When should you do lead generation for eCommerce

Lead generation is a great way to get people who don't know about your company to gain interest in your product or service.

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into someone who has indicated an interest in your company's product or service.

Essentially, it's a way to capture the contact information of potential customers so that you can follow up and try to sell them your product or service (this is when they become a “lead”)

This is especially important for eCommerce, as lead generation can be a good way to nurture potential customers and increase the chances of them making a purchase. of conversion.

It's also worth noting that lead generation is a way to build your own owned audience.

In today's digital landscape, paid ads are getting more expensive, and cookie policies can be restrictive.

Having your own audience gives you more control and can be a major advantage for your business because you own your list.

You might pay for the initial lead, but eventually you avoid needing to pay big prices every time you want to market to someone.

But when is the right time to run lead generation campaigns?

Let’s dive in and take a look!

51% of all eCommerce lead generation impressions, are made in the first 2 weeks

We found that over 50% of all impressions (views of an ad) are made in the first two weeks of an ad's lifetime.

This means that advertisers tend to spend more time and money on these ads during this period.

It's important to note that this isn't necessarily a good or bad thing - if the performance is strong during these first two weeks, then that's great.

But if the performance isn't meeting expectations, it may be worth considering spreading your impressions out more evenly.

For example, say you’re running a competition campaign to generate leads for 8 weeks.

You might start to see activity, engagement, and trust start to flatten out the older it gets and as the hype wears out.

Keep in mind, 51% of eCommerce lead generation impressions are made in the first two weeks, with 40% of impressions occurring in the first week.

This means that most eCommerce brands focus their impressions for lead generation campaigns in the first two weeks, resulting in a shorter lifespan for these campaigns.

If 51% of all ecommerce lead gen impressions are made in the first 2 weeks, what is the reason?

Lead Generation rate takes 1-2 weeks to reach optimal performance

The first two weeks of a lead generation ad can be tough.

The first week of its lifetime typically has a performance that is 55% worse than the best week on average.

However, after these initial weeks, it starts to mature a bit and then ad fatigue kicks in.

This means that the learning phase of a lead generation campaign is crucial. It's during this phase that Facebook figures out the best leads for the best price for an advertiser.

If you turn off your ad in the first two weeks (as many advertisers do), you risk missing out on the potential for improved performance and leads.

That’s why it's important to have patience and wait for optimal performance during the learning phase, about 1-2 weeks, rather than focusing solely on ad fatigue.

If impressions and lead gen rate are the inverse of each other, what does that exactly tell us?

More impressions does not mean better performance

As mentioned before, the lead generation rate reaches its optimal performance at around 1-2 weeks live, with the first week being the worst performing.

However, we found that impressions are at their peak during the first week of lead generation ads.

What does that exactly mean?

Remember, just because impressions are at an all-time high during this period doesn’t make your lead generation ad perform better; as a matter of fact, in this case, the inverse is true.

The lead gen rate stabilizes after the first two weeks, then dips a little, then stabilizes again.

Even by week 8, it is still performing much better than in the first week, but 51% of all impressions are being made in this first week - the absolutely worse performing week.

This means you should have some patience and not turn off your lead gen ads in the first 1-2 weeks, but allow Facebook/Meta to go through the learning phase.

Most brands are likely to believe that because impressions are high, their lead gen performance must also be higher.

But the data we found doesn’t show this.

Again, be patient, and let your lead gen ads run for longer and see if your performance increases and/or stabilizes.

In this case, the learning phase is more important than ad fatigue, which is the opposite of what you are usually worried about.

So remember, even though most impressions happen in the first week, the lead gen performance is at its worst.

It’s important to own your audiences in today’s landscape

Lead generation is an essential part of eCommerce, and timing plays a crucial role in its success.

The first two weeks of a lead generation campaign can be challenging, but it's important to be patient and wait for optimal performance during the learning phase.

By doing so, eCommerce businesses can nurture their potential customers and increase their chances of conversion.

Remember, lead generation allows businesses to build their own owned audience, giving them more control and a major advantage in today's digital landscape.

You can also use Confect to edit and customize your lead generation ads to include relevant brand information, which will makes your ads more relevant, more informative, and more effective than ever before!

Try a free demo of Confect today!

Dataset

The dataset from this article is based on 944M impressions and 3.4K pieces of individual content on Meta (Facebook) platforms. It takes into account data from all countries and industries, with the campaign objective of Lead Generation or Outcome Leads. The period is from 1. September 2021 - 16. September 2022.

Numbers are looking at correlation only, not causation. Remember to check your own data: numbers for different brands, industries, and contexts will vary.

If you were intrigued about a specific insight, you can go in-depth into the various dimensions and how data can be segmented in Confect, here.