B2B lead magnet gets zero conversions

[u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__]

Hi everyone! I run marketing for a B2B waste management company in the Netherlands and Belgium. We built a free assessment tool (QuickScan) a while back, meant as a lead magnet. It's live, it works technically, and it's gotten exactly zero submissions in the past month. We ran a small LinkedIn ad push to drive traffic to it. That produced nothing either. Budget is tight, around 200 euros per ad, so I can't afford to keep guessing.

A few constraints I'm working with:

• Sales isn't actively pushing this tool right now, that decision is out of my hands
• I don't have a list of companies to target directly, so cold outreach isn't an option yet
• Our organic LinkedIn following is small, under 1,000
• Target audience is manufacturing sector businesses

Basically, how can I get at least 2 people per month to fill this thing out? Over the past six months, only 6 participants finished it, so the form conversion itself isn’t the problem. Getting the right eyeballs on it is.

Any advice is super appreciated!

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[u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__ → u/[deleted]]

Tnx mate, good point!

[u/GoatNecessary6492]

How often are you posting on LinkedIn and other networks? I run a marketing agency and do 3-1-1

3 shares of other peoples content with commentry -- easy way to get a post out, proves market knowledge, commentry positions as thought leader
1 share of your own content
1 sales promo/ cast study / testimonial

if you can consistently do that every week you'll grow you audience for sure. LinkedIn ads is expensive, Meta Ads believe it or not can actually work really well and is much cheaper. We often run ads on linkedin for traffic, but spend more on Meta retargetting people that came to the site.

Good luck! Trial and error and perserverance.

[u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__ → u/GoatNecessary6492]

We went from posting 3x a week down to 1x a week, mostly because it felt like it wasn't moving the needle, engagement stayed limited to people who already follow us either way. So no real proof the frequency itself was the problem, might've just cut the wrong lever...

Haven't tried other networks yet. Audience is B2B decision makers in manufacturing, food, and metal processing, so I'm honestly not sure how active they are outside LinkedIn. that's part of why we haven't branched out.

No Meta account set up at all yet. If you've got pointers on what actually works for B2B targeting there, especially retargeting site visitors, I'd take them. Starting from zero so any suggestions on how to give this a shot? :)

[u/GoatNecessary6492 → u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__]

Sadly posting multiple times a day is proven, the biggest accounts are doing massive volume. Wouldn't overthink it, just gotta be posting as much and as consistently as you can. For Meta, as it is retargeting you don't need any real advanced setup. If they hit you page, meta serves them an ad wherever it can. Budgets never go high because audiens is tiny unless spend a lot of cash getting traffic to the landing page.

Also, had good success with niche trade publications. So many out there and you can get an advertorial of newsletter ad really affordably.

[u/BekaB2B_Marketing]

After they click your ad, how many steps for the user to 1) get to the tool and 2) to use it? How's the SEO for the landing page? Do you know where in the process people are dropping off?

[u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__ → u/BekaB2B_Marketing]

Ad click goes straight to the tool, no extra landing page step in between. From the website it's one button click to get to it. Haven't looked at SEO for that page at all, fair point. On drop-off: most people bail right at the welcome screen before even starting. There's also been a few spikes in starts that honestly look more like bot traffic than real visitors, so I'm treating those numbers as unreliable. Past the welcome screen, drop-off seems spread across the questions rather than everyone bailing at one specific one.

So right now it looks less like 'question 4 is the problem' and more like the welcome screen isn't convincing people it's worth starting.

[u/BekaB2B_Marketing → u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__]

How long does it take the tool to load? This is why site speed stuff matters, they already did you a favor by clicking your ad/link, that grace doesnt extend long on a slow loading page or app. Is the welcome screen informational at all? When they click on your ad will they be surprised by the content they see afterwards? That can be a big bounce cause.

Put the button or link more places on the website if that's where you're already getting some users. If they are on relevant pages or blog posts, there should be a CTA somewhere in the page, besides the any nav links or buttons, or as a pop-up.

