by Jack Loechner, Staff Writer @mp_research, August 19, 2016
According to the 2016 State of Lead Generation survey from Ascend2, improving the quality of leads generated is a top priority for 77% of marketing influencers. The quality of leads handed off to sales significantly impacts an organization’s ability to achieve the next most important goal of acquiring new customers.
The average of all market segments responding to the survey finds that the most important goals in lead generation strategy are:
- Improving quality of leads 77%
- Acquiring new customers 50%
- Increasing quantity of leads 41%
- Measuring performance/ROI 32%
- Automating marketing process 29%
- Converting website visitors to leads 25%
- Reducing the cost to acquire leads 24%
The data in the Summary Report edition of the study is representative of B2B and B2B companies consisting of 36% more than 500 employees, 40% 50 to 500 employees, and fewer than 50 employees, 24%. 39% of marketing influencers describe their organization’s lead generation strategy as best-in-class, while another 21% consider it comparatively unsuccessful at achieving important goals:
Lead Generation Strategy | |
Achievement of Goals | % of Respondents |
Very successful | 39% |
Somewhat successful | 40 |
Somewhat unsuccessful (below average) | 20 |
Very unsuccessful | 1 |
Source: Ascend2, August 2016 | |
The most important goal for lead generation, improving the quality of leads, is also the most significant barrier to success. This confirms that the development of an effective lead generation strategy must focus on this critical issue, says the report.
Goals and Barriers for Lead Generation (% of Respondents) | ||
Goal/Barrier | Most Important Goal | Most Significant Barrier |
Improving Lead Quality | 77% | 53% |
Acquiring new customers | 50 | 24 |
Improving quantity of leads | 41 | 36 |
Measuring lead performance | 32 | 34 |
Automating marketing | 29 | 32 |
Converting web visitors to leads | 25 | 37 |
Reducing cost of lead acquisition | 24 | 30 |
Source: Ascend2, August 2016 | ||
The report says that an 89% majority believe the effectiveness of lead generation is increasing, while the remaining 11% continue to struggle with lead generation effectiveness. When prioritizing tactics for an effective lead generation strategy, a balance must be struck between tactical effectiveness and executional difficulty, as a tactic will succeed only if resources are available to execute it effectively, concludes the report summary.
Most effective tactic vs. Most difficult to Execute (% of Respondents) | ||
Tactic | Most Effective | Most Difficult |
Email marketing | 45% | 28% |
Content marketing | 45 | 47 |
Social media marketing | 39 | 44 |
Landing page optimization | 38 | 34 |
Search engine optimization | 33 | 36 |
Source: Ascend2, August 2016 | ||
For additional information from Ascend2, please visit here.
MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily
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