5 Reasons Your Lead Generation Campaign Is NOT Working

So you’ve decided to bite the bullet and try out a lead generation campaign. Whether you are doing it yourself or with the help of a lead generation service, you seem to have nailed down the basics — chosen the right communication channel, found a list of relevant people, wrote a compelling marketing copy.

And yet after a few weeks of campaign running, you are not seeing the promised results. Your calendar isn’t getting filled with anticipated sales meetings, and you start to wonder — is lead gen really that effective?

What could be going wrong?

The simplest solution is — look at what people are responding to you. Even the lack of responses can say something about why the campaign isn’t performing very well.

Here are some of the most common issues:

1. Wrong communication channel

If open or acceptance rates are ridiculously low, it’s worth considering whether you have chosen the right communication channel.

It may very well be that the prospect isn’t checking their LinkedIn often enough, or aren’t particularly tech-savvy to respond on social media.

Emails can get buried in quickly filling inboxes of C-level executives.

The bottom line is — consider what would be the best way to approach your prospects in your specific industry.

Are cold emails oversaturated in your industry? Or maybe their company security is not letting those emails in?

Perhaps your industry isn’t represented on LinkedIn (for example, legal services are one of the least common spheres on the platform) so it wouldn’t make sense to approach them there.

We wrote a guide to each communication channel’s strengths and weaknesses. Consider this when deciding your outreach channel (or use a combination of 2).

2. Non-effective messaging

This is one of the most common and obvious reasons for a failed campaign.

Think about how many bad, non-engaging sales messages you receive and delete daily yourself.

But not all non-effective messaging is created equally.

Some copies just come across too “selly” or aggressive — and seeing as we are surrounded by advertising almost every minute of our time on the internet, we have a pretty good radar for when someone is trying to sell something.

Other messages lack a clear USP which makes them stand out in the competition. As a result, the prospect doesn’t see a clear incentive to follow up or schedule that call.

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is focus solely on their product and disregard the clients’ perspective.

Think about whether you are overwhelming your prospects with information about your company and not enough info that could actually be relevant to them.

Is your copy answering questions like “What problems does this product solve” and “Why is that a good thing”?

Creating a perfect marketing copy takes practice so it’s important to listen to the feedback and modify your messaging accordingly.

Here’s just a few tips from us as to how to create a perfect cold message.

3. Wrong target

This might seem obvious, but more often than not it becomes apparent when it is too late.

Targeting the wrong audience can happen for a few reasons.

One of the most common is the database software failure. Alas, programs are not perfect, and they often pull up absolutely irrelevant people. For example, Sales Navigator, LinkedIn’s own professional database often disregards filters to bring in leads from outside the target geography, titles and industries.

You can minimise these errors by understanding how databases work and keeping a close eye on the list.

Databases can also have outdated information. As most of the public information on prospects is user-created, there’s a chance you might come across incorrect or old data on their profiles.

Finally, the scope of the target itself might be imprecise. It is important to have a clear idea of who you want to be communicating with and who you would like to be your target audience.

Remember, reach out to the people you want to become your clients and not the people who are already your clients.

4. Unappealing landing page

It is quite surprising how many people skip this step of the lead generation process.

Imagine, you created a perfect lead generation campaign — your target is impeccable, your messaging personalised and effective.

People are interacting and engaging, excited to learn more/schedule a call, but your additional material, brochure, landing page or website are… underwhelming.

And the lead, disappointed and confused, gets away.

There are a few things that can go wrong with your landing page — the website could look outdated and untrustworthy; or there isn’t enough simple-to-digest accessible info about your product; or maybe there is too much info!

In any case, it is important that the final step of lead generation is developed as much as the initial ones.

Your potential buyer needs to see the clear journey ahead, and supporting documents and/or the landing page should not confuse, but inspire action.

If you are seeing a lot of engagement but not enough conversions, take a look at your marketing materials and ask yourself — would I be convinced to click that link?

5. Unfocused campaign

Finally, one of the most overlooked reasons for an unsuccessful campaign is actually a campaign without a clear direction.

Before you start, you have to decide your end goal.

Obviously the goal of a lead generation campaign is to bring leads, but you need to think further.

A campaign can serve many purposes, from raising brand awareness to starting a conversation to finding eligible buyers.

How does this campaign place itself within your sales pipeline? What purpose does it serve? What are you hoping to get out of it?

Even if the goal is to make a sale right there and then, you need to decide where the prospect fits within your sales process.

If no definite answer can be given to any of these questions, the result is an unfocused campaign with a scattered message and call-to-action.

Even if such a campaign does generate results, it won’t make a difference if you are not ready to process the results to go further.

A clear focus and goal will guide the rest of your efforts, including the targeting, the message and communication channel.


These were just some of the most common reasons why a lead gen campaign might not bring the desired results.

At the end of the day, each campaign is unique and each problem is specific. Good rule of thumb is to practice quick thinking to change and adapt on the spot. Analyse and optimise is the secret to a good lead generation strategy.

If you’d like to try a lead generation campaign that would keep all these reasons in mind and actually work, contact our experts at the UMG.