In previous weeks, we’ve looked at examples of key performance indicators for information or content based sites and e-commerce sites.  The third installment of this series evaluates KPIs pertaining to lead generation sites.

Lead generation sites are probably the most widespread type of site out there.  In the early days of the internet, many website creators developed sites to help promote a product or service, but did not necessarily offer the opportunity to purchase online. (Secure payment technology and integrated warehousing were slightly behind the innovation pipeline; we can thank Amazon for making the Internet the mass marketplace it is today.) Examples of lead generation sites would include financial service sites, real estate sites, or other high ticket item sites where the user usually has to confirm the potential purchase in person.

The important thing with lead generation sites is to entice the site visitor to contact your company for more information.  Your site needs to have proper conversion triggers and contact information that is intuitively located throughout the site.  With lead generation sites, you are not trying to get the visitor to convert online; instead you are trying to get them to come into your store, showroom, office or institution. Your website should be a part of the sales process instead of the complete sales process in and of itself.

Content Based vs. Lead Generation vs. e-Commerce vs. Service and Support

So you have a lead generation site and you have your proper conversion points in place.  You have provided the user with all of the information they need to make their purchase, or have you?  With lead generation sites, not only is it important to track successful conversions (forms, 1-800 # specific to the website, etc.) but also abandonment rates and drop off points.

Key Performance Indicators to Measure with Lead Generation Sites

Here are some examples of KPIs that owners of lead generation sites should be tracking.

• New Account Signups

• Percent New Visitors: the number of potential new customers landing on your site

• Conversion Rates: the percentage of visitors that download white papers, sign up for mailings, subscribe to a newsletter, etc.

  • Contact Us Form Completions: for products or services that are purchased offline and have an extended sales timeline, Contact Us Forms should be treated as a conversion

  • “Get a Quote” Requests: this can also be a conversion

  • 1-800 Tracking: the number of calls to the (preferably unique) toll-free number listed on your site

• Ratio of Leads to Close: the likelihood a lead will complete the transaction – this is an offline ratio

• Length of Visit: the amount of time a visitor spends on your site in a given visit

• Ratio of New to Returning Visitors: the ratio of new to previously acquired visitors

• Page "Stickiness": the likelihood of successfully retaining a visitor who arrives at a key landing page (usually a PPC landing-page or product information page)

• Percent of Visits by Entry Page: measures the efficacy of your marketing messages at driving visitors to the site

• Conversion by Campaigns

• Ad Clicks: measures how successful your PPC campaign is; however, try to remember that CTR is not as important as Conversions/Click – I would rather have a 2%CTR and a 100% conversion rate because this indicates that my online marketing message is bang on; meaning I am driving both my sponsored and organic traffic to conversions

• Drivers to the Registration Process

• Site Abandonment

If you want to increase your ROI, you need to be able to quantify your online success or lack thereof; only then can you make informed business decisions that will build leads and increase sales. The above list presents some of the main KPIs that should be considered when tracking metrics for lead generation sites.  Next week we will be looking at key performance indicators for Service/Support sites.

Jody Nimetz
Search Marketing Strategist
Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing
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