If you’re like most marketers running ads right now…
You’re expected to get MORE quality meetings for your sales team… with less budget & resources. 😰
“Sure boss, no problem!” 👍😅
And if you’re sweating profusely inside like most of us trying to figure it out…
Don’t worry – you’re not alone. And the good news is…
There ARE some steps you can take immediately with your ads to crank up pipeline…
Without having to shell out the non-existent ad spend that got cut from your budget last quarter.
Here are 3 things you can do NOW to get your pipeline from your ads humming for less $$$.
#1 - Do a “two-tiered” PPC audit to cut the fat
This is a great way to save and reallocate cash.
Let’s start with Google Ads for example…
The “first tier” is account-level PPC audit.
Go to Keywords >> Search keywords to download a CSV of all of your keywords that generated an impression in the last 6 months.
(Make sure you have your “conversions” column included!)
Then, filter your spreadsheet to identify keywords that didn’t generate a single conversion.
Go into Google Ads and pause those keywords.
BOOM! 💣 You just cut out a ton of wasted spend.
We’ve seen savings of anywhere from 5-50%+ just by doing this alone.
Then you can reallocate those dollars to keywords that are converting but are limited by budget…
And/or test newer / more promising keywords.
The “second tier” is a CRM-level PPC audit.
So, if your accounts are set up right, you should be passing the “Google Click ID” (or “GCLID”) into your CRM whenever a lead converts on your form.
This allows you to track which leads came from a Google Ad & how they’re progressing down funnel.
(And if you’re NOT doing that, get this set up immediately! See under #2 below, “get the data piping.”)
And ideally, you’re also passing in keyword data to see which keyword created each lead.
Filter your leads in CRM by those with a GCLID attached and see where they ended up by keyword.
See the keywords that did NOT drive any qualified opps or Closed Won deals?
Strongly consider pausing those.
Now you’re saving not just on keywords that didn’t convert on Google… but also on terms that didn’t generate any business value whatsoever.
Reallocate those dollars towards keywords that are driving opps & revenue.
(If you want to do this for other platforms like LinkedIn or Facebook Ads, the same steps as above apply but the parameters just change.
For example on LinkedIn Ads, you’re looking at audiences & ads instead of keywords.)
Follow these steps across all your channels to get an immediate boost in efficiency. 💪
#2 - Implement a "feedback loop" between your ads & CRM
So you’ve got data from your ads going into your CRM to track where your leads came from. That’s great.
But are you telling the ad platforms which leads turned into opps or Closed Won… so it can optimize for that instead of “leads”?
If not, let’s get that feedback loop set up ASAP so you can stop buying clicks & start buying customers.
The first step here is to do your “funnel math.”
Map out the steps that take your buyer from an initial lead to a customer, whatever that looks like for your business.
Then, map out the time delay for and conversion rates at the different deal stages.
Here’s a B2B software example provided by Google:
You can use this page to sort through a few Google-provided templates to get a headstart on the framework for your funnel math exercise.
Once you’ve mapped out your funnel, the second step is to get the data piping.
Set up conversions in your ad platform that map to the deal stages you laid out in your funnel math.
Then, connect your CRM to fire conversions when your leads reach each stage of your post-lead journey, all the way to “Closed Won.”
If you use Salesforce, Google has a full guide on how to do this here.
The other thing you want to do here is assign conversion values relative to your funnel math.
For example, if a deal is worth $10K on average and you convert opportunities at 10%, you would assign “opportunity” stage a value of $100.
Whereas if a lead converts to Won at 1%, you would assign a value of $10 to a “lead” conversion.
This allows the ad platforms to understand which actions are more valuable, so they can learn & optimize accordingly.
You can find instructions on how to assign a conversion value for Google, Facebook & LinkedIn in the linked articles.
The third step is to identify indicators of lead quality & intent, then apply those to your forms.
We at WebMechanix affectionately call them “IoI’s” & “IoQ’s” for short. And they’re powerful…
Because you can filter the conversions you “train” the ad algorithms on upfront immediately (vs. waiting for downfunnel data to collect).
This is especially great in B2B environments where you might be dealing with a smaller number of opportunities & deals in pipeline…
So you need to collect those “training signals” further from the actual sale (which may be months-to-years away, depending on your sales cycle.)
Some B2B examples for both intent & quality you can include on your form are:
- Level of interest / need (from “I’m buying right now” to “Just shopping!”)
- Job title or seniority (are they able to buy your product, or just kicking tires?)
- Industry (can you actually work with their business?)
- Company size / revenue (can they afford you / is your product a good fit?)
Among many others. Get creative for your industry & use case!
Here’s a screenshot of the Chili Piper form we use at WebMechanix with the “IoQ’s” highlighted.
Once these fields are applied to your form, then the trick with your ads is…
ONLY fire the conversion when it meets your qualification criteria!
That way, you only train your ads to serve to users that have the ability & intent to buy.
This can be an instant game changer for the efficiency of your ads.
Google reports that on average, companies that do the above see 20% more incremental revenue at a 30% lower cost.
