Customers instead of leads for project developer ION

Our approach

Which adjustments would result in more and better leads? We investigated how the online advertising campaigns for ION's projects would lead to better conversions, followed by a concrete audit. Based on what we learned from this, we drew up an action plan that we would work on in the coming months.

We quickly realized that, despite the many conversions on the project websites, the quality of these leads sometimes left much to be desired. That is why we investigated the possibilities within ION's current CRM system. How do we book actual appointments and customers, instead of people who merely download brochures or request more information? To do so, we had to go one step further in the process: we had to make a distinction between Marketing Qualified and Sales Qualified Leads.  

What is an MQL?

A Marketing Qualified Lead, or an MQL, is in the awareness or consideration phase. Although the lead showed interest in the company's product or service, he's not ready for a purchase or an initial introductory meeting yet. This does not mean that the lead has no need to contact the company at all, but he is simply not ready to make a decision or make a purchase. In this phase, a conversation with the sales department can often be counterproductive.

A recent McKinsey study shows that around 70% (!) of a buyer's decision process takes place even before he or she contacts the sales department. In addition, almost 59% of buyers do not want to contact the sales department. These figures once again highlight the importance of reaching both types of leads through different phases in their purchasing process.

Examples of an MQL

• Someone downloads a white paper or e-book from the website, giving you more information about your products, services, or specific solutions to their problem.
• A person starts a trial account for business software.
• Someone fills out an online (contact) form.

These are a few common examples. Please note that this list is not comprehensive. If you want to identify qualified leads, it is best to conduct a thorough analysis of various information, such as lead scores (e.g. conversion value), product offerings and associated profit margins. This way, even from this too extensive list, you can identify leads that may be ready for a purchase while at the same time filtering those that offer less potential for an actual purchase.

What is an SQL?

A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a lead that is ready for a sales interview. This lead is in the decision phase of the purchase process, shows interest in your company's product or service and seeks further information about the price and conditions. The time of sales qualification depends on your target group, product or service, and the market in which your organization operates. Based on this, you decide what timing you want to use to follow up the lead and make contact by phone, email or another method.

For project developer ION, the following conversion points were central to their sales process (ranked from highest to lowest in value):

• Selling apartments or homes
• Scheduling tours
• Leads within the CRM system (HubSpot)

These three different conversions were the most important KPIs for the project developer and served as a guideline for the advertising campaigns.

Measuring offline deals in Google Ads via HubSpot

Since the end of February 2022, it has also been possible to track offline conversions with the integration between Google Ads and HubSpot. Where you previously only had insight into views, clicks and online conversions (e.g. form submissions), it is now also possible to measure and further monitor pre-set deals. This gives you insights that were previously not fully measurable by the marketing team.

Why is this beneficial for your ad campaigns?

Because it is possible to measure offline conversions via CRM data, Google can make more accurate decisions about bids. This results in better-targeted campaigns, leading to an increase in qualitative conversions.

Basically, you can teach Google Ads to focus on actual sales or deals instead of leads based on contact forms or brochure downloads. This is an often forgotten but crucial step to coordinate marketing and sales properly and transparently.

Huh, but how does that work?

A user clicks on your Google ad and lands on your website. For example, after the user downloaded an interesting e-book by filling out a form, HubSpot stores the lead information, including the Google Click ID. Such an ID identifies the campaign and transmits data that you can link to the ad.

Ultimately, the lead completes a purchase. Does this not happen online, but, for example, after a customer meeting between you and the company? Then your sales team updates HubSpot with the correct details and values, after which the lead is converted to a customer. That conversion then syncs with Google Ads, and you'll see it appear in your dashboard. This way, you can compare Google's media budget with sales results and measure the real ROI of your campaign.

MQL vs SQL

Thanks to HubSpot's measurement and integration with Google Ads, you can adjust campaigns based on actual sales from the sales team. This way, you can link a value to the type of conversion and give Google a signal which SQLs are important to you by providing them with a fixed value. Google Ads (or Meta Ads) can also give weight to the priority of the conversion. Here, a sale is of the highest value, and a contact request is of the lowest value.

By using “Maximize Conversion Value” instead of “Maximize Conversions”, you ensure that ad campaigns place a greater focus on creating leads of the highest quality.

In the world of performance marketing, many people are blindly focused on reducing the cost per conversion. This often comes at the expense of the quality of the leads you generate, and therefore also the ROI of your ad campaigns.

A clear distinction between Marketing Qualified and Sales Qualified Leads allows you to make more accurate decisions related to the bottom line profit in your company. That is why it is extremely important to draw up a concrete, well-thought-out marketing plan for this.

Are you still not making a concrete distinction between MQLs and SQLs, or do you have no idea how to best approach this? Feel free to contact one of our experienced performance marketers. They are happy to answer your questions and look at the options tailored to your company.

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