A few days ago, one of my clients came back to me asking me: “Hey, I checked my leads this morning on SpecialChem and I found duplicate names in my list. I thought that you would provide me with unique leads. Is that normal?”
I’ve had a look at their lead report. Indeed, I counted 8 duplicate names on the list. And there was no bug in the matrix.
If you are here, I suppose that you have the same question, so let me explain why this is normal, and how you can even improve your lead follow-up with this information.
Why do you have duplicated leads?
Those names are duplicates because they showed an interest in your products and content at 2 or more different times.
To qualify a lead, you need to answer 2 questions:
- Is that person in your target?
- Does that person have a high interest, or even a project, right now?
Only by answering those questions can you prioritize the follow-up of your leads.
At SpecialChem, we count a lead as unique if he or she is active within a 30-day span. We believe that someone coming every day for a week has an interest right now and should be counted as a unique lead. But if that person comes back a few weeks or months later, then, there is a different momentum happening. On other lead generators like UL PROSPECTOR®, a lead is counted as unique if they are active within a 24h span. We have determined that a 30-day span is more indicative of a true interest and project potential.
For example, in this lead list below, Marc from Company X came on SpecialChem on September 29th and downloaded a first technical paper. Then, he came back again on December 9th and downloaded a technical product data sheet. Finally, he came back on December 12th and downloaded 2 case studies, 2 technical videos and another technical data sheet.
Example of a lead report, anonymized for confidentiality. Our full report includes more than 20 descriptors for each lead.
What can you learn from it?
Marc came 3 times on SpecialChem and counts as a unique lead twice, because we consider that he had two different momentums, within two different 30-day periods. A first interest in September, and another in December.
If Marc had been qualified in September, I bet that this qualification would have shown that his project was not a high priority, and he should have been nurtured by marketing actions. Then in December, if he was qualified again, I bet that this qualification would have shown an even higher interest in your products, most likely leading to a discussion with your sales team.
If you need help to not only qualify your leads but also determine their business potential, we have developed helpful and practical tips and best practices. You can begin with our simple guide to MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) for chemical marketer. Then, I would recommend our video series on how to organize your follow up to convert your digital leads into real sales.
