Collecting quality leads in a way that is convenient for both advertisers and users seems almost too good to be true, but LinkedIn’s Lead Gen forms are just that.
What are LinkedIn Lead Gen Ads?
LinkedIn Lead Gen ads allow advertisers to collect leads directly within LinkedIn, making it convenient for both advertisers and LinkedIn users. When someone clicks on a Lead Gen ad, rather than being taken to a landing page, a form will pop up within the LinkedIn platform. To make the experience even more seamless for users, the lead gen form will pre-fill at least some, if not all, of the information requested based on the user’s LinkedIn profile.
Not only are Lead Gen Ads convenient for users who are being served the ad, but they are also appealing to advertisers. Lead Gen forms are customizable, giving advertisers a variety of pre-defined options and the ability to create custom questions and checkboxes. Advertisers can select up to 12 fields to use in a lead gen form (although just because you can use 12 fields, doesn’t mean you should – it’s best to keep forms simple).
To boost lead quality, advertisers can have users input a work email address instead of a personal email. Additionally, when choosing the work email address field, advertisers can opt to validate work emails which will block common free email domains such as Gmail and Yahoo.
What happens to the leads that come from LinkedIn Lead Gen ads?
There are a couple options for collecting the leads that are generated from Lead Gen ads:
- Downloading the leads directly from the LinkedIn Campaign Manager.
Note: LinkedIn only stores this data for 90 days though.
- LinkedIn Lead Gen forms integrate with many different third-party marketing automation and CRM platforms, allowing leads to flow seamlessly into advertisers’ current system.
When to use Lead Gen Ads
Given LinkedIn advertising’s emphasis on B2B marketing, and lead generation being a common goal for B2B advertisers, there are several different ways LinkedIn Lead Gen forms might be beneficial including:
- Downloadable assets such as eBooks, whitepapers, reports, etc.
- Sign-ups for a product demo or trial
- Event or webinar registrations
- Requests for quotes
Comparing Lead Gen ads vs. Standard LinkedIn ads
In a recent test for a client, we tried LinkedIn Lead Gen ads vs ads that sent users to a landing page with a contact form. Using the exact same ad creative, targeting, and budget – the only difference being how we were collecting leads. After the one-month test, we found that the Lead Gen ads had generated 6 leads while the landing page didn’t produce any leads.
| Lead Gen Ads | Standard Ads | |
| # of leads driven | 6 | 0 |
The way Lead Gen forms seamlessly integrate with a user’s experience scrolling the LinkedIn feed makes them more likely to convert compared to sending users away from LinkedIn to fill out a form on a landing page. Lead Gen forms are an engaging format to drive quality leads, making lead gen simple for everyone.
Interested in running LinkedIn Lead Gen Ads? NordicClick can help.
