Reduce “Reverse Spam”

An effective landing page is a terrific way to generate specific action by your target customers via a specific message or offer. Most often, landing pages are used for some type of lead generation purpose.

A landing page should create a landing experience that portrays the value that your target customer will receive if they take action.

We always should keep in mind that lead generation is a moneyless transaction scenario. Your target customer "pays" for the information you are offering with their contact information. You are working to hit lead generation objectives by “selling” information of value to your target customer in order to receive their contact information.

If the information you are offering (white paper, demo, podcast, webinar, videocast, etc.) is not in line with, or is not perceived to be in line with the information you require to access the information, the prevalence of "reverse spamming" will be much higher. Reverse spamming is a when your prospective customer gives false contact information so that they can access your information without really "paying” for it.

There is no question that a prospective customer is less likely to "reverse spam" when they feel confident that the information being offered is of value and the information is being presented by a respected and viable solutions provider.

Four specific ways to reduce "reverse spam" in your next lead generation effort:

1. Implement well-rounded, integrated marketing programs. Prospective customers will be much more likely to give you accurate contact information if they know and respect your company. Branding efforts either offline or online increase familiarity with and respect for your company and your solutions.

2. Create compelling landing pages. Offer enough provocative information in the headline, graphics and body copy of the landing page to "sell" your target customer on the value of the information you are providing.

3. Keep the information you are asking for (required fields) in proportion to the value of the information you are offering. For example, access to a product demo is probably not as valuable as access to a research report on a pressing industry issue. Therefore, you likely should ask for a little information to access a product demo, but can ask for more to access the research report.

4. Consider a multi-page landing page in order that you can more specifically target a customer's interests and information needs. Via a multi-page landing page you can offer different information based on the customer's job function/area of responsibility, their current challenges and other factors.

For more information about creating effective landing pages, the following is a great blog that offers a lot of insight and discussion:

www.nomorelandingpages.com