(And we’re seeing even BIGGER returns for our clients 😉)
Important final note: Form concierge is a GREAT tool to implement this tactic.
Not only can you pre-qualify the leads on the form…
But you can also redirect qualified leads to book their call immediately, creating a “concierge” experience that also accelerates your time-to-pipeline.
And the unqualified leads? You can still redirect them to another page that lets them know they’re not a fit…
And even send them to some alternatives (who you can partner with & collect a sweet, sweet commission check! 💸)
Tons of cool stuff you can do with it. Definitely grab a demo if you haven’t yet.
#3 - 3 magic letters: “C.R.O.”
For the uninitiated, we’re talking about “conversion rate optimization.”
Or in other words, squeezing more opps and revenue out of every visitor on your website.
There are some differences when you do this in B2B (mainly because there’s usually less traffic to optimize off of and more buyer personas your website needs to cater to).
But the same tactics and principles from B2C still fundamentally apply.
Here are 3 CRO activities that will move the needle fast for any B2B ad funnel.
#1 - Landing page optimization
A/B test the heck out of the landing pages where you’re driving most of your ad traffic.
Focus on the highest traffic landing pages first and work your way down.
Install a tool like Hotjar to get user session recordings, run exit-intent polls, etc.
This plus your Google Analytics data will help you understand why users are dropping off without converting on your forms.
This will give you hypotheses for A/B testing. You can then prioritize these based on level of effort vs. potential impact & run them accordingly to improve your LP’s throughput.
To keep yourself organized, feel free to steal this testing matrix we use to prioritize tests for our clients at WebMechanix (go to File >> Make a copy).
Also, here are 5 quick optimization tips for SaaS LP’s:
- Add relevant “social proof” like testimonials, logos, etc.
- Set expectations clearly for what will happen when the user fills out your form.
- Make sure the calls-to-action & what you’re asking the user to do is clear.
- Use a compelling headline that aligns with your ad copy.
- Highlight your differentiators on the page so the user knows, “Why you, now?”
#2 - Use an interactive demo “wizard” or “quiz”
You don’t have to just make users fill out a long/boring old “form”.
A multi-step form can engage users and drive higher conversion rates.
One way we’ve seen this work for B2B SaaS is a demo “wizard.”
Basically, break up your demo form into a sequence of questions.
Here’s the trick…
You need to lead with relevant, non-personally identifying information.
Think of it as questions you would ask in your company’s sales process…
Starting with the problems they’re having.
E.g. if you’re Chili Piper, you could ask… “Why are you looking for a lead conversion solution?”
And the options would be something like, “My leads aren’t converting into meetings” or “Our lead quality isn’t great”, etc.
The idea is to start the sales process online, with questions that are empathetic to the reasons the users are interested in your product in the first place.
This makes them much more likely to complete the “wizard” and fill out your form (we’ve seen 50%+ increases in demo rates for our clients!)
You can then ask the “IoI” & “IoQ” questions next to pre-qualify the prospects and train your ad pixels.
Finally, you can also bake some logic into this “wizard” to help answer the question, “which product is right for me?”
So back to our Chili Piper example… if the prospect answers they’re having trouble routing leads to the right rep AND turning demo leads into meetings…
Then the last step of the form might say, “You’re a great candidate for Distro + Form Concierge!”
So the prospect & rep enter the sales call knowing exactly what products to discuss – accelerating your time-to-pipeline AND your close rates.
Now, you can also use this quiz funnel to activate & accelerate your top-of-funnel as well… but that’s a whole different blog post right there. 😉
#3 - Reduce meeting friction & “speed to lead”
In other words, use Chili Piper!
But seriously, if you’re not using an inbound lead conversion tool to turn your hot leads from paid ads into meetings…
You’re leaving a lot on the table.
Not only does adding an online scheduler to your form make it easier for the prospect to book right then & there (increasing your conversion rates)...
It also reduces the frustration of “back n’ forth” over email to book a meeting…
Improving your prospect’s first impression of your company (and thereby, close rates.)
One tip… some prospects may fill out the form but not book their meeting for some reason.
If that’s the case…
- Set up a redirect to a page in Chili Piper to get them to go back & book (example below)
- Set up a workflow in your MA platform to alert the sales rep to get on that lead FAST!
Because if it’s been 5 minutes and the prospect still hasn’t booked their meeting, you’re already losing ‘em.
So make sure your reps are alerted the instant a hot lead converts (so they’re ready to pounce).
Another tip… if you do have the budget, you can use a lead enrichment tool like Clearbit to automatically pull firmographic data on a work email lead.
That way, you require fewer fields and reduce form “friction”... but can still pre-qual & route accordingly.
Go forth and optimize!
There you have it – 3 ways you can generate more pipeline from your pipeline today, without increasing your ad budget.
Even implementing just one of these tactics could make a big difference in what you’re delivering to your sales team.
So what are you waiting for? Take the first step today – you’ll be amazed at how much more efficient your pipeline will get.
