Why most B2B lead ads fail – and the strategy that actually works

Transcript

Maelien

So today’s episode is all about leads ads and how to make them work.

Now to kick this off, Lou, I remembered about this post from last year that rubbed you up the wrong way. 

It was by Chris Walker and I’ve got the key points here: 

Metadata released their second B2B advertising benchmark report and the results were… umm… not good.

• $37MM of ad spend on lead ads
• 236,000 total *air quotes* “leads” collected
• “Download” was the most popular CTA indicating that B2B companies are using paid social to drive downloads of gated PDFs
• The average cost was $126 to get someone to maybe open the PDF
• Estimate the lead-to-win percentage to be 0.3%. That means Sales needs 333 “leads” to win 1 deal, which is terribly inefficient [based on what they’d seen previously]
• So that would be $37MM in total advertising spend on lead gen campaigns resulting in only $22MM in estimated closed won revenue.
• With him wrapping it up to say there is FINALLY enough data to say that almost all B2B companies should STOP running lead gen campaigns on LinkedIn & Facebook.

So, I remember you had a bit of a bee in your bonnet over this for a while.

Did you want to talk us through your thoughts here if you remember?

Louis

Yeah, absolutely. I meant to put out a hot take at the time but completely missed the boat on it. And I know Chris Walker has moved on from B2B Demand Gen now and he’s doing something different.

But to be honest, I was pretty late in discovering his stuff. I started seeing his content on LinkedIn and started thinking whoah this guy is a threat to the performance marketing industry. If people believe this then it’s really dangerous.

And then I started listening to his podcast and found that while his social content was polarising and controversial – his podcast material was extremely well contextualised and it wasn’t about demand gen vs performance marketing. 

It was just about getting successful B2B marketing results. And I totally got why he’s kind of put on this pedestal as one of the great modern minds of B2B marketing. Totally deserved.

But on this specific point about lead ads – I have to disagree with that last point; that businesses should stop running lead ads altogether.

Because I’m 100% confident that the vast majority of that ad spend was spent on lead ads that had little to no serious research, planning and depth behind it.

Maelie

Yeah, I’m convinced a lot of businesses run lead ads because they’re so easy to set up. 

The perceived value is really high because you can knock out a lead ad campaign in under an hour. And it’ll feel like you’re getting “leads” even with a basic approach.

And this follows on from our recent episode about lead quality – because these leads will basically be crap. As in probably just contact details with zero intent.

We already know all leads aren’t created equal. People looking for top level information are not looking to buy 

– unless that information is something like a knowledge gap that’s an immediate barrier to them making a purchase.

Louis

Yeah 100%. So I’m now a proud driver of a VW Buzz. 

Luckily I knew a decent amount about EVs because we’d worked with electrifying.com as a client. 

But I still hadn’t experienced first hand what it was like being in the market for one.

A dealer could have definitely got my attention with a buyers guide for newbies as there’s so much to get your head around, and it would have saved me a lot of time researching everything by just focusing on a few specifics you know?

And even better if that buyer’s guide was made so it dovetailed with that dealers language and sales process. 

I also just want to clarify that I’m talking about more of a “how to buy your first EV” type guide and not an “everything you need to know before buying an EV”.

They might sound very similar but understanding the difference – and there’s a very big one – is key to understanding how to make lead ads work.

There is no point in giving top of funnel information in exchange for an email address. None. 

If someone is right at the beginning of the buyer’s journey – just let them have the content. 

However if someone is in the process of buying something – like the end game – and your content makes it easier, faster or more pain free for them – that’s a totally different story.

…and that’s where I think Chris’s conclusion misses the point a bit.

It’s not that lead ads don’t work — it’s that most of them have zero commercial intent behind them.

Maelien

I mean, I get it though. There is like a kind of dopamine hit that lead ads give you. 

You launch them and almost immediately the cost per lead in your report starts dropping. And it can easily turn into this game of how low can we get our cost per lead. Until someone starts questioning the quality of those leads. And then everything starts to unravel.

And if you haven’t already been stung by that before you don’t automatically monitor and optimise the lead quality from the start.

So when I look at the $37 million in ad spend that went into lead ads campaigns, I don’t see bad marketers – I see marketers that have been led astray by the platforms giving an easy dopamine hit.

Because the platform counts form fills as a “lead”, even though most of them never turn into a real conversation.

Because, If the intent behind your lead ads is close to zero, then no amount of follow-up or nurturing will turn that into pipeline.

And a really important point to make here is that there is a transaction going on in a lead ad. It’s just that people are parting with their data instead of their money.

Nobody wants more spam clogging up their inbox. 

So the value of what people are willing to part with their contact details for, just keeps increasing.

This is one part of it. The other part is ease and speed. 

Like out of the box, with the default settings, someone seeing a lead ad can click a button and have just exchanged their information with next to no friction. Which means they’re way more likely to do it.

But that does cause a couple of issues:

People are quickly going to forget that they gave their details or not even realise they gave them in the first place

You’re going to get the contact details for loads of people that aren’t a fit 

Louis

So effectively to get more sales ready leads, you need to make sure that what people are getting in exchange for their details is a) valuable and b) positioned as far down the buying process as possible.

