What is a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form?
According to LinkedIn, Lead Gen Forms is “a new solution that helps you generate even more high-quality leads from your Sponsored Content campaigns by removing the number one barrier to mobile conversion: requiring someone to fill out a awkward contact on a smartphone.” In my opinion, they could be LinkedIn's path to viability as an advertising platform. Before, oh, about yesterday, LinkedIn-sponsored content was clunky and overpriced, making it nearly impossible to take advantage of the business-centric social network's robust targeting. It sucked.
Now, when a targeted LinkedIn user clicks the new “Sign Up” button on any of your cell phone number list sponsored content, they are taken to a (mostly) pre-populated lead form. LinkedIn pulls relevant data directly from a prospect's likely up-to-date personal page, ensuring accurate contact information. From there, you can share content with a prospect (now a bona fide prospect) or direct them to your website.
No typographical errors attributable to the fleshy numbers. No fake demo account. No Eastern European spam bots. Just lead, baby. On Facebook, many advertisers have already had success using lead ads; It stands to reason that LinkedIn's lead generation forms will also be a boon for advertisers. Let's take a closer look at some of the key factors in determining if LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms are right for your business.
LinkedIn Lead Gen Form UX
The fact that so much relevant prospect information can be pulled directly from LinkedIn profile pages makes the experience seamless for prospects. Lead generation forms can't exceed seven questions, so even if there's some information a prospect has to enter manually, doing so isn't as tedious as possible.
It's also worth mentioning that prospects can edit the pre-populated contact information (email address and phone number) if the ones pulled from their LinkedIn profile are no longer valid.