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8 reasons why you should use LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms

By Ashley Hockney · April 6, 2017
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LinkedIn recently launched a new solution--Lead Gen Forms--that allows you to capture quality leads using forms that are pre-filled with LinkedIn profile data. This presents new and powerful opportunities for marketers, growth hackers, and advertising experts alike.

With this solution, we’d like to break down how Lead Gen Forms works and showcase just why and how you should be using it. We’ll walk through its most powerful features and demonstrate how to layer on native built-in and external tools like Zapier to amplify the impact of your work.

Here are the eight reasons why you should be using LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms.


But First, What Are LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms?

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, available on free and paid plans, allow you to capture leads via paid ads on LinkedIn using forms that are pre-filled with member profile data. They look like this:

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms example
Linked In Lead Gen Form

From the inside, the interface is nothing short of elegant. In less than a dozen clicks, you can navigate from your LinkedIn profile to the form editor and build your Lead Form in a few minutes

LinkedIn Lead Gen Form Creator

Check out our extensive profile of LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, which covers what it is, how to set it up, and how to create your first Lead Gen Form and LinkedIn campaign.

But what’s more important than the seamless UX of both the form creator and lead perspective is its conversion power. This brings us to the first of eight reasons for using Lead Gen Forms.

1. Be the First to an Untapped Market

If you’re reading this post and take action from it, you’ll be one of the first marketers using LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. With that novelty comes great strength.

In today’s mobile world there is an urgency for all online publishers to keep up with the changing technologies. To do this you have to be creative and hitting the trends just before they hit the masses.

-Imonomy

Remember the first Facebook Ad you ever saw? Your ad blocker wasn’t set up. The image and style was fresh. You might have been curious to explore what this new image on your sidebar was.

This is the level of interest you’ll be capturing if you jump into LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms today. Avoid member fatigue and jump on it now and reap the benefits of being one of the first marketers in an untapped market.

You may see more clicks and get a leg up on the competition. The converse is to wait until your competitor creates their first LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms and then play catch-up in a competitive market.

2. Benefit from Implicit Mobile Optimization

Have you prepared for mobilegeddon?

"Mobilegeddon is actually the nickname given to Google’s most recent push to incorporate "mobile friendliness" into their search algorithm, says Impact Branding and Design. "With it, sites that are fully-optimized for mobile browsing are ranked higher than those that aren’t and have the tag 'Mobile-Friendly' added to their search result."

Mobile optimization is the name of the game. An increasing proportion of your audience is reading and interacting on their phones rather than on their laptops. It’s more important than ever for your advertising to reach a mobile audience.

In fact, EMarketer estimated that mobile advertising budgets will hit $158.55 billion by 2018 and that at this time mobile ad budgets will be more than 50% of all worldwide digital advertising.

With LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, your campaigns are automatically mobile optimized. Creating beautiful ads on your customers’ smartphones wasn’t an afterthought in this product. Rather, it’s an area where this solution shines.

Don’t just keep up with mobile trends, lead on the cutting edge with a solution built to this medium.

3. Get More Leads With Less Time & Money With Increased Conversion Rates

What’s the most critical metric for any ad or lead gen form? Conversion rates. This is also where the impact of LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms becomes apparent.

With LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, you’re not only hitting a new market and leveraging the power of mobile advertising, you’re doing so with a tool that was specifically built to make it as simple as possible for your prospect to click on your ad and submit their information.

Because LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms prefills forms with info from their LinkedIn member profiles, your target audience can submit their information in just one click. Take a second to think about that.

Less friction means more submissions. You can drive more leads for each ad dollar you spend on LinkedIn compared to traditional form-fills.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Form Submission Process
LinkedIn Lead Gen Form Submission Process

4. Easily Implement Forms Into Your Existing Marketing Stack

Let’s be blunt. None of the above matters--new markets, conversion rates, or mobile ads--unless a tool is swift and easy for your team to implement.

Luckily, with the launch of LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms comes its integration with Zapier, allowing you to connect to over 750 other apps.

Whenever you get a new Lead Form response, you can automatically send information from that form to the other tools you and your team are already using. With this integration comes the ability to automate and streamline your marketing processes.

Whether you want to send new lead information to your marketing content management system (CMS) or sales customer relationship manager (CRM), update customer databases or push leads into a nurturing flow, you can do all of it automatically with Zapier.

