Last month, we hosted Lessons in Lead Gen: Integrating Channels to Make Meaningful Connections, a webinar featuring Jessie Hayes, Digital Strategy Manager at Forward Action, and Richard Casson, Senior Digital Fundraising Manager at UK for UNHCR. They shared practical strategies to help causes use integrated lead generation to create genuine, lasting connections with supporters.

Missed it? Watch the full webinar here, or read on for the key insights to transform your lead generation strategy.

Why Lead Gen Matters

Lead generation is about connecting with people who share your values and inspiring them to take meaningful action. It’s not just about building lists – it’s about building relationships. Direct-to-donate campaigns often miss this crucial step.

Remember, leads are people. Each lead represents someone who cares about your cause and could become a lifelong supporter. Building trust and offering value from the start is essential for turning interest into action.

How to Build a Winning Lead Generation Strategy

1. Think Dancefloor, Not Ladder

Lead generation works best when supporters have the freedom to engage in ways that suit them. Think of your strategy as a dancefloor, where actions flow naturally – some supporters may dive into regular giving, while others might prefer smaller steps like signing a petition or reading a story.

This flexible approach creates an inclusive experience that meets people where they are.

2. Blend Channels for a Seamless Journey

An integrated approach ensures consistency across platforms. Effective strategies include:

• Social Media Ads: Attract new leads with compelling offers like quizzes or free resources.
• Email: Use tailored nurture series to educate and engage.
• WhatsApp and SMS: Provide timely updates and quick calls-to-action.
• Telemarketing: Personalise outreach to convert leads into regular donors.

A blended approach increases conversions and strengthens supporter relationships.

3. Use Technology to Streamline and Scale

Integrating tools like Meta Ads and your CRM can:

• Automate lead data for smoother follow-ups.
• Personalise communications based on supporter behaviour.
• Track performance and optimise campaigns in real-time.

Efficient systems save time and enhance results, making them an investment worth prioritising.

4. Test, Learn, Iterate

Testing is key to unlocking success. Experiment with different formats, messaging, and channels to discover what resonates most. For example:

• Trial value exchange products like quizzes or petitions.
• Explore new platforms like WhatsApp, which boasts a 95% read rate.
• Adjust calls-to-action to reflect audience feedback.

Each test provides insights to refine your approach.

Case Study: UK for UNHCR

UK for UNHCR’s programme is a brilliant example of how integrated lead generation can achieve exceptional results. Working with Forward Action, they developed a multi-channel programme to grow their supporter base and boost donations.

The Approach

Their strategy included:

• Meta Ads Campaigns: Attracting leads with value exchange products like solidarity ribbons.

• Data Integration: Automating lead flow into Salesforce for efficient follow-up.
• Email Journeys: Delivering personalised emails to educate and inspire.

• Telemarketing: Converting phone-opted leads into regular donors.

The Results

• Low Costs, High Volume: A CPL of £2.60, with 91% of leads new to the cause.
• Strong Engagement: 67% of leads shared their phone numbers, enabling further outreach.
• Donation Success:
  • 3% donated at sign-up (average gift: £18).
  • 4% converted to regular giving via telemarketing (average gift: £8/month).

Key Learnings

• Flexibility Matters: A dancefloor approach allowed supporters to engage on their terms.
• Relationships First: Trust-building led to higher conversion rates.
• Data is Critical: Integration ensured no lead was overlooked, and insights from testing improved results.

Quick Tips to Take Away

1. Focus on people, not numbers: Build trust with your supporters.
2. Encourage flexibility: Offer varied opportunities for engagement.
3. Test boldly: Experiment with formats and channels to find what works.
4. Streamline systems: Use technology to save time and maximise impact.
5. Enhance your lead gen strategies: Explore channels and tactics like WhatsApp and value exchange to increase engagement.

Lead generation isn’t just a tactic; it’s an opportunity to build meaningful connections with people who believe in your cause. By adopting the dancefloor approach, blending channels, and leveraging technology, you can inspire supporters to take action in ways that matter most to them.

Feeling inspired? Get in touch with us at hello@forwardaction.uk to talk through your ideas and explore how we can work together.

Q&A

Read on for the questions and answers from the webinar, including the ones we didn’t get to!

UNHCR has high name recognition. I wonder why organic leads are not something you overly rely on. Does it work for any organisations anymore?

Organic lead generation can still be effective, but the numbers are not likely to sustain growth on their own. For organic lead gen to recruit at scale there needs to be a trigger event which drives people to your cause. This is how organisations like Forward Action’s partner Palestine Solidarity Campaign have grown their supporter base exponentially in the last year. It’s important that you have a great sign up tool in place as standard, so that if anything should drive the public to your organisation, no one is put off signing up by unclear messaging or poor UX.

How do you avoid getting attention and comments from people who are very anti-refugee/anti-immigration?

You can’t completely avoid negative comments, but you can reduce their impact by targeting audiences likely to respond positively, such as those aligned with certain values or beliefs. This may increase advertising costs due to more specific targeting. To prevent negative comments from affecting your campaign’s performance, optimise for leads rather than clicks or engagement. Otherwise, Meta may treat negative interactions as success, showing your ad to similar users and exacerbating the issue.

Are you using detailed targeting to reach specific audiences?

At Forward Action we often find that running lead generation campaigns to as broad an audience as possible helps keep costs down.

How do you run your set up to continue to reach new people and how difficult do you find this?

It’s important to exclude existing supporters from seeing your Meta campaign.

Have you found attrition rates are high with lead gen activity? We’ve had success with engagement and conversion but saw high attrition when running similar campaigns.

Broadly, it really depends on the framing, mechanism and organisation. Digital lead gen can attract really committed supporters who stick around, but sometimes supporters may have expected something different from your org, or their attention may be elsewhere. We’d encourage you to look at your ongoing comms programme (e.g. email) if you’re seeing high attrition rates, and assess whether there’s any way you could improve this.

What ethical considerations are there around telemarketing?

There’s a lot of guidance on the considerations of running a telemarketing programme available on marketing blogs, and each organisation will come to their own decision about whether and how to do it.

Where you used the handraisers and the ad showed you aiming for 1000 sign ups, what did the person think you were doing with that data as it wasn’t a political petition?

We find that adding a target counter improves on-page conversion, so where possible we try to include it. Even without a petition hand-in, it provides a sense of belonging (“I’m in this with others”) and social proof (“Others are doing this so I should”), both of which can be motivating.

Do you have separate CPL benchmarks for telephone and e-mail?

Yes, it’s likely that these will be different. At Forward Action, our 2024 benchmark for digital recruitment of a supporter opted in to email is £1.40, and a supporter opted in to telephone is £3.37.

Do you have any early demographic data for who is using WhatsApp?

We don’t have this information collected and ready to share right now, but we will aim to share this in our upcoming WhatsApp webinar! Make sure you’re signed up to our email list to be notified about our webinars (you can sign up at the bottom of this page).

What are charities using for their value exchange offer?

We shared some examples in the webinar, but aside from physical products this can be everything from ‘how to’ guides, ebooks, recipes, etc.

What marketing channels are other charities using for marketing other than Meta?

Everything from SEO to social media, including X/Twitter, YouTube, Tiktok, LinkedIn.

How often do regular donors want to hear from organisations thanking them for their support?

Regular donors probably don’t want lots of generic thank you emails, but they would like to know what their donations have helped achieve on a regular basis. Finding opportunities to say an authentic thank you, and feed back their impact, is incredibly important in regular donor attrition. Some organisations acknowledge the regular giver every time they ask them to take another action eg. “As one of our committed supporters…”, so that regular thank you’s are built in.