Keeping up with marketing trends is crucial for businesses that aim to remain competitive.
However, the fast-paced digital landscape is prone to abrupt shifts and changes, keeping marketers on their toes at all times.
In this article, we’ll highlight some of the key lead generation statistics and trends you should be aware of in 2024, as they can help you:
- Optimize your strategy for success.
- Gain insight into the future of lead generation and marketing.
- Create resilient lead generation approaches.
Ready?
Let’s go!
You can’t do anything without efficient lead generation, as without it, you won’t have any potential customers to convert in the first place.
This is why half of all marketers focus on lead generation before working on other marketing processes.
These figures further emphasize the importance of lead generation - and its complexity.
Attracting, nurturing, and converting leads requires lots of resources, and this budget spend clearly illustrates that.
3. The average cost per lead is $198.44
The actual lead acquisition cost varies, as some businesses have to invest more resources in generating leads, but the average expense revolves around $200 per lead.
Good communication and collaboration between sales and marketing teams are crucial for lead generation success. They enable you to provide a consistent brand experience throughout the funnel.
Moreover, if both sales and marketing are on the same page regarding their joined efforts, target audience, and objectives, they’re more likely to succeed in less time than it would take them if they worked in silos.
66% of business leaders cite establishing a clear and straightforward lead-qualifying and scoring method as the best way to achieve this.
5. Less than half of marketers are satisfied with the performance of their multi-channel lead gen strategies
Multichannel lead generation is a tricky area for many, as just 41% of marketers cite being completely satisfied with their strategies.
Conversely, 12% state that they are not satisfied at all, meaning they’re still working on finding a successful approach.
6. 84% of businesses claim that converting MQLs to SQLs is one of the most significant lead generation challenges
Capturing leads’ attention and engaging them with your marketing materials is just half the battle.
Pushing them further down the lead generation funnel and getting them ready to contact your sales team is the real pain, as many leads cool down at this stage.
However, investing in proper lead nurturing strategies could help overcome this challenge.
7. In 2024, most marketers face challenges with generating traffic and leads
15% of marketers report that lead generation is the biggest challenge they face in today’s market, alongside keeping up with all the emerging trends.
Source
14%, on the other hand, struggle with understanding leads and their primary needs and pain points.
8. Over 90% of marketers claim that personalization of their lead generation efforts drives business growth
Personalization is a key contributing factor to lead generation and sales efficiency.
Namely, 96% of marketers say personalization leads to repeat business, and 94% say it increases sales.
Moreover, brands that leveraged personalized experiences were 215% more likely to say that their strategies successfully generated new leads and drove more sales.
9. Most of your leads are using mobile devices to surf the web
Almost 62% of all online users are accessing your website through their mobile devices, in contrast to 36% of desktop users.
Source
This means that your website - and all the content you publish on the web - must be optimized for mobile devices to attract and convert quality leads.
10. Finding quality leads is the number one challenge for 45% of marketers
Nearly half of marketers claim that finding and attracting quality leads is the main hurdle they face in their jobs.
High competition and rising customer standards and expectations make running efficient lead gen campaigns increasingly difficult.
Content marketing lead generation statistics
11. 70% of high-performing brands leverage interactive content
Interactive content is the future of lead generation and content marketing as it enables leads to actively engage with your product in a fun and educational way.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that 70% of the most successful digital brands use interactive tools to showcase their product compared to just 36% of businesses that report lower lead generation rates and overall ROI.
12. Brands that leverage blogging have 13 times more leads and ROI than those that don’t
Blogs are one of the most efficient tactics for generating leads. They can raise brand awareness and help establish your brand as an industry leader, building trust and loyalty.
Thus, it’s no surprise that businesses that focus on producing quality content experience higher lead generation rates and, in turn, ROI.
13. Posting 15 blogs per month can result in an average of 1,200 new leads per month
Brands that regularly publish blogs - at least 15 per month - can significantly increase lead generation rates.
Of course, the actual number of leads will depend on the quality of the content you deliver, so remember to prioritize quality over quantity.
14. 74% of companies claim that good content marketing significantly boosted their lead generation success rates
They say content is king for a reason.
It can help attract and nurture leads, enabling you to subtly promote your brand through helpful and educational content.
This is why 36% of businesses report spending between 10% and 29% of their budget on content marketing alone.
15. 84% of B2B businesses think that content marketing helped the most with raising brand awareness
A majority of businesses report that they have successfully increased brand awareness and established an industry presence thanks to content marketing strategies.
