40 Lead Generation Statistics You Need to Know in 2022

For most businesses, lead generation takes a huge amount of time, resources, and, above all, effort. You know your product is amazing, but finding the right people it can help is not easy. 

With so much going into lead generation, it’s no surprise that a lot of sales and marketing professionals end up wasting time on inopportune processes of unproductive channels. 

To ensure you get the best chance of connecting with your target and driving your business growth, it’s a good idea to always stay on top of the facts. 

Here are the lead generation statistics you need to know in 2022.

Editor’s Picks

• Marketing automation generates more leads and conversions according to 80% of marketers. (APSIS)
• 5 minutes is the ideal timeframe for responding to a lead. (LeadSimple)
• Businesses who contact a lead within the first hour are 7 times more likely to qualify the lead than businesses who respond within two hours. (Harvard Business Review)
• Although 45% of marketers have converted using LinkedIn, only 47% of marketers actively use the platform. (Quicksprout) 

General Lead Generation Statistics

You’re not alone. Businesses around the world are facing the same challenges, successes, and failures. Here’s the general state of lead generation in 2022. 

1. Lead generation is the number one challenge for 61% of marketers. (Hubspot)
2. 53% of marketers spend at least half of their budget on lead generation. (BrightTALK).
3. 18% of marketers think outbound approaches provide valuable leads. (Hubspot)
4. Marketing automation generates more leads and conversions according to 80% of marketers. (APSIS)
5. Most large or mid-sized companies generate less than 5,000 leads a month. (Hubspot)

Where businesses are failing  

Every statistic tells a story and these say that there’s a lot of room for improvement among businesses and sales teams. By increasing your speed to lead, you can truly differentiate yourself within the market and make more sales.

1. Only 37% of businesses respond to leads within an hour. (Hubspot)
2. The average B2B business’s lead response time is 42 hours. (Hubspot)
3. The average response time on digital leads is 17 hours. (Ricochet 360)
4. Due to slow lead response times, only about 27% of leads ever get contacted. (InsideSales)
5. Less than 25% of companies call their web leads. (OpenView)
6. 6. Poor response times can increase churn by up to 15%. (Website Builder)
7. 7. 30% of your leads will choose one of your competitors if you don’t respond. (Website Builder)
8. 24% of customers say that initial contact is critical. (Website Builder)
9. Only 37% of businesses respond to leads within an hour. (Harvard Business Review)
10. Over 40%t of salespeople claim that prospecting is the hardest part of the sales process (Hubspot)

Why every second counts

When it comes to sales, you need to strike while the iron is hot. We can’t stress enough how important every second is to maximize your conversion chances. As you’ll see from the statistics below, the first five minutes after a lead makes contact are the most important. From there, your chances drop drastically.

1. Responding within the first minute increases lead conversions by 391%. (Xoombi)
2. 5 minutes is the ideal timeframe for responding to a lead. (LeadSimple)
3. Calling within 5 minutes is 21x more effective than calling after 30 minutes (LeadSimple)
4. Vendasta’s speed to lead statistics show that after 5 minutes, the odds of qualifying a lead decrease by 80%. (Vendasta)
5. Leads are 10 times less likely to respond after 5 minutes. (InsideSales)
6. Leads contacted within 5 minutes are 21 times more likely to be qualified as leads contacted within 30 minutes. (InsideSales)
7. Businesses who contact a lead within the first hour are 7 times more likely to qualify the lead than businesses who respond within two hours. (Harvard Business Review)
8. Calling a lead within 5 hours is 40% more effective than calling after 24 hours. (LeadSimple)
9. 5 minutes is the ideal timeframe for responding to a lead. (LeadSimple)

The importance of good timing 

Speed may be the most important factor in converting leads, but it’s not the only one. There are other components that contribute to overall good timing.

 

1. 50% of leads go with the vendor that responds first. (Vendasta)
2. Timing your calls right increases conversions by 49%. (Xoombi)
3. Timing your emails right increases conversions by 53%. (Xoombi)
4. For the best lead response times, contact leads on Wednesdays and Thursdays. (InsideSales)
5. Thursdays are also the best days for qualifying leads. (InsideSales)
6. Timing your calls right increases conversions by 49%. (Xoombi)

Marketing and social media

Marketing and social media are exceptional ways to generate leads for your business—and the statistics prove this! Leads that come in from these sources are often better qualified and are great opportunities for the sales team to follow up.

1. By spending just 6 hours a week on social media, 66% of marketers claim they’re able to generate leads. (Social Media Examiner)
2. 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn. (Oktopost)
3. Although 45% of marketers have converted using LinkedIn, only 47% of marketers actively use the platform. (Quicksprout) 
4. 83% of leads via social media come from Twitter. (Digital Media Stream)
5. Content marketing generates 3x the number of leads as outbound marketing and costs less than half the price. (Demand Metric)
6. Content marketing is used by 80% of companies to reach their goals. (Content Marketing Institute)
7. Websites that have blogs are 13x likely to drive positive ROIs. (Hubspot)
8. You can get up to 500% more traffic based on the strength of your website. (Wired)
9. Around 90% of people on Instagram follow a business page. (Instagram). 
10.  58 million companies reach new prospects and connect with their target through brand communities hosted on LinkedIn. (LinkedIn)

Need help with your lead generation?

Lead generation is no easy game, but it’s one that every company must win at in order to grow their business in a healthy way. Given today’s market context, this is often easier said than done. 

The fact is that, to grow your business with confidence, you need the right software that allows you to find, automate, document, and refine your lead generation efforts—and offer the service your clients expect after conversion. 

If you’d like to find out more about how Pipeline.so can help you to maximize your lead generation efforts, reach out to us today!