How We Doubled Website Leads for a Manufacturer of Scientific Equipment 

Every B2B marketer wants more leads and quote-ready opportunities. The strategies may involve creating new content, increasing ad spending, and building new email workflows. But the place to start is by examining the productivity of your website. Often that can increase your flow of quality leads in a way that’s far easier and more affordable.  

This blog post explains how Goldstein Group Communications (GGC) helped a client squeeze more leads out of its website... immediately and before new content and outbound ad programs were put ready to deploy.  In fact, the results were so good that our work received a first-place Cleveland PRSA award for the marketing campaign. Now you can know our award-winning secrets. 

Marketers Want More Quality Leads 

A manufacturer of scientific equipment asked GGC for help in boosting its qualified sales and marketing lead activity. The company had a strong marketing department, a significant advertising presence, HubSpot marketing automation and a content-rich website.  

Although the company served a niche market, there was a sense among managers that they should be generating more sales flow overall, along with a higher proportion of higher quality opportunities. The focus on leads became more urgent after Lake Shore acquired another company with a complementary product line. 

Managers at GGC understood that a B2B company’s website is the best source of high-quality leads, and the first step in any process to boost lead flow.  

GGC observed that the conversion rate of website sessions to new contacts was below average compared to similar companies. If they could increase the number of leads converting on the website closer to the 2% benchmark of other B2B websites, they would hit their goals. 

Start with an Audit of the Website and Its Assets 

GGC performed a user experience (UX) audit of the website to identify any potential issues with site navigation and structure. The audit suggested they add to the site more calls-to-action (CTAs). In addition, GGC recommended replacing HubSpot popup banners with more graphic and higher-impact Optinmonster banners with better content offers. The Optinmonster tool offered more flexible control over design, location and timing of popups.  

Although the planning was done in the fall, it was hoped that the project could help the company meet its total lead goal by the end of the year. A short results timeline! 

Next, GGC performed a content audit of all gated offers on the website, noting the pages on which they were located. Then GGC developed a comprehensive plan detailing which pages would get certain banners and which pages would get certain CTAs. New banners were created for recently created content.  

Careful consideration was given to the relevance of a CTA to the content of the page. GGC configured the banners so they popped up only after a visitor scrolled 20-45% percent of the page and after a 10-45 second time delay. The banners were configured so that visitors would not see the same banner again for the rest of the session.  

Exceeding Lead Generation Goals 

Managers measured the results. (Drum roll.)  In the first four months of the program, leads from the website doubled compared to the previous four months. The website conversion rate (sessions to new contacts) also doubled.  

Although leads had been lagging, by the end of the year, the company exceeded its total lead generation goal.  Assuming a standard dollar value per lead, the program paid for itself within the first week by generating quality inbound web leads at just $10.14 each. And, contrary to some internal executives who were concerned that the popups would be annoying, the website bounce rate remained unchanged. 

Since the campaign was put into place, lead performance is continuing to improve as the program is monitored and adjusted. Perhaps best of all, the CTAs will continue to generate leads year after year. 

If you want are wondering if you are getting all the B2B marketing leads that you could be, contact us and ask us to look at your website. You might just find that your best leads are sitting under your nose.