The Critical Importance Of Lead Validation In Internet Marketing

Speculation can lead to some bad decisions — ask any stockbroker. When it comes to Internet marketing, you need as much information as possible to make as informed decisions as possible, considering decisions based on speculation introduce risk into the equation. However, too many Internet marketers end up speculating about their lead generation without knowing it. That’s because those marketers don’t take the time to validate the leads created by their websites.

Google analytics data only tracks conversions on a website, even though nearly half of conversions are not true sales leads. Whether they’re job applications or incomplete form submissions, these non-sales conversions skew the numbers and can fool marketers into thinking they have created more leads than they have. Without knowing how many actual sales leads they’ve generated and where they came from, marketers are, in effect, speculating on the success of their websites. That can lead to some bad decisions that otherwise could have been avoided had they taken time to validate the leads.

The following presentation breaks down the reasons why lead validation needs to be part of any Internet marketing campaign, to help you be more informed — and keep you from speculating.

Aaron Wittersheim is Chief Operating Officer at Straight North, an Internet marketing company based in Chicago. Aaron’s focus is on marketing, technology and website services.