How RoboRecruiter moves faster with automation

A comprehensive lead management program may require development resources to keep social media, conventional media, offline call centers and other data sources connected to your CRM (customer relationship manager). Even then, it can be hard to understand which sources are working and which are generating junk. And worst of all, manual processes can lock up the best leads for days, waiting for someone to start the process of moving them where they need to be.

"We hear from advertisers all time that speed to contacting leads is critically important," says Reid Robinson, senior strategic alliances manager at Zapier, citing data from the company's 2021 State of Business Automation report. "They know tracking leads in the right place is important. And they know that if they don't automate, it takes a lot of time and they can sometimes forget about important leads."

Then there's the problem of quality.

"Whenever we talk to lead-generation businesses, the number one ask is that we maintain volume while also providing a higher quality of lead," notes Nicholas Shannahan, product marketing lead at the social media giant Facebook. "In other words, they still want leads—but leads that are more likely to convert."

Creating a connected lead-gen ecosystem

Facebook Lead Ads is a great example of a lead-gen source. Advertisers create an instant form on Facebook or Instagram to identify potential customers and collect extensive contact information. Custom questions can provide even more insight into the products and services customers are seeking.

Nicholas said:

"Your business can specify what customer information is most important to you in this form, like a name, a phone number or an email address," Nicholas explained.

For many Facebook users, this information is pre-populated into that form, making it easy for people to submit their information. Then, a business just needs to export those leads and get them into their CRM.

But businesses don't just collect leads. They need to respond to inquiries, manage customer interactions across multiple apps and media sites, and in B2B verticals, nurture those leads along a sales funnel to engage with potential customers as they work through a buying decision. To do this they rely on tools that run the gamut from Google Sheets and Gmail to complex CRM systems from Salesforce and HubSpot.