Why You're Not Getting Leads Despite High Marketing Spend

Introduction

The Problem:
You’re investing heavily in marketing, be it in time, money, or resources, but the leads and sales are nowhere to be found.

Sound familiar? You’re caught in a frustrating situation many businesses face: sinking significant funds into marketing with minimal results.

This article aims to guide you through this challenge, offering concrete steps to steer your marketing in the right direction. Continue reading to understand why your budget hasn’t yielded anticipated leads or sales, and to discover practical solutions.

Solution: Trust Data, Not Gut Feelings

Much like how a scale reliably tracks weight loss, data provides an empirical basis for marketing decisions. Relying solely on intuition is like attempting to lose weight without checking your progress.

Data is indispensable in both scenarios.
By systematically tracking key metrics, you can determine which strategies merit attention and which require reevaluation. Informed by these data-driven insights, you can take decisive steps towards effective marketing.

The Go-To Tools: Google Analytics 4 & Social Media Analytics

For those with a website to showcase services and case studies, Google Analytics 4 is invaluable. It transcends mere data provision, helping to refine your marketing approach.
Social media analytics are similarly vital. Whether you’re utilising Google My Business, Facebook, LinkedIn, or TikTok, these platforms offer analytics tools to gauge post engagement, comments, and reach.

Key Areas of Focus

With this data at hand, you unlock insights across four major domains: optimising traffic acquisition, enhancing on-site performance, refining social media strategies, and mastering PPC campaigns.

Optimise Traffic Acquisition: The Art of Luring (the Right) People In

1. Audience Segmentation

Metric: Demographics Data in Audience Reports
Example: If data shows women aged 30-40 are most engaged, create targeted Facebook ads for this demographic.

2. Keyword Analysis

Metric: Organic Search Queries in Google Analytics/Search Console
Example: If “organic skincare” is a high-performing keyword, produce more content around that topic.

3. Traffic Source

Metric: Source/Medium Report
Example: If most traffic comes from LinkedIn, invest more in LinkedIn ads or posts.

4. Conversion Tracking

Metric: Conversion Goals Setup in Google Analytics
Example: Use Google Analytics or your preferred analytics tool to set up conversion goals, like form submissions or downloads, to measure success.

5. Geographic Focus

Metric: Geographic Report in Google Analytics
Example: If the data shows high engagement from London, consider localised advertising.

6. Device Usage

Metric: Device Overview Report
Example: If mobile usage dominates, ensure your site and ads are mobile-friendly.

7. Landing Page Effectiveness

Metric: Conversion Rate by Landing Page
Example: If one landing page has a higher conversion rate, analyse its elements for use in other pages.

8. Returning vs. New Users

Metric: New vs Returning Report
Example: If you have more returning users, focus on retention strategies like email marketing.

9. Seasonal Trends

Metric: Monthly/Seasonal Traffic and Conversion Rates
Example: If traffic spikes during Christmas, prepare special holiday campaigns.

10. User Engagement

Metric: Engagement Rate in GA4
Example: If you find that users are more engaged on specific pages, prioritise them in your UX and content strategy.

11. Scroll Depth

Metric: Scroll Tracking in GA4
Example: If users generally scroll 75% or more on your blog posts, consider adding a CTA at that point.

12. Site Search Usage

Metric: Site Search Report in GA4
Example: If users frequently search for a particular product, make it more prominent on your homepage.

13. Outbound Clicks

Metric: Outbound Click Tracking in GA4
Example: If there are many outbound clicks to a partner site, consider strengthening the partnership or running joint promotions.

14. Real-Time Conversions

Metric: Real-Time Conversions in GA4
Example: If you notice a sudden increase in conversions from a specific campaign, allocate more budget to it in real-time.

Enhance On-Site Performance: Your Website Isn’t a Maze

1. Bounce Rate

Metric: Bounce Rate by Page
Example: If your product page has a high bounce rate, simplify the layout or make the call-to-action more obvious.

2. Page Load Time

Metric: Average Page Load Time
Example: If data shows users abandon a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load, work on improving your site speed.

3. User Flow

Metric: User Paths via Behavior Flow Analysis
Example: If you see users often leave after visiting your ‘Pricing’ page, consider revising it for clarity or value perception.

4. Content Effectiveness

Metric: Time-on-Page by Content Type
Example: If blogs have a high time-on-page, create more in-depth articles.

5. Conversion Funnel Drop-offs

Metric: Exit Rate at Each Funnel Stage
Example: If most drop-offs happen at the checkout stage, simplify it.

6. Call-to-Action (CTA) Placement

Metric: CTR for Different CTA Placements
Example: If a CTA at the end of a blog post performs well, replicate this placement elsewhere.

7. Heat Maps

Metric: User Click and Scroll Behavior via Heat Maps
Example: Place key information or CTAs in hotspots that attract the most attention.

8. 404 Errors

Metric: Frequency of 404 Errors
Example: Redirect broken links to relevant pages to improve user experience.

9. Exit Pages

Metric: Exit Rate by Page
Example: If a specific page has a high exit rate, look for ways to keep visitors engaged longer.

10. Form Abandonment

Metric: Drop-off Rate at Each Form Field
Example: If most users abandon a form at a particular question, consider revising or removing it.

