During today’s shifting ecosystem, many marketers are taking the time to pause: Where do they want to focus efforts today? And equally important: How should they plan for the long-term?
We’ve been talking with our customers about how they can best leverage the CAKE platform that they already have in place. For many, that means expanding their performance marketing program with lead generation.
CAKE’s lead distribution product is easy to turn on; and coupled with our ability to ping/post and monetize lead traffic, it is effective in supporting lead generation campaigns across a range of vertical industries, including finance, education, and telehealth. Today’s blog post will focus on how to run a lead generation program on CAKE and highlight a couple of best practices to get you started.
The value of lead generation
Lead generation involves capturing, validating, and distributing a lead — a web site visitor who has filled out a form by providing contact information — in real-time. Also referred to as “host-n-post” or “lead management,” lead generation is a lucrative new revenue stream for affiliate networks.
Lead generation enables a network to improve its bottom line and bring more value to their partners. Unlike a traditional CPA program where every conversion is worth the same amount regardless of the individual’s details and what happens with that conversion, using a lead distribution software allows you to define the appropriate price point for varying quality leads.
This is a good time to find new opportunities
As the industry shifts, marketers are looking to diversify. This is a good time to explore additional opportunities with your partners.
First, look at new industries. Are there new verticals you can expand to? Are there options for lead generation within the verticals you’re focused on today?
Second, identify opportunities with existing partners who might already be running successful lead generation campaigns, and those that would sell leads to you and those that will buy leads from you. Launching a lead generation campaign is sometimes as simple as enabling a new opportunity for your pre-existing affiliate relationships that have access to lead data beyond the traffic they already send you.
How to get started with CAKE’s lead distribution software
Once you have identified the partners that are ready to do lead generation with you and turned on lead distribution with CAKE, there are four best practices to get your lead generation program up and running.
#1 Determine when to sell leads in real-time vs. when buyers are available
Understanding the market and the type of leads you’re selling will help you determine when to sell leads in real-time and when to sell them based on when buyers are available.
When to sell leads when buyers are available:
- If you want to provide consumers with additional products/services while they are on the site
- If your consumer can wait to hear from someone within 24 hours
- If you want to enrich leads before selling them for greater quality/value
When to sell leads in real-time:
- If the lead buyer wants to follow up on the lead right away
- If the buyer of the lead wants the lead to be redirected to their website upon lead submission
Oftentimes, the type of industry will dictate whether a lead should be sold in real-time or not. For example, leads for consumers looking for financial or legal help might need to be sold in real-time, while someone looking into higher education options could likely wait a day before hearing back.
CAKE has the functionality to accommodate both campaign types. You can choose to have CAKE sell the lead in real-time (if it doesn’t sell right away, CAKE won’t do anything further with the lead) or try to continuously sell a lead over and over until someone buys it (e.g. within a set timeframe of 12 hours, or whatever you set it to.)
#2 Ensure leads go to the right buyer
To run a successful and profitable lead generation campaign, you need to validate your leads and ensure accurate lead routing. For instance, some buyers may only accept leads from a certain location based on their ability to service the leads.
CAKE automates the distribution of leads in real-time to lead buyers according to their lead data requirements, respective bids, and budgets, and availability. Automated lead distribution helps to reduce wasted adspend and lead returns, and makes sure leads go to the right buyer every time.
#3 Sell leads for the highest price
You want to sell leads for the highest possible price — and you want to keep your lead buyers happy. The good news is you can do both.
Once you’ve succeeded with step 2 and you have a large enough network of lead buyers who you can sell to, then you will be in a good position to get the highest price for the lead among multiple buyers.
CAKE’s lead distribution software can help you monetize lead traffic by providing you with advanced lead selling tools (such as Ping/Post functionality and Dynamic Lead Prices) to ensure you sell every lead generated for the highest possible price.
CAKE automates the entire process, and everyone wins: you get the highest price, and the buyer is happy because they set the price.
#4 Look for ways to monetize leads you can’t sell
If you end up with leads you can’t sell, you still have options. You can sell these leads — known as vintage, aged, or aftermarket leads — in bulk. This will help balance out profit margins by finding revenue to cover the acquisition cost.
Alternatively, if you’re an advertiser generating real-time leads for your own business but you can’t service them, look for other companies in your market that might be willing to purchase these leads.
CAKE enables you to easily monetize leads by providing bulk sell options directly from reports, as well as easy management of lead routing rules for those leads that don’t match your criteria.
Here to support our customers
CAKE was founded to address lead generation needs stemming from the 2008 financial crisis. We listened to customers’ needs and made sure to build products for exactly what was required.
Today, as the largest performance marketing software vendor with the industry’s most reliable and scalable infrastructure, we will continue to stand by our customers to help you run successful performance marketing programs — including lead generation — now, and for the long-term.
Reach out to your Account Manager, or email support@getCAKE.com, to add CAKE’s lead distribution software to your account. We are here to help you identify the right partners for your business and help guide you through the process.
