Lead Generation Part 1 – Form Fills

Lead generation is a huge part of business success and plays an important role in many internet marketing plans. All companies need to generate customer interest and inquiries about their products or services. There are many different ways that a business can generate those leads – some of which we will cover in this four part series. In this post, we will start with form fills.

What is a form fill?

Form fills involve having a potential prospect fill out an on-line form. The lead is generated when an individual fills in the required fields to query for more information. The form may include questions that request very basic data or are more comprehensive and provide the marketer with more valuable data.  The trade-off here is quantity vs quality as the more information that is requested, the fewer forms that will be completed.

A good technique is to offer something in exchange for the form fill that would motivate the potential lead to complete the form seriously and thoroughly. An asset of some sort is helpful because not many people would take the time to fill in a form if nothing was given in exchange. Examples of assets include whitepapers, webinars, e-books, buyer’s guides or reports. (We will discuss white papers and webinars in more detail in an upcoming post).

The leads that are generated through the form fill are then bought and the marketer would reach out and respond to the lead (information seeker).

What you need to know about form fills

As easy as form fill for lead generation may seem, it needs to be handled with care. This strategy can often generate low quality leads. Someone surfing the internet with nothing better to do might not remember even filling out the form. Or they might have been solely interested in the free information that was being offered rather than in actually buying any products or services. There is no guarantee that the leads are at any kind of a buying stage (ie are high up in the sales funnel).

It’s also important to remember that these leads are not necessarily exclusive; they can be bought by three to four different companies who would then be in competition to connect with and ultimately convert that lead into a paying customer.

Tips for successful forms:

• Keep the form and the number of fields required to a minimum and also try to limit the number of pages or steps
• Test, test, test! Try out different variations of your forms to learn which converts best.
• Be as specific to your business as possible. Don’t use a template. Customize the forms so that you get the information that is the most valuable to you.
• Think about what people are willing to give up. Don’t make the requirements so stringent as to cause frustration or lose trust.
• Promote your offer and use special landing pages designed to highlight that specific offer.

Used strategically, form fills can be a useful technique for online lead generation. Remember to use the tips and suggestions above to get the best possible outcome. Or hire an internet marketing services firm to help identify and qualify various opportunities.

In the next post in this series, we will discuss using content syndication for lead generation.