Monthly Archives: April 2018

Advanced Lead Generation – 8 customer-centric tactics to dramatically increase lead quality and performance

Are you frustrated by the inefficiency and low quality of third-party leads?

Trawling through the haystack of high volume raw leads to find the proverbial needle of an in-market consumer can be an exhausting challenge any sales team faced with a challenging short-term target.

But in a crowded-market place, with competitors vying for attention across multiple digital screens, connecting with real potential customers as they research their next purchase is vital for incremental sales growth.

Lead Generation can – and does – provide a cost-effective and efficient route to new customers. Just not in using the traditional high-volume, low-quality approach.

‘Volume and quality are not mutually exclusive’

At the crux of every lead generation campaign, the primary goal is to connect with the consumer. But too often the need for volume drives organisations further and further away from the consumer’s needs, wants and expectations.

But volume and quality are not mutually exclusive. Advanced lead generation goes beyond traditional lead gen at every stage of the process to reach more consumers, engage more meaningfully and qualify thoroughly to generate high quality, qualified in-market consumer leads at scale.

It does so by focusing on the customer from the outset and maintaining that focus throughout every stage of the acquisition process.

We have identified eight steps you can take right now that will dramatically improve lead quality and campaign performance.

  1. Purpose – Dig down into the root of what problem you’re trying to solve. This is where you will see the biggest success – aligning your expectations with consumer needs will harness quality from campaign inception.
  2. Track all interactions – Understanding all consumer touchpoints will allow better optimisation of activity further down the line. Without the visibility of where a consumer is in their decision cycle, it’s almost impossible to drive quality.
  3. Acquisition – Qualify consumers from the outset. Testing multiple digital channels, optimising accordingly and focusing on what drives quality at the first touch point will yield strong results further down the line. Deep and purposeful questioning, which adds value to the interaction, will ensure only quality leads are fed into the top of the funnel.
  4. Optimisation – Evaluate all user journeys within the decision cycle and understand at an intricate level what is/isn’t driving quality consumers. From this you can take appropriate actions to capitalise on the opportunity or alternatively fix the issues. Whether this be reprogramming or tailoring the language used for questions asked over the phone to looking at the what imagery drives engagement in the digital channels, it’s imperative to have an ongoing optimisation framework.
  5. Qualification – Re-engaging with the consumer through the appropriate communication channel, whether this be on the Phone, through Email, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Live Chat service (etc.) can have a significant impact on lead quality. Understanding that live consumer interaction is the key to driving quality! This is the one opportunity to get real-time feedback on specific consumer demands but also shape expectations from the brand. It truly is the integral piece of connecting brands and consumers.
  6. Nurture – An acquired lead is always valuable, regardless of where the consumer is in their decision cycle. The real magic is how to move a consumer along their journey from consideration to purchase. Often the tendency is to focus on consumers at the final point in the decision cycle. It’s important to remember that lead times between consideration and purchase can vary based on the actual size of the purchase. Consumers are different, operate and think differently and take different lengths of time to reach their decisions. It’s important to be there at every stage in their cycle, this will engender trust and help produce lead quality when the consumer is ready to pull the trigger.
  7. Re-evaluation – It’s important to drive understanding of the activity, gain feedback and iterate on what could be working better. Can new solutions be developed to help alleviate an issue exposed within the user journey? Tackle any problems head on and lead quality will be ensured.
  8. Evaluate customer lifetime value – A lead should not be thought of as just a lead. This is a person, who may/may not be ready to make their purchase at the point of when the lead is passed over. Working with the brand to ensure that the lead goes into the appropriate user journey on the brand side is equally paramount to ensuring quality. Understanding whether the consumer needs to go into a nurture programme or is ready to pull the trigger immediately will have long-term quality benefits.

Written by Paul Court, Head of Performance Marketing at The Lead Agency.

To discover how advanced lead generation can support your goals, contact us today.

Countdown to GDPR: How well are you prepared for the new regulation?

25 May 2018 is the day the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the Data Protection Act 1998.

As a business that handles and manages consumer data, we have been busy creating a roadmap of what we need to have in place for more than 12 months. But for a lot of businesses, there are immediate steps that can be taken to become compliant with the new regulation.

Opportunity for advantage

The first thing to note is that a technical solution is not the panacea; a piece of software won’t make you compliant.

