You are producing high volumes of leads, your open, click and response rates are good and it all feels very positive, doesn’t it? However, if none of this translates into good quality leads or opportunities that convert to revenue, your effort and investment are wasted.

This is the worst case scenario, as your marketing costs escalate and your sales team spends their valuable time chasing poor quality leads that produce very few conversions. Far from a positive experience, it is very frustrating for the sales team and does little to create a harmonious relationship between your sales and marketing departments. If you’re experiencing that growing sense of frustration, you’re not alone – according to recent research by Ruler Analytics, 37% of marketers say that generating high-quality leads is one of their biggest challenges, whilst at the same time for 91%, this is their most important goal.

With this pressure to feed pipeline and with marketing automation to facilitate the process, the danger is that marketers push even more leads into the top of the funnel in the hope of increasing conversions. Rather than improving outcomes, however, this tactic is more likely to compound existing problems, wasting more budget and bloating the pipeline with more leads that won't convert.

The devil is in the detail

The best approach you can take is to step back and look at where the real issues lie. The quality of your leads, as well as the resources and processes you have in place to deal with them, could all be impacting your conversion rates. Below are the top most common issues that businesses face – address these, and you may well see your conversion rate heading in the right direction!