What to Know About Offering Incentives to Generate Leads
The business mantra of “build it, and they will come” tends to be a hit-or-miss proposition. For example, Ford Motor Co. released its vigorously marketed Edsel “car of the future” in late 1957. Sales were so bad that Ford lost the equivalent of $2 billion in today’s dollars within two years and cemented the Edsel’s reputation as the still-held biggest failure in American marketing. Failure so bad that, along with reference to being a car, Edsel is defined by Webster’s dictionary as a product that “fails to gain public acceptance despite high expectations, costly promotional efforts, etc.”
On the other hand, Gary Dahl became a millionaire in under six months after he began marketing small rocks in 1975. And sure, Gary didn’t “build” the rocks, but he built a marketing plan that encouraged millions of people to pay for something they could pick up in their backyards for free. While “Pet Rock” sales at $4 apiece petered out within a year, you can still get your own rock, but it will set you back $29.99 if you order one today.
In today’s digital marketing world, how do you build an online campaign that encourages people to come—that is, respond to your calls to action (CTAs)? Sure, you’ve developed an attention-grabbing, informative website; creative landing pages; active social media presence; and other digital outreach efforts; but how do they generate leads by encouraging potential customers to respond to your CTAs?
While there is no single answer, the digital marketing experts at Naples, Florida-based Moxxi Marketing suggest that you may want to consider offering incentives in your lead generation efforts. After all, if one of your CTAs asks your potential customers to give you something—such as an email contact address—what are you offering them in return? By providing something of value, you can incentivize more of your customer base to respond to your CTAs.
What is Incentivized Lead Generation?
Simply put, incentivized lead generation is anything you use to reward people for responding to your online CTAs. Also known as “lead magnets,” the incentives you use as a reward might include discounts, free product samples, trial subscriptions, gift cards, extended product warranties, product add-ons, free delivery, coupons, or anything that your potential customer base might find valuable. Lead magnets can be offered with just about any CTA, whether seeking customer emails or other contact information, participating in online surveys, joining a mailing list, purchasing a product, signing up for a special event, or becoming a follower on social media.
And marketing research suggests that incentivized lead generation works. A recent study by Google and the Boston Consulting Group found that 90% of customers can be induced to share their email addresses for a small incentive. According to the study, this is a significant increase from roughly 30% of customers who might be willing to share their email without an incentive.
Examples of Incentivized Lead Generation
Successful incentivized lead generation offers lead magnets that provide value to the distinct customer your business is trying to attract. Thus, if you’re operating a medical spa, you should probably reward customers who respond to one of your CTAs with something related to your business. If you offer a coupon for $5 off a pizza from the local pizzeria, anyone responding to the CTA is likely more interested in pizza than they are med spa services. On the other hand, offering a discount on a massage will likely generate leads from those interested in spa services.
With this in mind, consider the following lead magnets and think about what types of businesses might best use them:
- Free shipping
- Free delivery
- Free-trial software
- Recipes
- Travel guides
- Customer loyalty membership
- Gift cards
- Discounts and coupons
- Video presentation
- e-books
- Webinar invites
- Online quiz
- Online game (with potential prizes)
- Free classes (online or live)
- Cheatsheet or shortcut instructions for taking on a task
- Whitepapers
- Case studies
- Templates
The key to these incentives is to make them pertinent to your company’s business. Free shipping is applicable for any company that sells physical products, while free delivery is apt for those companies that rely on door-to-door delivery. Recipes are perfect incentives from grocers, kitchen supplies, and food service companies, while travel guides represent an excellent offering from tourist-reliant businesses. Many of the other incentives can be adopted by a range of business sectors but should be tailored for each specific business offering.
Weighing the Pros and Cons of Offering an Incentive
In developing your company’s lead generation incentivization strategy, you should probably weigh the pros and cons of mounting the campaign. To put it in short form, the pros include:
- Can be used to expressly target the best leads.
- Potential to reach leads you might not otherwise capture without an incentive.
- Enhanced ability to collect more customer data.
- Build consumer goodwill from those who appreciate the offered incentive.
The potential cons include:
- Whether the incentive’s costs will justify the lead generation.
- The quality of leads generated and resources needed to assess them.
- The need to keep track of regulations designed to protect consumers’ privacy and ensure customer data is properly and safely managed.
Enhance Your Lead Generation with Moxxi Marketing
If you would like to learn more about incentivized lead generation and assess whether your business could benefit from this digital marketing strategy, the experts at Naples, Florida-based Moxxi Marketing can help. To kick your online presence into high gear and generate measurable returns from your digital marketing efforts, contact Moxxi Marketing today at 239.330.6236.