51% of B2B Marketers: Purchasing-Time Horizon Is the Most Valuable Lead Data

For B2B marketers hoping to connect with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), there are a number of valuable data points that inform their lead-generation efforts, but none are more valuable than purchasing-time horizon. That’s one of the main findings of a recent survey of more than 500 of Business.com’s pay-per-lead advertisers.

Valuable Data
According to the study, “Small Business Pulse: 2013 Lead Generation Insights,” 51.3 percent of respondents say purchasing-time horizon is an extremely piece of data. This is followed by 30.5 percent who say the same for the size of a company (number of employees). Industry (29.1 percent), job title (20.3 percent), size of company (revenue; 18.8 percent) and job function (17.3 percent) followed behind.

Business.com also found that 10 percent of respondents say they want physical addresses for their leads, while 5 percent want only leads connected with business email addresses. “Some may be willing to pay more for this information as a filter,” the study notes. “Since marketing materials can be delivered in a number of ways, including direct mail, companies who have strong direct marketing campaigns perceive physical addresses as a competitive advantage in closing leads and generating sales.”

Meanwhile, 50.0 percent of respondents say receiving a score (based on intent to purchase) with each lead is extremely valuable, while 18.3 percent say this would be valuable. Nearly a third of respondents say scores accompanying leads are somewhat valuable, least valuable or not valuable at all, possibly reflecting the poor state of lead-scoring practices.

A session at HubSpot’s recent INBOUND 2013 conference in Boston covered the topic of points-based and dollar-based lead scoring. Jessica Meher, head of enterprise marketing at HubSpot, said some of the biggest mistakes companies make when scoring leads is relying on BANT (budget, authority, need and purchase time frame) information from lead forms, asking for too much information or not asking for certain types of information at the right time, and assuming bigger companies or titles are better.

Time
Business.com notes that hot transfer leads, or live leads that are immediately passed on to companies as they come in, are becoming more prominent. According to the study, 41.8 percent of respondents say hot transfer leads are extremely valuable, while 22.8 percent say they’re valuable.

“It’s clear that responsiveness from the buyer is a major factor for companies when it comes to their lead generation spending and what they deem a high-quality lead,” Business.com says in its report. “With hot transfer leads, companies ensure a 100 percent contact rate.”

The study also looked at delivery time and found that 39.5 percent of respondents say receiving fresh leads in fewer than five minutes is extremely valuable, while 19.8 percent say it’s valuable. However, more than 40 percent of respondents say getting faster lead-turnaround times is only somewhat valuable, least valuable or not valuable at all.

This widespread indifference toward fast lead-turnaround times flies in the face of a popular study from Velocify (then Leads360), which found that calling a new prospect within a minute of lead generation can increase the likelihood of conversion by 391 percent. This number drops to 24 percent after five hours and 17 percent after 24 hours.

Speed in calling a lead was a major takeaway from the recent B2B LeadsCon conference in New York. In the closing session, Jeff Hoogendam, co-founder and principal of 360Partners, said slow response times to leads is the No. 1 mistake with sales processes, noting that the average call response time for B2B leads is 46 hours.

Content Marketing
According to Business.com, more than half of respondents express interest in white-paper leads, while about a third of companies is interested in webinars that feature their company or products. There’s also strong interest in sponsored emails, videos and case studies to generate leads.

Lead Nurturing
The study found that nearly 80 percent of respondents don’t use third-party tools or services to nurture leads, score leads, append data or set appointments. This is highlights an opportunity for companies, Business.com notes. The company says implementing a lead-scoring system can boost lead conversion by 79 percent.