B2B pay-per-lead advertisers are showing a healthy amount of interest in leads generated by content marketing campaigns, according to [download page] results from a survey conducted by Business.com. About half of the survey’s respondents – the majority of whom are from companies with less than 50 employees – believe that leads derived from white paper downloads are valuable (25.3%) or extremely valuable (25.3%), while roughly 4 in 10 ascribe the same value to leads derived from hosted webinars.
Beyond white papers and webinars, respondents also see the value of other content marketing opportunities such as case studies, interactive product demos, sponsored emails, product feature guides, and videos.
Aside from leads generated from content marketing, respondents to the survey also indicated a strong interest in faster lead transfer times. For example, about 6 in 10 said that delivery of leads in less than 5 minutes was extremely valuable (39.5%) or valuable (19.8%). A similar proportion find value in “hot transfer” leads, referring to direct connection of companies with leads as they come in.
Speed is certainly an important aspect of lead conversion: a study released last year by Leads360 (now Velocify) declared speed-to-call the largest driver of lead conversion. Based on results from almost 3.5 million leads generated in the first half of 2012, across more than 400 companies, the study found that phoning a new prospect within a minute of lead generation improved conversion rates by 391% compared to later times making the first call.
About the Data: The Business.com survey was conducted in May 2013 among more than 500 of its active pay-per-lead advertisers across 10 product and service verticals.
