3 Conversion Rate Wins for Paid Search Lead Gen

Lead generation through paid search isn’t always seen as a glamorous or dynamic discipline - but Isabel Figueiredo has found it to be both, and explains how she came to love lead gen

Lead Generation presents a unique set of challenges for digital marketing because the original trump card of digital - optimising quickly from click to sales revenue - is either missing, or delayed so that optimisation can’t directly work like it does on direct retail websites.

The result can frustrate search marketers. For people trained to analyse in-day, by hour final results, it can seem intricate and tricky to leverage, taking away the most familiar controls and data sets. But for those who like a challenge - fitting their knowledge to form the best optimisation methods they can for each lead gen client - then it can also be exhilarating. When it all works and starts generating real business growth, it’s the culmination of a whole journey of changes and strategies.

In this article, I will share my experiences improving the efficiency, step by step, of paid search for lead gen.

1. Sync up your data

Not just volume, but high quality leads. This is the starting point for every lead gen journey.

Initially, we optimised our activities based on website leads that were easily tracked by the ad platforms. However, we also knew that to understand the quality of the leads being driven, we needed to integrate CRM data with Google Ads. 

This integration is the foundation of a lead gen strategy. It allows you to differentiate between strong and weak leads, and therefore optimise search strategies based on the closest offline leads to the final sale. With the data going straight into Google Ads, you can factor in the long lead time between a user's initial contact and an actual purchase - at different levels of granularity depending on the lead journey. It could either be directly, or, in the case of a long lead time, through analysis by campaign type in order to adjust targets based on final ROI or value driven. 

The integration of CRM data into Google Ads provides you with a complete picture, enabling the measurement of success by tying digital marketing directly to the bottom line of the business.

While there are limitations to using sales data with Smart Bidding in a lead gen account (the time lag between lead and sale can slow responsiveness, and put in place the need for action based on modelling and prediction), it’s also the case that leveraging offline leads closer to the point of sale significantly boosted the algorithm's performance. 

This typically leads to an incremental conversion rate boost, and spend is more efficiently placed at the service of your real goal. I’ve seen sales conversion rates increase between 10% and 20% at this stage.

The key takeaway here is that if the user journey involves several steps before a sale occurs, it is essential to optimise paid search activity towards the closest point to sale closure which correlations in the data supports. 

Identifying this point and grading leads and optimisation signals for it isn’t always easy: but it sets you on the right path to success.

2. Giving automation what it needs

Paid search tech and account structures evolve - and so must lead gen using search. A recent pivotal moment for my lead gen journey came with the transition to Modern Search, which implied a comprehensive account restructure. 

Modern Search revolves around embracing Google's automation abilities by pairing Broad match keywords with Smart Bidding. This approach provides smart bidding algorithms with more signals but not just that: it opens up targeting so that automation can find and optimise to the right signals which work for the designated KPI. Handled well, the result is more bidding accuracy, at scale.

By remaking account structure in order to align it with business goals, while leveraging broader match types under Smart Bidding, I have seen clients achieve better results with fewer keywords. This allows lead gen advertisers to cast a wider net, reaching business-relevant queries that help them achieve their business goals and grow efficiently. 

This direction of travel towards opening search structures to more data was earlier seen in the positive impact that anonymised CRM data can have in building audiences and refining algorithms. 

From the impact of combining broad match and smart bidding portfolios I have worked on, lead gen advertisers should expect at least a further 5% uplift as they make this automation pivot. 

3. Get across web design

Of course, not all transformative changes to paid search are controlled directly in Google or Microsoft Ad platforms - and it’s good for search marketers to remind themselves of this. 

Website refreshes and rebuilds can make a huge difference for lead gen in a way which is distinct from direct retail.

The reason is that before someone signs up as a lead, they spend time looking for proof that a business is worth engaging with and is offering what you are looking for - so the website is the warm up and qualifying tool, rather than the whole journey as with a pure play retailer. This requires different design, conversion rate optimisation principles, and testing plans. I know that a really successful lead gen website redesign will involve paid search and social teams being part of the process, ensuring that a new navigational experience is best aimed at guiding visitors towards lead sign up.

The importance of a well-designed website and compelling content cannot be overstated for search activity - and inaction comes at a literal cost. Failing to optimise your landing pages can result in wasted marketing spend. 

Google Ads recognises the importance of landing page experience and uses it to estimate the relevance and usefulness of your website to users who click on your ads. By aligning website architecture with a business's lead gen search strategy and adjusting landing page designs to guide users through the buying journey, conversion rates should jump by a further 1% at least, if not much more.

Upward trajectory

The combination of these actions can result in a remarkable upward trajectory of leads, without increasing cost per lead - something that I’ve seen directly.

So my advice is to take the first step by integrating CRM - then stack up each improvement, as each one will give you an edge against competitors stuck at stage one while growing your share of the market as your ad spend becomes honed ever more closely to real growth.

By Isabel Figueiredo, Senior PPC Manager