LeadQual has released a white paper showing how rapid response to internet leads increases conversion.  You can view the white paper here.

LeadQual’s lead response and live lead transfer service was created on this principle, and we proud to have the data to show how our customers benefit.

Key findings of white paper include:

• Prospective buyers fill out 3-5 lead forms
• The first to contact a lead increases conversion 238%
• More than 65% of all conversions occur on first call
• Calling a lead more than 5 minutes after a lead is submitted has a 46% lower qualification rate than calling in less than 5 minutes.
• Speed of response is the best predictor of a closed transaction
• Enormous opportunity exists for after-hour and weekend calling when most companies are not staffed for a rapid response

It is important to note how calling within 5 minutes after a lead is submitted dramatically increases conversion.  This is where a call center that specializes in lead response can drive success.

For more information on this study and our live lead transfer service, please contact us here.

Yahoo and Microsoft – Why it is Bad for Our Clients

The potential MSN/Yahoo combination puts me at odds with myself – one of those interesting paradoxes. I won’t pontificate on why I think it is good for the Yahoo and MSN Shareholders (the same reason why it is bad for our Clients – increase in cost), but rather lay out how I see its practical impact for our Clients.

First, let’s lay down a few facts. For our Clients that are advertising on all three search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN), we find that MSN’s total volume is about 5% of total. That is less than what some of the industry indicates as MSN’s market share of ~7%. Our lower share is probably due to the fact that for only 5% (or even 7%) of total volume, one can’t justify spending as much time optimizing the MSN accounts. Yahoo is about 25%, so that leaves Google reaping 70% of searches.

Although MSN is 5% of volume, we find significantly higher returns on our MSN spend – and I attribute that to two factors: 1) less competition, so lower costs, and 2) better quality. Our cost/click for similar terms, and in particular “tail” terms, are materially less than these terms on Yahoo and Google. We also find slightly higher conversion rates, thus pointing to higher quality traffic.

So, why is this bad for our Clients? Well, quite simply because there will be more competition. Few unsophisticated buyers are on the MSN platform. I like to use a hypothetical Realtor® for illustration. Real estate agents that are marketing themselves on-line know that they need to be on Google. I’d say most of them also know they need to also be on Yahoo and can figure out how to do it. But, few, if any, are advertising on MSN. These ‘small businesses’ are typically less sophisticated and usually default to the settings given to you by the engines as you start your advertising (i.e. high pricing). So, these small businesses that typically don’t have sophisticated bidding techniques drive up the cost for everyone. To prove this point, I did a quick search for “Oakland Real Estate” on the three engines and found the following results:

Plus, MSN is woefully behind the curve in terms of having an adequate platform for Search Engine Marketing Agencies, so the combination of these two facts keep prices down on MSN. But, if you combine MSN with Yahoo by managing it on the same platform (i.e. roll-back 2 years to when MSN was powered by Yahoo’s Overture platform), then you immediately face the same bidders as are on Yahoo. With the more search volume, that will then attract more ‘sophisticated’ buyers as well.

So, where is the Paradox? Well, the good news for LeadQual would be that we only need to manage two platforms versus three. When MSN broke off a few years back, we did not increase the fees to our clients, although we incurred significantly more work. The inverse would be true under this merger.

One last point for the ‘glass is half full’ crowd. Because MSN and Yahoo combined would be ~30%, MSN as part of Yahoo (I like to think of it that way, versus Yahoo as part of MSN) would get more attention from us and therefore, I would expect volume to increase.

Andrew Coleman

Co-Founder, LeadQual.com