Here Are a Few Ways You Can Connect Lead Gen Forms to Your Other Apps

Connect information about new leads to your marketing CMS

Subscribe new leads in LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms to Mailchimp

  • LinkedIn Ads logo
  • Mailchimp logo
LinkedIn Ads + Mailchimp
More details
    Keeping your marketing lists updated doesn't have to be a time-wasting chore. Turn on this integration to handle it for you, automatically! This integration will trigger whenever a new lead fills out one of your Lead Gen Forms on LinkedIn, subscribing them to a specified list in Mailchimp.

    Add new LinkedIn Ads leads to HubSpot CRM

    • LinkedIn Ads logo
    • HubSpot logo
    LinkedIn Ads + HubSpot
    More details
      Exporting your form results by hand is wasting time you could be spending on your relationships. Let Zapier do that heavy lifting for you. This automation, once active, will fire off whenever there's a new lead in one of your LinkedIn Ads, automatically creating a contact for them on HubSpot, or updating one that already exists with any new information from their LinkedIn profile.

      Add LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads as new subscribers in AWeber

      • LinkedIn Ads logo
      • AWeber logo
      LinkedIn Ads + AWeber
      More details
        LinkedIn is a great tool to help you generate hot new leads, but if you don't follow-up quickly, they can soon grow cold. Set up this integration to market to your leads automatically! Once your Zap is live, new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads will be added as new subscribers in AWeber allowing you to keep your messaging to your leads up to date.

        Create new deals in your sales CRM from new leads

        Add new LinkedIn Ads as leads in Salesforce

        • LinkedIn Ads logo
        • Salesforce logo
        LinkedIn Ads + Salesforce
        More details
          The sooner you log new lead details into your system, the better. This integration handles that process for you. Whenever a new lead submits their details to one of your Lead Gen forms on LinkedIn, their information will be automatically added to Salesforce so your sales team can begin developing the relationship immediately!

          Create deals on Pipedrive for new LinkedIn Ads leads

          • LinkedIn Ads logo
          • Pipedrive logo
          LinkedIn Ads + Pipedrive
          More details
            Every new prospect captured by your ads is a new opportunity for your business. Make sure you can react as quickly as possible by setting up this integration. From then on, whenever one of your LinkedIn Ads captures a new lead, we'll automatically add a deal to Pipedrive for it, helping your team pounce when the opportunities are hottest.

            Create boxes in Streak from new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads

            • LinkedIn Ads logo
            • Streak logo
            LinkedIn Ads + Streak
            More details
              The best time to nurture new leads is right after they give you their information and are interested. Follow up and make the most of your prospects automatically with this integration. Whenever a prospect submits their information with Linked In Lead Gen forms, their information is passed to Streak as a new box. Marketing made easy with no-code automation.

              Update customer databases automatically and without human error

              Add new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads to Airtable as records

              • LinkedIn Ads logo
              • Airtable logo
              LinkedIn Ads + Airtable
              More details
                A new lead is a waste of money if it gets lost in a sea of information. Organize internal databases, mine for trends and keep updated records of your potential customers--all without lifting a finger. With Zapier quietly humming in the background, new prospects from LinkedIn Ads will be added as Airtable records so you can organize them at will. Information, up-to-date and free of error on auto-pilot.

                Add new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads to Excel as rows

                • LinkedIn Ads logo
                • Microsoft Excel logo
                LinkedIn Ads + Microsoft Excel
                More details
                  Hundreds of new leads is a magnificent thing, unless they're unorganized, in which case they're useless. Keep beautiful and up-to-date databases without lifting a finger. With this Zapier integration, whenever a new lead is generated from LinkedIn Ads their information is passed to Excel where you can mine for trends, pass additional information or simply keep a backup of new prospects. Best part of all of this? It's done on auto-pilot.

                  Add LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads as new contacts in Constant Contact

                  • LinkedIn Ads logo
                  • Constant Contact logo
                  LinkedIn Ads + Constant Contact
                  More details
                    LinkedIn is great at generating new leads for your business, but in today's day and age, fast follow-up is key to acquiring new customers. Zapier was designed to automate repetitive tasks like this. After setting up this integration, new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads will be automatically added to Constant Contact as new contacts, allowing you to provide the right message at the right time.

