When you’re generating leads in a lead generation appointment funnel, you can ask for different contact information, such as their name & email. So you might be wondering, is it a good idea to ask for their phone number too?
Let’s go through two possible different scenarios to help you decide what to do.
But wait!
Before you try to generate leads with or without a phone number, it’s important you have the right strategy.
Without the right strategy, it doesn’t matter which option you choose, it still won’t work very well.
So FIRST watch this video that explains the strategy to get 10, 15, 30 or more predictable leads & appointments each month with your ideal clients…
And then keep reading to learn if it’s better to use your phone number or not on your marketing funnel opt-in forms.
Note: These scenarios are based on a lead generation strategy where someone has not yet heard about you yet. So you and your business are complete strangers. The situation is different if you’re targeting people that DO already know, like and trust you.
See the video version of this article here:
Scenario 1: You ask for their phone number
If you ask for name, email and phone number in a lead generation campaign you will most likely:
- Generate less leads (because more people won’t be comfortable with giving you their phone number)
- Get a higher cost per lead
- See slightly better quality leads (because they must REALLY be interested in how you can help them if they’re happy to enter their phone number too)
Next you need to ask yourself:
What will you do with the phone number?
It’s completely normal to send emails to leads after you’ve got their email address. But with phone numbers it works a little different.
With phone numbers, in reality, you only have three options:
- Text them
- Call them
- Leave a voicemail (if they don’t pick up)
And doing this is a lot harder to automate, without annoying them.
After: And doing this is a lot harder to automate, without annoying them.
With follow up emails, you can follow up with them automatically and provide helpful educational content.
With text messages, calls or voicemails, it’s a lot harder to do that.
Tip: To ensure that you are contacting the right person and not wasting your time, verify phone numbers before you start texting, calling, or leaving voicemails.
Do you have a strong follow up process?
Another issue I’ve seen with business owners generating leads is that they don’t do anything with the phone numbers they get. They might text or call a few times and that’s it.
So, if you’re asking leads for their phone number, do you have a strong follow up process?
If not, ask yourself, is it really worth asking for the phone number in the first place?
Put yourself in your clients shoes
Another thing to consider is if you were on the other end and someone was asking for your phone number, how would you react if you were being called or followed up with constantly?
Most likely it would annoy you and you might consider not even doing business with the person following up with you as a result.
Scenario 2: You don’t ask for their phone number
If you ask for name, email and phone number in a lead generation campaign you will most likely:
- Generate more leads
- Get a lower cost per lead
- Likely see a higher conversion rate in your funnel (in the long-term)
Follow up with email marketing
Even though you don’t have their phone number to call and text them, I don’t think that’s a bad thing!
Instead you can follow up with your leads via email marketing.
The powerful thing about email marketing is that (when done right) you can build trust with your leads and motivate them to schedule a call by giving them educational content.
Which strategy is best?
In most cases, I believe it’s best to only ask for name & email. Instead of texting and calling leads to try and get a lead to schedule a call with you, focus on creating helpful and educational follow up emails that build trust and motivate your leads to WANT to speak to you.
How do you do this?
Check out my free training video which goes through how you can do this in more detail.
Ashley Davis (or ‘Ash’ for short) is the CEO & Founder of Skyline Social. For over 15 years, Ash has been helping business owners with lead generation. Ash specializes in helping businesses get high-quality leads, appointments and clients each month with automated digital marketing strategies. Learn more about the author here.
