Optimized Lead Quality Generates 270% Increase in SQLs for Nasdaq

Overview

Nasdaq Governance Solutions supports organizations worldwide with innovative corporate governance solutions as well as private and pre-IPO advisement.

Challenges

Enhancing Lead Quality for the Software Product:
‍One of the primary challenges we faced was the need to significantly improve the quality of leads generated for the software product. The key issue here was not just the quantity of leads, but their relevance and potential to convert into sales. This required a thorough analysis and refinement of our lead generation strategies, focusing on targeting more specific customer segments, improving the precision of our marketing messages, and leveraging data analytics to identify and attract prospects who are more likely to find value in our software product.

Boosting the Number of Qualified Leads and Conversion Rates:
‍Another critical objective was to significantly increase the number of qualified leads. This increase was not just a numeric goal but aimed at enhancing the qualification rate from Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) to Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) and ultimately to Closed Won status. To achieve this, we needed to implement a more robust lead scoring system, align sales and marketing efforts more closely, and ensure that the leads generated were well-nurtured through the sales funnel with tailored content and engagement strategies.

Reducing Low-Quality Spam Leads:
‍A significant hurdle in our lead generation efforts was the high percentage of low-quality, spam leads. These leads drained resources and skewed performance metrics, making it challenging to focus on genuine prospects. Addressing this issue required implementing more stringent lead filtering and verification processes. This involved enhancing our digital forms with better qualification questions, using advanced spam detection tools, and continuously monitoring and adjusting our lead acquisition channels to minimize the influx of irrelevant leads.

Revising Lead Generation and Cost-Per-Lead Goals:
‍Lastly, we were tasked with revising and establishing more effective lead generation and cost-per-lead goals. This challenge involved not just adjusting targets but also redefining what constitutes a 'quality lead' and how we measure the cost-effectiveness of our lead generation efforts. We needed to balance the cost of acquiring leads with the potential revenue they could generate, ensuring that our marketing budget was allocated efficiently and that our lead generation campaigns were yielding a positive return on investment.

Platforms Leveraged

Google Ads

Bing Ads

Marketo

Salesforce

Strategies ‍

Goal Reassessment and Adjustment:
‍Collaborating with the leadership team to shift focus from quantity to quality of leads. The main challenge was to increase the qualification rate from leads to marketing qualified leads and closed wons; and at the same time, obtaining a reasonable amount of leads.
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Spam Reduction Measures:
‍Implementing strategies to reduce the influx of low-quality or spam leads significantly.

• Disabled Google Ads Display Network in all campaigns to avoid spam leads and wasted spend
• Disabled Google Ads Search Partners in all campaigns to avoid spam leads and wasted spend. We identified that 80% of the monthly budget was spent on Google Search Partners.
• Paused all Broad-Match keywords in all campaigns. They combined broad match keywords with manual CPC bidding, which does not fall in line with best practices for bid strategy + match type combinations. 
• Switched the bidding strategy from automated bidding to Enhanced CPC to take control of the bids and the spending. We wanted to gather quality data first before switching to an automated bidding strategy such as Maximize Conversions.
• Creation of an extensive general negative keyword list to avoid paying clicks on non-quality search terms and avoid wasted spend.
• Traffic sculpting between campaigns through custom negative keyword lists to avoid search term overlaps.

Targeting High-Quality Leads:
Refocusing campaign targeting to attract more qualified, high-value prospects. We took into consideration not just the search terms, but who the users that are searching for in terms of device, location, and audience affinity to improve the lead quality.
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Expanding Nasdaq’s presence to Bing Search:
By launching Bing Ads, we got quality leads for CPA similar to Google Ads and expanded the overall lead volume of those interested in our product.

Results

• Dramatic Reduction in Spam Leads: Cutting the disqualification rate from 93% to 24%
• Improved Cost Efficiency: Decreasing the cost per Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) from over $6,000 to around $2000, marking a 66% improvement.
• Increase in SQL's:Improved the number of monthly SQLs from around by 270%.