Lead generation metrics: essential KPIs for measuring success

Why do lead generation metrics matter?

Lead generation metrics are vital for helping you understand the efficacy of your growth actions. Tracking the right key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics can provide accurate insights into which strategies are most effective.

Lead generation metrics, such as lead capture rates, customer lifetime values, and website traffic rates, are also invaluable for identifying strengths and weaknesses in your sales funnel.

This information empowers you to invest resources into your top-performing channels while streamlining or eliminating ones that are producing minimal value, ultimately increasing your lead generation return on investment (ROI).

What are the key lead generation metrics a financial advisor should track?

With lead generation being a top priority of so many marketers, there are several metrics that advisors should track to ensure you’re maximizing your ROI:

Traffic-to-lead conversion rate

Your traffic-to-lead conversion rate indicates how effectively your website is converting visitors into leads.

Traffic-to-lead conversion rates are calculated as follows:

(Number of leads/number of website visitors) *100 = Traffic-to-lead conversion rate

A low traffic-to-lead conversion rate could suggest issues with your website’s design, content, or calls to action. You can improve this metric by adjusting your website design to provide an optimal user experience and creating and posting quality content relevant to your target audience.

Cost per lead (CPL)

Cost per lead is a key lead generation metric that enables you to assess the impacts of your paid advertising campaigns and see which channels produce the most qualified leads.

CPL is calculated as follows:

Total advertising spend/total number of new leads = Cost per lead

Factors like high advertising competition, broad targeting strategies, and sub-optimal ad quality can impact your CPL rates.

Optimize your CPL rates by refining your targeted ad campaigns to reach more qualified leads, considering less competitive advertising channels, and creating engaging ads and website landing pages.

Lead quality score

This lead generation KPI uses metrics like marketing engagement, interaction histories, and potential value to assess the likelihood of leads being converted into customers.

Lead quality is measured by scoring factors like buying power, budget, need, intent to buy, and purchasing time frame.

Scoring enhances sales efficiency by helping you prioritize high-value leads, improve conversion rates, and maximize revenue potential.

Consumer acquisition cost (CAC)

Your CAC indicates how much of your budget is spent on generating each lead. It’s important for measuring the efficiency of your lead generation strategies and increasing your ROI.

This is the CAC calculation formula:

Value of marketing spend/number of new customers generated by a campaign = Consumer acquisition cost

Lead velocity rate (LVR)

Lead velocity rate is a metric that shows how your number of qualified leads grows in real time, month after month. It is expressed as a percentage and used to predict future revenues and growth potential.

LVR can be calculated as follows:

(Number of qualified leads in the current month – Number of qualified leads in the last month) / Number of qualified leads in the previous month = LVR

Consumer lifetime value (CLV)

This vital metric can predict your future revenues. CLV refers to the revenue that a customer may generate during their entire engagement with your firm.

It provides insight into the profitability of your customers and informs effective customer retention strategies. It can also guide your marketing budget allocation efforts and indicate which products and services you should promote through each channel.

What are some KPIs for evaluating lead generation performance?

Lead generation metric examples are measurements of performance, supplying data about facets of your lead generation activities like conversion rates and costs per lead.

Lead generation KPIs are groups of metrics that align directly with your objectives.

These metric subsets, like traffic-to-lead rates and the number of sales generated by qualified leads, provide indications of how efficiently you are progressing toward meeting these goals.

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) vs. sales qualified leads (SQLs)

MQLs and SQLs are both potential customers who have expressed interest in a product or service.

MQLs have an initial engagement level and are potentially interested in an offering but are not yet ready to purchase.

SQLs are more engaged and display a strong interest and readiness to buy.

In terms of measuring your pipeline growth and how effectively leads are moving through your sales funnel, you can use KPIs like MQL to SQL conversion rate, sales cycle length, average deal value, and win rate for accurate forecasting.

What are some common mistakes when measuring lead generation metrics?

Follow this lead generation advice to avoid common metric mistakes:

Focusing on quantity over quality

While a high number of leads may seem promising, they will only provide value for your agency once they are converted. Avoid wasting resources on nurturing unqualified leads.

Focus instead on attracting relevant, engaged leads who show interest in your products and align with your ideal customer profiles.

Ignoring lead nurturing metrics

Nurturing leads is essential for moving them through the sales funnel. Ignoring key lead nurturing metrics can hinder the performance of your lead nurturing efforts.

Focus on metrics like click-through rates, email opening rates, and content engagement rates to identify the content that resonates with your audience and optimize your communications.

Failing to integrate metrics across teams

Marketing and sales teams that don’t share insights and keep their metrics aligned can produce siloed data and an incomplete perspective of customer journeys.

Metrics should be integrated across sales and marketing teams to understand the quality and progression of MQLs and SQLs, providing a holistic understanding of lead generation performance.

Tips for improving lead generation metrics

Improve your lead generation metrics by:

Work with Unbiased

As a financial advisor, analyzing and measuring your marketing and sales activities with the right metrics for lead generation can optimize your lead generation efforts, increasing your ROI and revenue potential in the process.

Join Unbiased Pro and get access to exclusive leads and clients to optimize your conversion rates and enhance your ROI.