When it comes to lead generation, marketers face a choice: do you use the Lead Gen Forms offered by LinkedIn, or do you opt for an external link to your own landing page? In this blog, I explain the advantages and disadvantages of both options.
The advantages and disadvantages of landing pages
Using an external web page as a landing page is currently the most cost-effective option. Lead form clicks on LinkedIn are, on average, 2 to 5 times more expensive per click than clicks to an external website. You can design an external landing page yourself and therefore optimize it for your specific target audience. Especially with higher conversion volumes and high barriers to entry, landing pages can be the ideal place to provide the target audience with extra information about what you have to offer. Whether it is a webinar, a whitepaper, or a live demo, a page that you can fully tailor to your product and target audience is a useful tool.
By using UTM codes, it is possible to track website traffic via advertisements on your website. This allows you to collect all kinds of useful information about the behavior of your target audience on the landing page and the rest of the website. Based on this data, you can then optimize your landing page using A/B testing. Ensure measurable differences and adjust your page based on the best results.
The disadvantage of using an external landing page is that it increases the barrier for the target audience. With lead forms on LinkedIn, a prospect does not have to enter their details manually. LinkedIn already has the contact details of these prospects and can therefore fill them in automatically. This makes the process much smoother and therefore more accessible. When a prospect is redirected to an unknown website and has to enter contact details themselves, the chance of them dropping out is naturally much higher.
Lead Gen Forms are practical
It can therefore be very rewarding to use LinkedIn lead forms. These are very practical and easy to use. Creating, testing, and optimizing different landing pages is a lot of work, and many companies simply do not have the time for this. For prospects, the barrier to leaving their details is not as high because LinkedIn fills them in automatically. Additionally, it builds trust that they are not redirected to an external website but remain on LinkedIn. For campaigns where you offer a low-threshold incentive, LinkedIn lead forms can work very well.
It all depends on the situation and the goal of the campaign. When there is no time or money available for creating, testing, and optimizing different landing pages, LinkedIn lead forms are a good alternative. Although the clicks are more expensive and there is little room for personalization, the barrier for the target audience is indeed much lower. This can be a meaningful lead generation technique for campaigns with a lower threshold.
However, when the opportunity arises to work with landing pages, it is certainly worth the effort. It is a cheaper option in terms of clicks and gives you the opportunity to test and optimize different landing pages. Furthermore, it is a major advantage to be able to gather information about the behavior of your target audience on your website or landing page through UTM codes.
Would you like to know which option is best for your campaign? Or do you have other marketing-related questions? Please feel free to contact us.
info@primemarketing.nl