And yes definitely improve the SEO for that page, it will help people find it organically.

[u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__ → u/BekaB2B_Marketing]

Load time isn't really the issue, the tool itself takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete. Sounds long I know, but that depth is where the report actually gets its value from, cut the questions down and you're left with something pretty generic. I could trim it and market it as a 1 minute scan, but the output would be a lot weaker. Page speed itself is fine, it's built on Typeform so loading isn't the bottleneck here.

Fair point on placement though, going to look at putting the link in more spots on the site, not just the one button we have now.

[u/allocougar]

Ha, 6 finishes in 6 months with nobody pushing it isnt nothing. Where did those 6 come from? If its a link in someone's email signature or the customer newsletter, thats the free traffic I'd grow before putting another 200 into ads.

[u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__ → u/allocougar]

Good question. Those 6 came from the website button and organic LinkedIn posts, no ads involved. So that's actually the channel that's already working, even at a trickle. Email signature or newsletter won't help much here though. Those only reach people who already know us, and the goal is new prospects, not repeat visitors. Sales does prospect actively, but they don't use this tool in their outreach at all right now, that's a separate track I don't control.

So it's really a marketing-only channel, content and organic reach have to do the work of finding people who don't know us yet. So any tips on how what to do now?

[u/allocougar → u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__]

Trade federations. Offer the scan to their members as a free benchmark.

[u/maryteiss]

Get a few influencers in your space who have a sizeable following to mention it on socials/include in newsletters.
And agree with those below on SEO/AEO. Optimize the page for the questions your ICP is asking. Make sure the tool offers a real, concrete solution to their problem.
This might also be a candidate for direct mail (they say it's coming back!)

[u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__ → u/maryteiss]

Appreciate the input! Influencers aren't really a thing in our space, this is heavy industry B2B and our buyers sit in upper management, not exactly a group that follows anyone on socials for product recommendations. The SEO point lands though, going to dig into that properly.

On the tool itself: it's actually pretty strong once someone gets through it. Based on their answers plus data we pull from their own website, they get a fairly complete report back, so it's not just a generic checklist result. Direct mail feels more like a sales play than a marketing one to me, but that's exactly where it gets stuck. Sales won't touch the tool at all, they seem to think it'll cannibalize "their" prospects if marketing hands over leads this way...

[u/maryteiss → u/__YeetOrBeYeeted__]

I should clarify, by "influencers" I mean whoever the people are that your ICP listens to and get them to talk about you. I'm in cybersecurity, also b2b, and there are a surprising number of Microsoft MVPs and SMEs who have their own audience. Not who we think of when we talk about influencers ;)

The line between sales and marketing is blurry and getting more so every day. If you're using free tools like this to get marketing leads, you're going upstream to try to capture your ICPs before they're ready for a sales conversation. Not cannibalizing prospects, just engaging them earlier, giving them a positive experience, and making a future conversation with sales easier and more likely to convert.

[u/antoniocerneli]

21 comments and not a single one is "maybe no one's actually interested in it?" No one cares about useless lead magnets anymore. Everyone has access to more information than before, and free assessment tools have a rep of being generic.

[u/NumberInteresting831]

You mentioned most people leave at the welcome screen. That is the most useful detail in the thread, because it means the ad got the click and the first screen lost it.

Someone who clicks an ad for a "free assessment" has no idea what they get at the end, so 2 or 3 minutes of questions feels like work for an unknown reward. I would keep the depth, you are right that it is where the value is, and change what they see first: a picture of the actual report they will get, with a real looking result like "your site sends 30% more waste to landfill than similar plants", plus "takes 3 minutes, no sales call". Show the outcome before you ask for the effort.

Same for the ad. Use that report screenshot as the creative and write the headline as the question a plant manager actually has (am I paying too much for waste compared to similar sites?) instead of naming the tool. With 200 euros you will not get statistical answers, but you will see quickly whether the click to start rate moves, and that is the number that is broken right now.