It’s up to you to make sure that you know what your responsibilities are and understand what you need to have in place, such as processes and policies. Importantly, you must be able to demonstrate that you can comply with GDPR – i.e. you must be able to show that you are accountable.

Another important step is to gain buy in from the top of your organisation, so that the steps you will take are valued. If GDPR processes are seen as a box ticking exercise, chances are gaps will appear throughout the organisation that put you at risk.

Instead, look at GDPR as a way of acting responsibly and as an opportunity that could give you a competitive advantage.

Frequently asked GDPR questions

As a data-driven business, we are often asked by other businesses for guidance on GDPR preparation. So, in the lead up to 25 May, The Lead Agency’s compliance manager Kathy Fleming will be answering some of the burning and more common GDPR questions to help you with your preparations.

“We’re an SME with just over 100 employees – do we need to do anything about GDPR? Isn’t there an exemption?”

KF: If you handle personal information, then you have responsibilities under data protection law and the introduction of the GDPR doesn’t change this. GDPR places obligations on organisations to document and maintain records of their data processing activities. However, there is a limited exemption which means that if you have less than 250 employees, you only need to keep limited records. Don’t forget, you may be required to make the records available to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) on request!

The ICO website has produced some useful templates that you can use for this purpose.

“Do we need to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO)?”

KF: There is a duty to appoint a DPO only in certain circumstances (if you’re a public authority or if you carry out activities on data that require large scale, regular and systematic monitoring, such as online behavioural tracking).

However, even if you aren’t required by law to appoint a DPO, you may decide to voluntarily appoint someone to carry out these tasks, or you may just decide to make someone responsible for making sure that data protection is given due consideration throughout your business.  The consequences of getting it wrong can not only mean a financial penalty, but your brand and reputation may suffer too.

“What is the Right to be Forgotten and what does this mean for businesses? Do we have to delete records if an individual asks us to?”

KF: The Right to be Forgotten (the Right to Erasure, to give it the correct name) is not an absolute Right. Basically, it means that certain conditions must be met before an organisation has to erase data:

  • If it’s no longer necessary for you to keep the data
  • If you asked for consent to process the data and then consent is subsequently withdrawn
  • If you relied on ‘legitimate interests’ to process the data and the individual objects, and you can’t prove that any over-riding reasons to continue processing it
  • If the individual objects to direct marketing
  • If you haven’t processed it lawfully in the first place
  • If a legal obligation compels you to
  • If the data has been processed in relation to data collected from children, especially processing of this information on the internet.

“What does the right to be informed mean?”

KF: If you collect personal data from individuals, you must provide them with certain information. This applies to employees as well as your customers and, generally, you should do this at the time you collect the information from them. One way to do this (especially if you are collecting information on line) is to provide easy and simple access to a Privacy Notice on your website.  The information you provide should includes:

  • Your name and contact details (including your Data Protection Officer if you have one)
  • The purpose for processing their data
  • What lawful basis you are relying on (consent, performance of a contract etc., etc.,)
  • How long you are going to keep the information for
  • What their rights are
  • Who they can complain to

A complete list of what information you need to provide can be found on the ICO website.

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If you have a question, email it to [email protected] or post it as a comment on LinkedIn.

The Lead Agency named one of Europe’s fastest growing companies in FT1000

The Lead Agency has been named as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies by the Financial Times.

The FT1000 in association with Statista is one of the business world’s most of respected league tables, ranking companies from 31 European countries based on the highest compound annual growth rate between 2013 and 2016.

We are a new entry in the table, ranking an impressive 363rd overall and as the 56th highest placed UK company of the 158 that made the list.

Immense pride

Topping the FT1000 2018 table is UK-based food delivery service Deliveroo, which has achieved a staggering 107,117% growth rate over the last three years – more than 10 times that of second placed Thermondo from Germany. At the other end of the table, the barrier for entry was tougher than in 2017 with the lowest-ranked average growth being 16.1% higher than last year.

Anton Hanley, who founded the company in 2002, said: “We’re immensely proud of this achievement and would like to thank everyone who has played their part, including staff, clients and partners.

“The last few years have seen us make strong progress as a business – not only in terms of revenue growth but through our recruitment, innovative use of digital technology, vertical expansion, client base and partnerships. However, we’re fully committed to building on this success and excited about what’s in store over the next few years.”

Our FT100 success follows last month’s fifth-placed ranking in the Northern Tech 100, a league table of the fastest-growing tech businesses in the north of the UK.