace.  Got any any suggestions for a successful lead generation campaign?

In recent news Amazon.com rolled out that they will be using customer feedback to help market products on their website.  According to DMNews, “The company announced this week it has formed a “Holiday Customer Review Team,” comprised of six of its top customer reviewers.” These reviewers are going to provide helpful tools to fellow Amazon.com customers. This is something that caught my eye because you don’t normally see companies utilizing the very same people that are also customers. Customers listen to other customers, so this could be a good thing for Amazon.
Today will officially start the Cyber Monday, which refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully, with the kickoff of the shopping season, we will see more customer feedback being used to help guide customers on shopping “smarter”.
Besides shopping websites, sites such as Leadpile Lead Exchange use things such as testimonials to help provide feedback. Testimonials, customer feedback and other forms of “product review” are great ways for companies to know what’s working and what’s not working in their company. Nobody knows a company better than the people actually using it!

Exchanges, marketplace, networks, lead providers, lead generators or all the above are places any advertiser/lead buyer can purchase leads.  How ever or where ever you get your leads, there are going to be variations in the conversions you have as a advertiser.  Why is this?  One large factor is the end user- the person/company that purchases the lead has a major affect on how well purchased leads convert.

A recent article on Lead Market Watch brought up some good points about lead buyers providing performance data to the lead provider. As a lead buyer, you want to get the most amount of leads at the least amount of cost to your company. Also, having the highest conversions to sales with the least amount of money invested in these leads is very important. Therefore, would you be cutting off your own feet if you provided how the leads are specifically performing to the company that provided them to you? When things aren’t going so well, the natural thing to do is always complain and express that. However, should you tell the lead company what the results of these leads was, in order to provide them with specific information on the lead providers bringing in the leads? Would providing this information eventually promote the exhange/network etc to increase the cost per lead if they are seeing the specific success you are having? These are a lot of tough questions that I am sure have a lot of different opinions on.
Here are Leadpile Lead Exhange we welcome lead buyers to provide conversions to us and also any potential issues with the leads. The more information we have on the leads the more we can help the next guy that is wanting to buy leads from us.
On a side note, each buyer of leads is going to have different ways of working leads they purchase. Knowing that, it is hard to actually compare apples to apples with leads. Knowing overall specifics of the leads and the companies buying them, will also help us to see any sort of consistancy on that lead type.
Some other questions lead providers might be curious to know are:
1. How long is your sales cycle?
2. How quickly do you call the leads you purchase?
3. How many times to you call the leads?
4. How many leads does it take for your company to get an application?
5. How many applications does it take for you to get a sale?
6. Approximately what kind of cost/fees does the customer absord for your service?
This information can be very helpful to any company that is providing leads, however there could be some information that is just not something that the lead buyers want to provide.

The quality of leads in a lead exchange is one of the most important factors in making the exchange work. Leadpile Lead Exchange currently allows 48 hours for a lead buyer to return a lead for bad contact information. Our quality control department is there to provide feedback from the leads being returned to the business development department. If there is any sort of consistency with bad quality, the issue will be addressed individually with the lead seller/publisher.
However, how does a lead company potentially deal with lead quality if they do not allow returns?
According to the Leadcritic, Lower My Bills has not allowed leads to be returned for some time. However, they incorporate an expected return rate into the cost of the leads. Do you think this is as affective as companies allowing returns?
Each lead company is different on the time frame they allow leads to be returned, and that is another question to address. What is a fair amount of time to allow a lead buyer to return a lead? Is it maybe simplified to do things the LMB way, and just incorporate the cost of potential lead returns into the cost of the leads?
Leadpile Lead Exchange believes that hearing the feedback of the buyers – good and bad – is crucial for us to make this marketplace work effectively. If we do not get feedback from our lead buyers, we don’t know how to fix a “problem” that we might have. We LOVE feedback… good and bad!

According to DMNews, payday lender Advance America has launched a new type of marketing campaign. They are using various marketing campaigns like social networking sites, direct mail, internet marketing and more to try and keep their name in front of consumers who might be going through tough times. They are looking to generate consumers who would like to share their experiences with the company, and other potential payday loan recipients. Advance America is posting all these testimonials on the site www.whoisthereforyou.com for other consumers to be able to read and relate to. They want consumers to understand that others have been through their same type of situation, and Advance America is there for them in these tough times.
This is a great way for a payday company to bring some positive light to an industry that is not always getting the right kind of attention.
A payday lender doing this definitely shows that they do care about their customers!

Client feedback is highly important.  Keeping customers happy is the key to building a long prosperous partnership.  Providing the product or service they most desire will give your company a high retention rate.  Keeping them happy and satisfied with what they need to continue building will be strong points to help your company build as well.

I have learned over time, that listening is the key to providing the right service for your clients.  Both buyers (needing leads) and sellers (making more revenue from their sites) need full attention when you are on the phone.  Selling is not just about the product selling itself.  Its about the product being effective and right for each client needs.  

Every publisher and advertiser needs attention and dedication.  When you talk to them, your building trust. When they trust you, they will feel comfortable doing business with you.  This is why its important to ask your clients for feedback! Don’t be scared, talk to your client.  

Build a relationship and a strong lucrative partnership with your affiliates and ask them to let you help them by becoming better. Knowing your client’s needs is important for any marketplace.  Being able to provide them with the service is even more important.

All in all, listen to what your advertisers or publishers are searching for, and you will have a successful lead exchange!