At the same time, 76% of businesses cite that content marketing boosted demand and lead generation across levels, whereas 63% report that lead nurturing was the key outcome of using content marketing.
16. Businesses that use content marketing as a lead generation channel get 6x the conversion rates compared to competitors that don’t
Companies that use content marketing to attract and nurture leads experience much higher conversion rates than those that neglect this strategy.
What’s more, personalized content performs even better, yielding 120x better results than generic content.
17. 87% of marketers say that using videos has helped them generate more leads
Visual content, such as videos and infographics, can often be more engaging than other content types, as not everyone is fond of reading through lengthy articles.
In fact, 44% of consumers say they prefer to learn about a product or a service through video content.
This makes videos a crucial part of the sales funnel, as they can be used for everything from raising brand awareness (90% of companies report that videos have had a positive impact in this area) to increasing sales (87%).
18. 57% of marketers find that creating the right content for their target audience is the biggest challenge they face
With so many innovations and constant disruptions in both the digital and physical spheres, marketers often find it difficult to adjust their strategies to their audience’s needs and preferences.
Moreover, the market has never been this overwhelmed with content, as businesses from almost every industry are leveraging it for lead generation, making cutting through the noise trickier than ever before.
Doing careful market research, determining your ICP, and continuously analyzing and refining your strategies based on emerging trends and relevant changes is key to success.
In fact, 79% of businesses believe that knowing their audience well is critical to efficient lead generation.
19. Short-form content dominates in B2B marketing, with 94% of marketers using it the most in their strategies
In addition to short articles and posts, B2B businesses focus on videos (84%) and case studies or customer stories (78%).
Source
Long articles are up next (71%), illustrating that modern leads need educational and engaging content that delivers enough value to compel them.
Leveraging automation tools can help you identify quality leads faster and more accurately than when done manually.
Moreover, many of these tools can automatically add leads to personalized campaigns, allowing you to put lead nurturing on autopilot.
21. 72% of marketers agree that AI and automation tools like chatbots help them personalize customer experience across levels
Chatbots and other AI tools can significantly improve your lead generation efforts.
They can be used for anything from engaging leads on relevant landing pages, offering contextual resources, answering questions, etc.
22. More marketers use generative than predictive AI
Generative AI is leveraged by as many as 64% of marketers for lead generation and other marketing processes, with 35% trialing it or planning to trial it within the next 18 months.
Source
Conversely, predictive AI is used by 54% of marketers, while 42% are currently piloting it or intending to in the next 18 months.
This illustrates that at the moment, more businesses feel at ease with using AI to generate content than relying on it for predictive analysis and forecasting.
23. 36% of marketers are currently using AI chatbots for handling their day-to-day marketing tasks
As mentioned above, chatbots can be useful for both lead generation and lead nurturing. With the rise of AI, they’ve become smarter and better at communicating with potential customers.
This is why a third of marketers are already using chatbots, and 58% plan to increase their investment in AI-powered chatbots and similar tools to boost lead generation and other marketing efforts.
Lead generation channels
24. 63% of leads say they rely on social proof more than the brand name when making a purchase decision
More than half of all potential customers in both B2B and B2C industries prefer to get information on a certain product from other users or industry experts.
This is why most of the best-performing companies invest in influencer marketing and partner with other relevant brands and subject matter experts as lead generation strategies.
25. Web traffic is the most efficient lead generation channel for generating MQLs
16% of MQLs are generated by organic and referral traffic, indicating that your website and content could be your most powerful tools for sourcing qualified leads.
Interestingly, the other two most efficient channels are third-party in-person events (11%) and paid social advertising (9%).
26. The top 3 results on Google get 75% of all traffic
This emphasizes the importance of producing quality content and investing in SEO, as three-quarters of all potential leads will get distributed between just the top three SERP results.
As a result, most leads won’t even find out about your product unless you can break through to the top.
In contrast, less than 1% of visitors will ever go to page 2 of Google search results.
So, even if you can’t make it to the top 3, at least make sure you’re on the first page, or your lead generation efforts won’t yield positive results.
27. Most businesses focus their personalization efforts on emails and website content
Most marketers leverage personalized emails (84%) and websites (80%) to attract new customers.
However, even more marketers primarily invest in personalizing content aimed at existing customers, such as support (87%) and retention (85%) content.
