Shameless LeadsCon Plug: Lead Quality, Who’s At Fault?

What did we say last week? I think it was something like, “Imagine a thought provoking article about a topic of interest, but it just so happens that the piece in question ties really nicely into a not so subtle plug to attend an event covering similar topics. If you can’t imagine that, don’t worry. This is what such an article looks like. So shameless are we, that each week leading up to the event, we’ll focus on a different aspect of lead generation being covered.” Yes, that’s exactly what we said. Last week, the focus was on one of the most fundamental components to the lead gen ecosystem – shared leads versus exclusive. This week, we take a look at another critical aspect to lead generation – quality – or as is often the case, lack of quality.

$#!* Leads – Who’s Fault Is It Anyway
If you’ve been to the LeadsCon site and looked at the full conference program, here is how the description for this session reads. Buyers and sellers often have a love-hate relationship. When things work as planned, each could not imagine life without the other. Things rarely go as planned, though, and each side can be quick to find fault with the other. As we’ll see, the situation is rarely as simple as a seller sending sub-par leads or a buyer not calling the leads quickly enough. Calling the discussion a talk about "quality" addresses only part. More than quality, it’s lead performance. But, performance is a multifaceted issue, a complex interplay of factors, the results of which, some can be predicted, others harder to explain.

What are we really trying to say? I guess what we’re attempting to say is that despite our frequent criticisms and public sharing of snapshots of affiliates marketing badly, it would be unfair to simply blame them for any perceived performance degradation on behalf of the purchaser. This doesn’t mean that affiliates should still run ads promoting $9 car insurance where the price on the policy is both not $9 and doctored. It simply means that a talk about quality is perhaps the wrong talk. It assumes a more binary explanation of quality – either good or bad, which intuitively isn’t the case. Each party has a role to play. If only we could perform the type of quantitative analysis that derivative-based trading firms use, we might be able to come up with a killer infographic to assign weight to each piece instead of doing it the hard way.

A. Traffic providers
What you say and where you say it make sense. In the past, we’ve tried to define good versus crap traffic. Like the Supreme Court said of porn that they can’t define it but know it when you see it, the same applies for crap. If a person is not qualified and not interested but fills out a form, it’s poor quality. If they think they are getting one thing but get another, it doesn’t always lead to bad performance, but it adds extra headwinds. Then again, if the message is spot-on, the context great, that still doesn’t guarantee results because the person could be unqualified. Were there a conversion equation, the traffic is the factor on the outside. Good traffic would boost conversion. Bad traffic would decrease the odds.

B. Aggregator
The vast majority of leads go through some aggregator before winding up in the hands of an end lead buyer. A traffic provider can send good traffic but it results in a poor outcome, because the aggregator ultimately controls where that lead goes. It might be that allocation for the right fit is no longer available. They might give preference to other traffic providers or not track each provider separately, mixing good with bad. Aggregators have a strong incentive to match good traffic with its proper home and track good from bad, but they are another layer and another variable in the equation where something can occur.

C. Technology Providers
More and more buyers and sellers use verification and/or scoring technologies. They are some of the most compelling pieces of technology. Why try to contact a lead if the information they provide does not look accurate or match with official records? When it comes to scoring, that has buyers assigning a likelihood of converting to each lead before ever following-up. In some cases, buyers won’t purchase leads that fall below a certain score. Both are worthy technologies but they aren’t foolproof. Each produces the equivalent of false positives. Leads deemed unworthy still convert, but they do convert at a lower rate. Where should the line be drawn?

D. Lead Buyers
They pay the bills, so it does make sense to listen to what they say. They may not always be right, but they can often act as though they are never wrong. Yet, they too aren’t perfect. Even the most sophisticated falter, so just imagine the less sophisticated. In almost all cases there is a human at the end of the line. What if they aren’t trying? What if they decide a certain subid is never good and give up. What if they don’t call back? What if they do get a person but the agent on the phone doesn’t do a good job? What if their product isn’t competitive? All of these things will come back looking as though the source of the traffic is not good.

From start to finish the funnel is like a Japanese pinball machine. Even the most promising shot can end up with a bad result. Odds are that if you start with good, you are more likely to end up with good, but as we see, a lead can be enhanced on its way down or hindered. We can’t always pinpoint as to the cause of a bad lead. All pieces of that lead need to be examined. The truth is that each piece still acts independent from the next. We still have a ways to go before we can get rid of the finger pointing when things deviate from the plan.

And now, once again for the aforewarned shameless plug, come here this topic debated live at LeadsCon, March 1st and 2nd (the big party is on the night of the 2nd) in Las Vegas. Use the link here, and you will save $200 off the current price and $400 off the regular price. Pass includes access to all sessions, the expo hall, real food, and open bar receptions. Register today. There is no lower discount. If, however, you want to pay more, let us know, and we’ll send you the full-price link.