                    Add new leads to a webinar funnel and rapidly convert them into paying customers

                    Create registrants in Demio from new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads

                    • LinkedIn Ads logo
                    • Demio logo
                    LinkedIn Ads + Demio
                    More details
                      Between the technology, presentation, slides and guests, webinars have enough going on as is, so don't worry about importing and exporting new leads as well. With this Zapier automation quietly working in the background, new leads from LinkedIn Ads are automatically added to Demio as registrants. No human error, no human effort. Let this automation work on auto-pilot.

                      Create GoTo Webinar registrants from new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads

                      • LinkedIn Ads logo
                      • GoTo Webinar logo
                      LinkedIn Ads + GoTo Webinar
                      More details
                        Webinars can quickly turn new leads into paying customers. With this integration, you can put this marketing funnel on auto-pilot and reap the benefits while you sleep. With Zapier quietly humming in the background, whenever a new prospect submits their info into a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form, Zapier creates a registrant with this info in GoTo Webinar. Moving from lead to customer has never been easier.

                        Create webinar registrants in Livestorm from new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads

                        • LinkedIn Ads logo
                        • Livestorm logo
                        LinkedIn Ads + Livestorm
                        More details
                          Webinars are complicated enough without having to import and export new leads and adding prospects to workflows. Let Zapier handle this for you. Now whenever a new lead is added in LinkedIn Ads, Zapier will automatically send their information to Livestorm as a registrant -- marketing automation that's foolproof.

                          Organize Information About Your Leads for Deep Data Analysis

                          Create new rows on a MySQL table with details for new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads

                          • LinkedIn Ads logo
                          • MySQL logo
                          LinkedIn Ads + MySQL
                          More details
                            If you need to have the latest prospect data in your database at all times, set up this integration and we'll handle the rest. From then on, whenever a new lead is captured by one of your LinkedIn Ads, Zapier will add all their submitted details to a new row on any MySQL table you need to track them on.

                            Post new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form leads to Slack channels

                            • LinkedIn Ads logo
                            • Slack logo
                            LinkedIn Ads + Slack
                            More details
                              Want to make sure the whole team knows whenever there's a new prospect in the pipeline? This integration takes care of that once you turn it on, automatically posting every new LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms lead's info to one of your Slack channels so everyone keeps up to date effortlessly.

                              Track the number of new LinkedIn Lead Gen leads in Databox

                              • LinkedIn Ads logo
                              • Databox logo
                              LinkedIn Ads + Databox
                              More details
                                Smart decision are made from accurate information, so the more details and up-to-date your data, the better. With Zapier quietly humming in the background, whenever a new lead is created in LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, Databox will count them in your company metrics. A clear, concise and updated view of your company in once place with no additional work to you.

                                Create To-Do Items from New Leads

                                Create Trello cards from new LinkedIn Ads leads

                                • LinkedIn Ads logo
                                • Trello logo
                                LinkedIn Ads + Trello
                                More details
                                  The faster you take action on your prospects, the better the chances for conversion, After you've set up this integration, Zapier will create a Trello card whenever your LinkedIn Lead Gen form captures a new lead, letting your track everyone without any manual effort.

                                  Create Asana tasks from new LinkedIn Lead Gen leads

                                  • LinkedIn Ads logo
                                  • Asana logo
                                  LinkedIn Ads + Asana
                                  More details
                                    Turn leads into customers through quick and logical follow-up. This integration helps you do just that. With Zapier quietly humming in the background, whenever a prospect submits their info to a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form, Zapier creates a task with their information in Asana. Keep you to-do list, team and company up-to-day automatically

                                    Leverage and Automate SMS Marketing

                                    Track the number of new LinkedIn Lead Gen leads in Databox

                                    • LinkedIn Ads logo
                                    • Databox logo
                                    LinkedIn Ads + Databox
                                    More details
                                      Smart decision are made from accurate information, so the more details and up-to-date your data, the better. With Zapier quietly humming in the background, whenever a new lead is created in LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, Databox will count them in your company metrics. A clear, concise and updated view of your company in once place with no additional work to you.