11. A/B Testing

Metric: Conversion Rate for A/B Test Variants
Example: If changing a button color results in more clicks, apply this color universally.

12. Payment Options

Metric: Abandoned Cart Rate at Payment Stage
Example: If carts are abandoned at the payment stage, consider adding PayPal or Apple Pay.

Refining Social Media Strategies: It’s Not Just for Selfies

1. Engagement Rate

Metric: Likes, Comments, Shares per Post
Example: If how-to videos get the most engagement, make more of them.

2. Audience Activity

Metric: Peak User Activity Time
Example: If your followers are most active between 6-8 p.m., schedule your posts for those times.

3. Platform Performance

Metric: Engagement and Reach by Platform
Example: If your analytics show high engagement on Instagram but low reach on Twitter, consider reallocating resources.

4. Hashtag Performance

Metric: Engagement per Hashtag
Example: Use trending and brand-specific hashtags that garner attention.

5. Content Format

Metric: Engagement by Content Type (Video, Text, Images)
Example: If short videos outperform images, create more video content.

6. User-Generated Content

Metric: Engagement on Posts Featuring User-Generated Content
Example: If posts featuring user-generated content have high engagement, encourage more of it.

7. Follower Growth Rate

Metric: New Followers Over Time
Example: If growth is stagnant, consider running a follower campaign.

8. Influencer Partnerships

Metric: Follower and Engagement Growth Post-Collaboration
Example: If a partnership results in a follower surge, consider long-term collaborations.

9. Customer Reviews and Ratings

Metric: Average Rating and Number of Reviews
Example: Use positive reviews in promotional posts.

10. Direct Messages

Metric: Frequency and Types of Direct Messages
Example: If you receive frequent inquiries via DM, consider an automated response system.

11. Social Media ROI

Metric: Return on Investment for Social Media Activities
Example: If ROI is negative, reassess your strategy or platform focus.

12. Negative Feedback

Metric: Frequency and Types of Negative Comments/Reviews
Example: Use this feedback for product or service improvement.

13. Social Listening

Metric: Brand Mentions and Sentiment Analysis
Example: Use insights to identify new opportunities or address concerns.

Mastering PPC Campaigns: When Metrics and Money Shake Hands

1. Quality Score

Metric: Quality Score in Google Ads dashboard.
Example: A high Quality Score can lead to lower costs and better ad positions. Optimise for factors like keyword relevance, CTR, and landing page quality.

2. Ad Extensions

Metric: Click-Through Rate (CTR) of extensions.
Example: Use sitelink extensions and monitor their CTR to evaluate their impact on overall engagement.

3. Negative Keywords

Metric: Search Terms Report.
Example: Use the report to identify irrelevant search queries that triggered your ad, then add them as negative keywords.

4. Dayparting

Metric: Hour of Day report in Google Ads.
Example: Use this report to identify peak conversion times, and adjust ad scheduling accordingly.

5. A/B Testing Ads

Metric: Conversion Rate and CTR for each ad variant.
Example: Test different headlines or CTAs and track which version garners more clicks and conversions.

6. Audience Retargeting

Metric: Conversion Rate of retargeting campaigns.
Example: Monitor how many users who were retargeted end up converting, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

7. Location Targeting

Metric: Geographic report in Google Ads.
Example: Use this report to see where your clicks are coming from, then adjust location settings to focus on high-performing areas.

8. Device Targeting

Metric: Device report in Google Ads.
Example: Track performance by device type to optimize your ad spend for where your audience is most active.

9. Conversion Path Data

Metric: Multi-Channel Funnels report in Google Analytics.
Example: Use this report to see how different marketing channels contribute to conversions, then tailor your PPC strategy to align.

10. Cost Per Conversion

Metric: Cost / Conversions in Google Ads.
Example: If the cost per conversion is greater than the lifetime value of a customer, it’s time to reassess.

11. Impression Share

Metric: Impression Share report in Google Ads.
Example: A low impression share could mean your budget is too low or your Quality Score needs improvement.

12. Search Terms Report

Metric: Search Terms Report in Google Ads.
Example: Use this to uncover new keyword opportunities or to identify irrelevant terms to add to your negative keywords list.

13. Ad Position and CTR

Metric: Average Position and CTR in Google Ads.
Example: Monitor these to understand the effectiveness of your ad position on click-through rates.

Conclusion

You can address the issue of not getting leads despite high marketing spend by adopting a data-driven approach. Using tools like Google Analytics 4 and social media analytics, focus on optimising traffic acquisition, enhancing on-site performance, and mastering PPC campaigns.

It’s time to break free from intuition-based decision-making and embrace an informed, empirical approach. Your budget—and your business—will thank you for it.

Action Required: Basic Google Analytics 4 setup alone will not provide you with comprehensive data to make informed decisions, especially if certain key configurations are not activated.

For instance, if you don’t enable Google Signals, set up conversions, and mark relevant events, you’ll miss out on crucial insights that could dramatically impact your strategy and ROI.

We have prepared a detailed checklist for each of these steps. If you’d like us to handle this setup for you, please drop us an email. Alternatively, feel free to carry out these configurations yourself. Either way, taking action on this is imperative for optimal data collection and utilisation.

Why You’re Not Getting Leads Despite High Marketing Spend