LeadGen During An Outbreak: What The F%^@ Is Going On?
I run a SaaS marketing agency of which our main output is and has always been leads - like many salespeople, I believe the secret to more revenue for a company with a solid product is always filling the top of the funnel. But for 95% of SaaS business right now (excluding our clients of course...) leads are hard to come by.
What is going on?
Defining A Lead
Leads in our view are meetings. But the definition varies - we generally find meeting #s to correlate pretty equally to things like sales responses and trial sign-ups. The ratio differs greatly by product. With that being said, let's go with the first definition for now - a lead is an appointment.
The Phases of Pandemic Impact
The coronavirus's impact on marketing and leadgen has fallen in our view into 3 phases:
- Phase I: Shock (March 17th - April 1st)
- Phase II: Work From Home (April 1st - Apri 24th)
- Phase III: Return? (April 24th...)
Phase I: Shock
The shock and awe phase is when most of our clients who paused or terminated contracts did; its when many of our startups lost their key clients. Many of my colleagues didn't take the pandemic seriously - at all. Most of our portfolio had been upticking substantially in Q1 - over 100% new sales.
But when the NYC lockdown was announced on March 17th, it became increasingly clear to most Americans that this was not business as usual. The economy would shut down - clients immediately voiced fear over big businesses shutting their doors to new vendors, at least for a time. No one knew what was going to happen.
In the first phase of shutdown, leadgen died - entirely. People were focused on themselves - and those that were still available were either bad fits or not serious.
Phase II: Work Frome Home
Despite the volatility in terms of health, most people in the startup world worldwide in April had adjusted to working from home (if they weren't already) - their companies and operations resumed, albeit with a different focus - perhaps less on growth and new initiatives. People developed more time - free time, during the day, and there were strong trends of more computer activity on all platforms (advertising) then during the lockdown.
During this period, we observed strong open rates and impression rates otherwise - > but a certain reduction in leadgen - actually, by around a factor of two. This was reflected even greater in close rates. While people we're on their computers opening emails and ads, they were in no position to make decisions or even talk about making decisions. (i.e doing a demo)
The profile of leads in April across all clients accounts were different - the interest was more in learning, less in networking or purchase intent.
But that didn't mean these leads were cold - they just needed a different, non vendor focused journey and objective - so we started doing webinars, content subscriptions - things that were not related to long term business decisions. And these skyrocketed. (More on instagram)
Phase III: Return?
Over the course of Phase II, we observed a gradual increase in success - meeting bookings, that peaked around Easter. But things have changed- this last week of April, states have started opening back up - presumably, businesses are more focused on returning to usual.
As such, all rates - not just leadgen, but impressions have dropped. We expect this to continue until the economy is completely open. In actuality, there is more uncertainty now than there was a few weeks ago - people were adjusting to working from home, and felt safe. Now people are unsure what is going to happen with the lockdowns, the virus, and their businesses in general.
But there may still be opportunities - follow me for updates. Watch our log of the events as it relates to our own campaigns, below and if you're interested book a discovery to learn more.
Chris Nicholas is a serial entrepreneur and marketer. Check him out as the occasional cohost of the No CMO Podcast, available on all platforms, through the webinar series with StartEd or book a training session to speak with him directly.
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