                                      Send SMS via Burst SMS from new LinkedIn Lead Gen Form Leads

                                      • LinkedIn Ads logo
                                      • Burst SMS logo
                                      LinkedIn Ads + Burst SMS
                                      More details
                                        Take advantage of SMS marketing without loosing the power of marketing automation. With this integration quietly humming in the background, whenever a new prospect submits their information you can send a message through Burst SMS. Gain a fully automated marketing pipeline that's optimized for a mobile experience and runs on auto-pilot.

                                        Get SMS notifications for new LinkedIn Ads

                                        • LinkedIn Ads logo
                                        • SMS by Zapier logo
                                        LinkedIn Ads + SMS by Zapier
                                        More details
                                          You don't need to keep checking how your forms are doing for each campaign you run—we can let you know whenever there's something to see. This automation, once active, will trigger whenever one of your LinkedIn Ads captures a new lead. Zapier will then send you an SMS message with their details, making sure you hear about prospects wherever you are.

                                          **Not seeing what you’re looking for? Explore the other 750+ apps Zapier integrates with and build custom workflows.

                                          If you don’t already have a Zapier account, you can sign up for free here.

                                          With integrations like the above, you’re not just automating painful tasks for your team, you’re allowing your business as a whole to iterate and scale quickly. You’re easing innovation by removing the headache of moving to a new tool or reworking your whole system.

                                          Connect LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms & Zapier (It’s Free)

                                          5. Get More Information About New Leads Without Decreasing Conversions

                                          Anyone who has set up an email submission form knows there’s always a balance between asking for more information to get a better sense of who your audience is and asking as few questions as possible to make signup a breeze and keep conversion rates high.

                                          With LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, you can escape the double-edged sword. Lead Gen Forms are prefilled with information from LinkedIn members’ profiles. Include questions about location, profession, or company without expecting people to type out additional information.

                                          You can select up to 7 fields in Campaign Manager when creating your Lead Gen Form template

                                          LinkedIn Lead Gen Fields

                                          At any time, you can check out your form fill rate in LinkedIn’s native analytics page:

                                          LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms Analytics

                                          With Zapier, capturing additional information becomes meaningful. You can easily send these detailed responses to your data analytics tool of choice, whether it's Databox, MySQL, or a Google Sheet that you manipulate.

                                          Find trends in your audience and tailor your marketing, messaging, and brand to your people. You canl see better metrics on everything you do.

                                          6. Target Business Professionals

                                          Social media marketing is hard to get right. With 24/7 content schedules, a new platform booming and dying each month and content that feels too short to take seriously, many marketers write it off as not worth the investment. However, once you find the social media that speaks to your audience, you’ll start to see the return on investment.

                                          LinkedIn does work for B2B leads. Do Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest? Maybe, baby, but don’t bank on it

                                          -Neil Patel

                                          LinkedIn as A Lead Generator
                                          Image via MediaBistro

                                          "The bottom line is this: LinkedIn works for B2B lead generation."

                                          If LinkedIn is already working for B2B leads, you can bet that the Lead Gen Forms will amplify this impact, which is precisely why you should jump into this new solution if this matches your target market.

                                          Additionally, using Zapier, you can filter leads by title, size of company or location. This allows you to hone in your marketing efforts and separate top tier leads from the rest or segment into smaller audiences with customized nurturing flows.

                                          7. The Power of Redirecting

                                          When someone submits their information to your Lead Gen Form, the flow doesn’t stop there. Rather, once the information is submitted, your new lead will view a thank you page and have the option to click off to a landing page where your offer, lead magnet, or other content is hosted.

                                          Here’s where you can make the most of your money with one small tweak. Don’t just show a thank you page post sign up, redirect to another offer, bonus, or social shares.

                                          Teachable has a great example of this:

                                          Teachable Redirect
                                          Example of a Redirect

                                          This is an easy and supplemental way to make your ad spend do more work for you and LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms makes it easy to do.

                                          8. Get More for Your Money

                                          Looking at the first seven reasons to use LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, it becomes apparent that the solution is built to help you get more bang for your buck. Make the most of your ad spend with increased conversion rates, advanced targeting, and in-depth analytics.

                                          Better conversion rates mean more leads with less money and less work setting up multiple campaigns--the ideal situation for any lead generation solution.


                                          LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms are new and we’re looking to you to tell us what you find. Share your experiences in the comments below and give your fellow marketers a leg up.

                                          Explore the LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms integration and what you can do with it.

                                          Connect LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms & Zapier (It’s Free)

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