The world is now digitally fast, and every business wants to generate leads and then convert those into customers. According to HubSpot, in a recent study, 61% of marketers say that generating traffic and leads is the biggest challenge they have.
The ability to know and maximize the types of digital marketing leads determines the rate at which your sales are generated.
The 5 Types of Leads in Digital Marketing That Are Likely to Convert:
1. Marketing Qualified Leads – MQLs
MQLs are those leads that have shown interest in your products or services through interaction with your marketing efforts. They may have filled out a form, downloaded an eBook, or subscribed to a newsletter.
These leads are more likely to convert because they’ve demonstrated an understanding of your value proposition and are further down the funnel.
Nurturing these leads through targeted content and personalized offers will improve their chances of conversion.
2. Sales Qualified Leads, or SQLs
SQLs are leads that are the closest to a purchase. They have shown high interest in either your product or service by asking for a demo, calling, or even asking for a quotation in price.
These leads have been filtered through your sales team and are ready for direct interaction.
The trick here is to strike while the iron is hot and to customize your pitch according to their needs, as they are very much looking to make a decision.
3. Referral Leads
Referral leads come from trusted sources, such as satisfied customers or business partners. In a certain sense, there’s an element of trust since they have been referred by some individual who is well-known to your company.
Referrals convert more because there is already some element of trust in them toward your brand and possibly interacting with your offering.
Leverage referral programs or even just word-of-mouth, and it may lead to increasing your conversions meaningfully.
4. Inbound Leads
Inbound leads are those who found your business either through search engines, social media, or organic content such as blogs and videos. They are on an active hunt to solve their problem, and they stumble upon your brand through some great content or SEO effort.
These leads are actually highly qualified since they initiated the contact, meaning that they are interested in what you offer.
To convert them, make sure to provide clear and appealing CTAs and a smooth user experience on your website.
5. Trial Sign-Up Leads
Leads who sign up for a free trial of your product or service are very interested and intend to move forward with your offering. They want to experience your offering before they can make a full commitment.
These leads are closer to conversion, especially if you can provide an excellent trial experience.
Ensure that your onboarding is smooth and highlight the key features that show the value of your product.
How to Convert Leads into Customers
Understanding the types of leads in digital marketing is just the first step. When you understand where your leads are, you have to nurture them in the right direction.
Timely follow-up, personalized content, and resolving their pain points will be some of the major strategies to ramp up conversion rates.
Send more emails for follow-up, set retargeting ads, and share customer success stories to build trust in moving leads through the sales funnel.
In the end, this high-potential lead type will grow your business if proper strategies are focused on their conversion into customers. After all, the concept of digital marketing is also to build relationships for long-term success.