Counterintuitively, micro-influencers might be a better choice for raising brand awareness than influencers with large audiences.
Niche influencers are often more successful in driving loyalty and trust among their followers, making them more likely to choose your brand if the influencer promotes it.
In fact, in 2023, one in four consumers bought a product because an industry influencer recommended it.
29. 56% of B2B marketers consider in-person events to be the most successful lead generation channel
Despite the digital era we live in, face-to-face contact and interaction are still greatly valued.
This is especially true for B2B, as it involves higher-value contracts and multiple decision-makers, making building lasting relationships with leads a must.
Other top-performing channels include webinars (51%) and email (44%).
Lead nurturing and conversion
30. 40% of companies state that one of the biggest lead nurturing challenges is identifying anonymous website visitors
Regardless of how many leads your website generates, you won’t be able to do much about it.
Using website traffic tracking tools like Warmly can help reveal quality leads who land on your while enriching them with detailed B2B and intent data.
That way, you’ll know exactly who to contact and when for optimal results.
Intent data is crucial for a number of reasons.
It can help you identify leads who are most likely to convert right now, as well as enable you to create a highly personalized approach based on the insights you have on them.
Source
Social media for lead generation
32. Facebook is the most popular platform for running paid ads
Social media, in general, is emerging as one of the most powerful lead generation channels.
However, some platforms seem to be performing better than others.
For instance, 94% of B2B and B2C marketers prefer Facebook for social selling, thanks to its advanced ad targeting options.
At the same time, Instagram is also growing in popularity. Over 200 million users visit at least one business profile every day, creating a rich lead pool that should not be missed out on.
33. LinkedIn is B2B marketers’ favorite
94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for their sales and lead generation efforts.
So, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn accounts for 80% of all B2B leads generated through social media.
34. Most businesses prefer organic to paid social media for lead generation
73% of businesses rely on organic social media to distribute content and reach and engage with their audience.
This number illustrates that you don’t always have to pay big money for paid ad campaigns - quality content and regular lead engagement can often speak for themselves.
Email marketing is most certainly not dead, and for a good reason.
Email is an excellent channel for distributing content, following up with potential leads and existing customers, and other lead generation activities, making it one of the most versatile channels.
Moreover, 60% of leads cite that they prefer that brands contact them via email rather than any other channel, which smart markets will surely leverage to their own benefit.
36. Segmenting email lists can lead to higher open and engagement rates according to 65% of marketers
The whole point of email campaigns is to get your leads to actually open emails and click through your CTAs.
To increase the chance of that happening, you need to tailor email copy and your offers to each lead, and the best way to do that is to segment your target audience.
Once that’s done, you can create separate email campaigns, each optimized for a specific segment. The results will not disappoint.
37. Best-performing lead generation emails have no more than 1-2 CTAs
73% of marketers report using one or two highly engaging and compelling CTAs.
The fewer CTAs you include, the more likely leads will click through and advance down the funnel.
38. Sending too many emails can lead to significant lead churn
69% of leads say they unsubscribe from newsletters and other email content because they’re getting spammed with too many emails.
So, although there’s nothing wrong with follow-ups, try not to overdo it and limit your efforts to three follow-up emails at most.
Additionally, 56% claim that they will lose interest in a brand if their email content becomes irrelevant.
To avoid losing leads and customers, make sure that the emails you send deliver enough value for leads to be interested in engaging with your brand further.
39. Emails with special offers and promotions have the highest open rates
Leads love getting personalized offers and discounts so much that they make one of the most efficient ways to get them to open your email and click through.
31% of marketers say that emails featuring exclusive offers and promotions have the highest open rates, followed by emails announcing new features and products (30%).
AI-powered personalized recommendations, location-specific information, and images tailored to the specific stage of the customer journey are just some of the ways brands leverage dynamic content.
This advanced type of personalization is sure to delight leads, and in some cases, it can increase conversions by 52%.
Start generating more leads today
These figures can help you better understand the state of marketing and lead generation today, enabling you to adjust your strategies accordingly.
And if you need an extra hand with capturing and converting leads visiting your website, Warmly can help.
The platform can identify both companies and individual stakeholders surfing your website and enrich them with in-depth intent data, enabling you to:
- Identify who your hottest leads are right now.
- Tailor your approach to each lead, enhancing the chance for successful conversion.
But why take our word for it?
Sign up for Warmly’s free plan and discover how easy it is to fill your pipeline with qualified leads within minutes.