An Experienced Marketer Shares His Top 4 Metrics for Lead Generation

Newer marketing managers don’t always know which lead generation metrics they should be tracking to meet their goals. This is especially true if you’re among the 52% of B2B multichannel marketing leaders who have struggled to align the effectiveness of their marketing channels’ KPIs with their business outcomes. [1]

To get the scoop on which lead generation metrics experienced marketers are measuring to meet their goals, we spoke with Valentino Chiavarini of Green Hive, [2] a platform that rates ethical brands. Chiavarini shares his four must-have metrics as well as the tech tools his organization uses for tracking lead generation metrics.

1. Track response rate to level up your outreach

Response rate typically refers to the number of people who respond to a particular marketing campaign. For Chiavarini, it’s the total number of brands his marketing team reaches out to on LinkedIn versus the number that respond positively and register on their platform.

“This provides insight into the effectiveness of our LinkedIn outreach strategy in attracting sustainable brands,” Chiavarini explains. “Tracking response rate allows us to refine our messaging and approach on LinkedIn, ensuring we maximize our brand acquisition efforts from this channel.”

Tools to track response rate

While Chiavarini and his team write their LinkedIn messages themselves, they use tools such as customer relationship management (CRM) software and LinkedIn Sales Navigator—LinkedIn’s built-in lead capture tool—to get a 360-degree view of their outreach efforts.

Using CRM and marketing tools in tandem is a great way to boost your outreach efforts. First, it helps your brand nurture leads and develop better relationships with customers before they are passed on to your sales team. Second, it provides insights into customer behavior by gathering information about activities such as browsing habits and responses to marketing campaigns.

Check out this article for more information on aligning your CRM strategy with marketing efforts.

2. Track cost per lead to maximize your marketing budget

Cost per lead (CPL) is an important lead generation metric because it measures how cost-effective your marketing campaigns are when it comes to generating new leads. Chiavarini prioritizes this metric because it shows where he can afford to spend more or cut back. “By optimizing our CPL,” he says, “we ensure our marketing budget is used efficiently, maximizing the number of leads we can acquire for each dollar spent.”

Tools to track cost per lead

To track CPL, Chiavarini’s team uses spreadsheets, mainly for reviewing their monthly expenses and number of leads. This is a great option for smaller businesses like Green Hive, but as your business grows, you may want to automate this process by using tools such as lead generation software.

Lead generation tools can track and measure CPL as well as other metrics such as capture and conversion rates. These insights help identify what is and isn’t working so you can make data-driven decisions to optimize your campaigns. Note, however, that CRM and marketing tools often offer lead integration capabilities, so if you already have these tools, you may not need a separate lead generation platform.

3. Track newsletter sign-up conversion rate to boost engagement

Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase, engaging with your online chat, subscribing to your YouTube channel, or upgrading their service. In Chiavarini’s case, he’s tracking the number of leads that sign up for Green Hive’s newsletter, whether through his website’s homepage or the pop-up pictured below.

“This metric directly measures the effectiveness of our outreach and content in attracting and engaging visitors,” Chiavarini explains. “By monitoring the volume of newsletter sign-ups, we can adjust our content and marketing strategies to continually attract more leads.”

Tools to track newsletter sign-up conversion rate 

To track Green Hive’s newsletter sign-up conversion rate, Chiavarini uses email marketing software. These tools help him track new sign-ups, which he then matches up against website traffic data from Google Analytics to see how his company’s outreach is doing.

Chiavarini uses email marketing tools for lead capture, but these tools also offer a wealth of other functionality such as segmenting your target audience and sending bulk emails. They even let you track email open and click-through rates, which we discuss in more detail in the next section.

4. Track open and click-through rates to assess email performance

Open rate and click-through rate (CTR) are used to measure the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. Open rate refers to the percentage of users who open emails from your brand, while CTR refers to the percentage who click on the content within.

“These two metrics gauge the relevance and appeal of our newsletter content to our users,” Chiavarini explains. “By monitoring and optimizing emails based on these rates, we can continually refine our content strategy to ensure it remains engaging and valuable to our users.”

According to Software Advice’s 2022 Email and Social Media Marketing Survey, 65% of marketers claim open rate is their primary metric.* But research shows it’s important to measure open rate with other metrics such as CTR. [4] This is because open rate only counts opened emails, while CTR shows how often users are taking action from your email messages.

Tools to track open and click-through rates

Chiavarini and his team use the same email marketing software to track open and click-through rates as they use to track newsletter sign-up conversion rate. To track these metrics, email marketing tools implement tactics such as urchin tracking module (UTM) links. These links include unique identifiers that pinpoint what message or campaign a click came from. You can also add UTM links to your website to track where your leads are coming from.

Use the right tech tools to track lead generation metrics

While the four metrics we’ve covered are specific to Chiavarini and his marketing team, they’re a great example of how the right combination of metrics can give you a big-picture sense of your lead generation efforts.

The table below recaps the tools Chiavarini uses to track lead generation metrics:

For more information on lead generation, check out the following articles:

• Essentials of Sales Execution and Pipeline Development

• 81% of Providers Say Social Media Is an Effective Marketing Tool, but Only If You Follow These 5 Rules

• How To Build a Sales Enablement Plan

Note: Questions and responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Note: The screenshots of applications included in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations.