Obtaining a lead is good, but this is more essential: knowing the source of that lead. Someone can discover your business on Google, then navigate to your website, see your social media post at a later time, and reach out to you after clicking on an ad. A Marketing Agency Southfield MI can help businesses track these different interactions and understand how they contribute to a lead.
Evaluating just the last click could mean attributing the credit to the wrong marketing touch. This can cause you to make some bad calls on where to spend your marketing dollars.
When businesses are able to see the entire customer journey, it can be a good indicator of which marketing avenues are actually converting leads into paying customers, rather than simply web visitors or inquiries.
Start by Tracking More Than Leads
Some leads are more valuable than others.
For instance, Google Ads could generate 40 leads each month, and SEO could generate 20 leads each month. Initially, Google Ads appears to be a better option. However, if 10 of the SEO leads convert to customers, and just 3 of the Google Ads leads convert to customers, the numbers change.
Track the full journey:
Website Visit → Lead → Qualified Lead → Sales Opportunity → Customer → Revenue
It assists you to see where your business is succeeding when it comes to marketing.
Separate SEO from Google Ads
SEO and Google Ads are two of the ways to drive visitors to Google, but they do so in different ways.
You can come across a customer’s search for a service by appearing in an organic search result. They might visit your site and then not contact you. They might look up your company name a couple of days later and click on your Google Ad.
You might attribute all of the credit to Google Ads if you just see the final click.
Your tracking should be split in the following manner:
- Organic search
- Paid search
- Branded searches
- Non-branded searches
- Direct traffic
- Referral traffic
- Social media traffic
This will help you get a better understanding of where and how your customers are looking for you and reaching out to your business.
Track important website actions
Website traffic doesn’t provide much information about business success.
Actions that can contribute to a sale should be monitored, including:
- Contact form submissions
- Phone calls
- Quote requests
- Appointment requests
- Consultation requests
- Chat messages
- Product inquiries
You should also have an idea about what’s more valuable to do. A serious quotation from a customer could be a much more valuable piece of information than a general inquiry.
These actions need to be correlated with the marketing source if possible.
Do Not Forget Phone Calls
A lot of local businesses receive many leads on the phone.
People can find your company on Google, go to your website, and then call you rather than complete a form. Without tracking that call, you might never find out where the customer is coming from via marketing.
Call tracking can help to determine if a call is coming from:
- Organic search
- Google Ads
- Social media
- A referral website
- A landing page
- Your Google Business Profile
It’s also a good idea to document the events following the call. Did the caller represent a good prospect? Have they asked for a price? Were they converted into a customer?
This is a more useful piece of information than just the number of calls.
Be careful of direct traffic.
In your analytics you might get the category of “direct traffic. This isn’t always the case: the person typed your website URL into their browser.
A visitor’s source may be unreported for some reason and appear as direct traffic. They might have clicked on an unrecognized link, bookmarked a link, opened a link from an email, or navigated between devices.
So don’t assume that all of your direct traffic is brand awareness.
Make comparisons between direct traffic and branded searches on Google, referral traffic, campaign data, and customer feedback.
Track Referral Leads
Referrals can be an important source of new business.
A referral can be from:
- Existing customers
- Business partners
- Local organizations
- Industry websites
- Business directories
- Local publications
- Other companies
Analytics can tell you that a site was driving traffic to your site but may not be able to tell you if those visitors were converting to customers.
Inquire from new customers about the ways they have heard about your company. Then compare their answers with your website and CRM information.
This can help you discover great referral sources that may not appear in your marketing reports.
Link all marketing data to sales data.
Marketing information is far more valuable when related to what follows a lead.
For instance, one of your customers might go through this one:
Google search → Service page → Contact form → Sales call → Customer
Another customer may go down this route:
Referral → Website visit → Google search for your company → Phone call → Customer
Both your customers became your customers by two different means.
When considering the last touch point, you may not capture the full customer journey.
The CRM can keep your team’s records on where the lead came from, where the lead is in your sales funnel, whether they qualify, and what the end result was.
View Lead Quality, NOT Lead Volume
Not all channels that generate more leads are good channels.
