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Do you get the feeling that Google has marketers on the mind lately? I certainly do. Not even a month after launching their Google Annotations feature for Google Analytics, Google is beta testing a new lead capturing tool for Google Adwords.
Amber from the blog PPC Hero, who recieved a invitation to Beta test the new lead capturing feature (ehem, Google calls it a “contact extension form”), says that it is currently limited to businesses appearing in position #1 of PPC results. If you received an invite to beta test and have ads running in position #1, your prospects have the option to click a link under the PPC ad (this can be a customizable call to action) which opens a contact form. The prospect can then use this form to submit their contact information to you without ever leaving Google search results.
Though I usually welcome any new feature that may help me generate leads, I worry that this new feature is not aligned with best lead generation practices and here’s why:
It's limited to phone leads only.
Though Amber from PPC Hero notes that Google will eventually allow you to take leads through live chat & email, right now Google’s contact extension form only accept phone leads.
The form does not demonstrate value to potential leads.
The current drop down contact form does not demonstrate the value that they'll receive or encourage them to develop a relationship with your company. If you can not demonstrate value to potential leads, you will lose out on conversions. Then there's the quality of the conversions you might actually recieve. As it stands right now the form simply screams to your prospect, “Give me your info so I can call you!” Qualified prospects are far more likely to drop their contact info after you’ve created a relationship with them, so more the quality of the conversions you'd get from a limited form with only a few questions will most likely be very low.
It's an extra click for your prospect that doesn't lead them to your site.
If you’re already paying the enormous PPC costs associated with appearing at position #1, wouldn’t you rather have your prospect come to your site and engage with your business on your own landing page? If it's just an extra click for them anyway, you want to make the most of it and have them convert on your own terms in an environment you control.
You have to call the lead within 24 hours.
After you generate a lead, you have to call Google within 24 hours. Depending on how agile you are in qualifying your leads, this could be really taxing on a sales or marketing team, especially on the weekend. Amber from PPC hero didn't mention if there was a penalty if you didn't call your lead back, but I imagine that if there is a penalty, it would be really frustrating to have to call back a junk lead just to avoid a Google slap on the wrist.
Google owns your lead’s information.
Even after you call your prospect back within Google's 24 hour window, you don’t even get their phone number. Instead Google gives you a special number and a lead ID which redirects you to that customer.
You have to manage your leads with Google.
Since you have
no access to the information your prospect gives you, all you are doing
is creating another location where you have to manage your leads. You
can't integrate with Salesforce or other lead management tools. Plus,
you have to deal with each lead one-at-a-time because you have to reach
them within the 24 hour window.
The feature is restricted to position #1 search results only.
You pay per lead, which is nice, but you also pay a lot for that top position. One of the issues with position #1 in Google Adwords is that it tends to generate traffic that’s unqualified because many searchers click the link without reading. One of the good things about this feature is that at least you’d be getting a real lead for your money; the bad thing is you’re still probably going to get expensive, unqualified traffic flooding in from your top-position ad.
This will only get you end-sales-cycle-leads.
It’s possible that this strategy will only connect you with people who are ready to talk. Perhaps that’s all you’re looking for with your PPC campaign, but it's not the best overall lead generation strategy. Since most people don't hand over their number until they've built a relationship with you first, you probably won't be generating a lot of new leads for your sales team. You may just end up paying a whole lot of money for that top PPC position to access people who probably were on their way to your website already.
No immediate benefit to your prospect after they request a phone call.
The biggest issue here for me is that there is no end benefit for the prospect once they complete the form. A promise to contact your prospect within 24 hours is not a very compelling offer. If you want to generate new leads for your business, you should entice your prospect with content (whitepapers, webinars, free trials, etc) that satisfies an immediate need. By using this feature, you may actually lose conversions because you give the prospect no immediate benefit to "requesting a phone call".
What do you think about this new PPC feature? Do you think it could help you generate qualified leads? If so, how would you use it?