Observe the similarities between your channels with numbers like
- Number of leads
- Qualified leads
- Appointment rate
- Close rate
- Customer value
- CPCL (Cost Per Qualified Lead)
- Customer acquisition cost
- Revenue
For instance, social media can produce 100 leads; referrals can produce simply 20. However, if a high percentage of the leads that are referred end up becoming paying customers, referrals can be even more valuable.
The real question is not
“Where are the best leads coming from?”
It is:
What channel gets the best quality customers at an affordable price?
Give SEO and Other Channels Enough Time
The time period of marketing channels’ results varies.
Google Ads can connect with people who can and will buy today. SEO can be a person’s introduction to your business weeks, or even months, before they call you. Social media can be used to get people to know your brand. There can be a lot of website activity that is not necessarily required for a customer to be referred.
For this reason, it is possible to get a false sense of reality from a few weeks’ worth of data.
Consider looking at your marketing results over a longer time frame, particularly if your sales cycle is longer.
Create a Simple Lead Tracking System
You do not need a complicated system to start tracking leads properly.
A useful system should include:
- Website analytics: Track visitors, traffic sources, landing pages, and conversions.
- Campaign tracking: Use tracking codes for ads, social posts, email campaigns, and referral links.
- Call tracking: Record where phone leads came from.
- CRM tracking: Record the lead source and what happened after the first contact.
- Customer feedback: Ask customers how they found your business.
- Monthly reports: Review leads, qualified leads, customers, and revenue.
- Channel comparison: Compare marketing channels based on actual business results.
This gives you a much clearer view of how your marketing is working.
How a Marketing Agency in Southfield MI Can Help
A Marketing Agency Southfield MI can help a business bring its marketing data into one clear system. Instead of looking only at rankings, clicks, or website traffic, an agency can help track leads, calls, conversions, customers, and revenue. This can make it easier to see which channels are working and where your marketing budget may need to change.
What to Look for in Michigan Digital Marketing Companies
When comparing Michigan Digital Marketing Companies, do not only ask how much traffic or how many leads an agency can generate.
Ask how the agency tracks:
- Lead sources
- Phone calls
- Organic search
- Google Ads
- Social media
- Referral traffic
- Qualified leads
- Customer conversions
- Customer acquisition costs
A good reporting system should help you understand what is working and what needs to improve.
How We Help at MotorCity Digital Marketing
At MotorCity Digital Marketing, we look at more than website traffic and lead numbers. We work to understand how SEO, paid search, social media, referrals, website activity, and conversions work together. Our work can include SEO, local SEO, Google Ads, analytics, conversion tracking, website improvements, and lead generation. We focus on helping businesses understand where their leads come from and which marketing activities are helping turn those leads into customers.
Conclusion
Knowing where your leads come from helps you make better marketing decisions.
A customer may interact with your business through Google, an advertisement, social media, a referral, or several of these channels before making contact. Looking only at the last click can hide this journey.
Southfield businesses can get a clearer picture by tracking website actions, phone calls, referral sources, lead quality, sales results, and revenue.
The goal is not simply to find the channel with the most leads. The goal is to understand which channels bring qualified customers and real business value.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is it important to know where my leads come from?
Knowing your lead sources helps you understand which marketing channels are bringing qualified customers. It also helps you avoid spending more money on channels that generate traffic or inquiries but few actual customers.
2. How can a Southfield business track leads from SEO and Google Ads?
Use website analytics, conversion tracking, campaign tracking, and call tracking to identify whether leads come from organic search or paid search. Your CRM can then connect those leads to sales outcomes.
3. Should phone calls be included in marketing attribution?
Yes. Phone calls can be a major source of leads for local businesses. Call tracking can help identify whether a call came from SEO, Google Ads, social media, a referral, or another marketing source.
4. Why should businesses track qualified leads instead of total leads?
Not every inquiry becomes a customer. Tracking qualified leads shows which channels are producing serious prospects. Comparing qualified leads, close rates, customer value, and revenue gives a more accurate view of marketing performance.
5. Can one customer come from more than one marketing channel?
Yes. A customer may first discover a business through SEO, return through a Google search, click an advertisement, and then contact the company. Tracking the full customer journey helps businesses understand how different marketing channels work together.