You can make the buying process easier, handle objections or remove a barrier to purchase – like answering a question that’s stopping them from buying.

And then going back to what you said there Maelie – 

Let’s talk a bit about what we can do if people don’t remember submitting their details

This is something we covered in our episode about lead quality – which is to add a bit more friction.

At Web Marketer, if we find that people don’t remember giving their details, we’ll actually make the form harder to submit. And I’d say that this happens in nearly all of the lead ad campaigns we run.

So to do this, we like to remove the out of the box email field, because that’s what gets auto-populated and submitted way too easily, and then replace it with a custom field that we call something like ‘work email’.

That way:

1. People have to type their email in, so they have to do it consciously, so they will definitely realise they’re doing it
2. You actually get more branded work emails by doing this because a huge percentage of people sign up to social media profiles (including LinkedIn) with their personal email address and that’s what gets auto-pushed through.

Maelien

Let’s run through what you can do if you’re getting the wrong kinds of people from your lead ads, this is something we thought up as a solution for one of our clients.

We call it ‘self selection’.

So we were working with an agricultural machinery manufacturer looking to speak to farmers. We started to run lead ads and found that they were getting really good lead volume.

But the feedback from the client was that the enquiries coming in weren’t from farmers.

Like we normally do when there’s a fundamental problem with a clients’ ads, we book an internal call to get as many brains on the case as possible.

Now we could have added a classic “qualification question” as an extra step. Something like “Are you a farmer?” yes or no.

But we all agreed that it smelled too much like sales and it might put too many people off.

Instead, we went for something a little more subtle.
We asked something along the lines of “What kind of farmer are you?”

And added a drop down with pigs, sheep and cows as the options.

And that did the trick. It actually worked better than we expected because every single lead from that point on was from a farmer, and surprisingly the cost per lead was even lower than before. 

Our working theory is because it felt more personalised.

Now if you use this approach, and I’d really recommend you test it.

It’s really important that you don’t add an option for “Other” in the dropown. No matter how tempting it is.

Every time we’ve rolled this out since, clients have got real fomo about putting people off. 

But that’s the entire point. You want to put the wrong people off.

Louis

So, as always let’s do a bit of a recap:

Having someone’s contact information doesn’t make them a lead. 

So what they get in exchange for their contact details (which doesn’t have to be a pdf download) – has to align with the next step being a sales conversation, or at least starting the purchase journey. 

As marketers we’ve been so obsessed with making it easy to convert, for so long that we’ve been blindsided by what happens if it’s made too easy. 

To make sure people realise they’ve submitted your lead form, you can replace the out of the box auto-populated contact fields with a custom one – so people actually have to type their details in.

And finally before running lead ads, you should be really clear on who you’re trying to engage. And you can filter out the wrong people with a subtle self-selection question. 

Also, a cheeky little value-add for you. 

LinkedIn have very recently brought out a new Calendly integration for lead ads where people can book a call right after submitting your form. 

But remember they’re not going to do that if you haven’t positioned your lead magnet around some kind of purchase intent. 

Maelien

The key thing here is that the best lead ads don’t feel like marketing or sales – they feel like help. And that’s really what makes the difference when it comes to actual pipeline.

I hope you enjoyed this episode.

If you’ve been struggling with lead ads, hopefully this will give you some good things to try. 

If it works – we’d love it if you recommended the podcast to someone you know it’ll help. 

Thanks for listening – we’ll catch you on the next one.

If you’re a B2B marketer pouring budget into paid social campaigns on platforms like LinkedIn or Meta, you have probably felt the sting of this all too common scenario.

Your lead ads are cranking out numbers that look fantastic on paper; low cost per lead (CPL), steady form fills.

But when those “leads” hit the sales team, they are met with eye rolls.

Sales complain they are unqualified, uninterested, or worse, they don’t even remember opting in.

Marketing metrics shine, but the pipeline?

Crickets.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone.

Most B2B lead ads fail not because of the platform or ad format, but because they are built on a flawed foundation that prioritises quantity over quality.

In this post, we dive into why B2B lead ads fail. We also share a smarter B2B lead ads strategy to turn things around.

We will cover how to improve B2B lead ads by focusing on commercial intent, adding the right kind of friction, and aligning your offers with real buyer needs.

Drawing from real world examples and practical takeaways, this guide will help you shift from chasing junk contacts to sparking sales ready conversations.

Whether you are optimising B2B lead generation campaigns or just starting out, these lead ad best practices for B2B marketers can help fix poor quality B2B leads and drive actual revenue.

Who this guide is for and what you will gain

This article is for B2B marketers running paid social lead gen, especially on LinkedIn and Meta.

The core problem we’re tackling is that most B2B lead ads generate junk leads.

High volume but zero substance.

What you’ll learn here is a smarter B2B lead ads strategy that delivers real conversations, not just a list of contacts.

We also break down the pitfalls and provide actionable steps to make your campaigns more effective.

Why most B2B lead ads fail

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Why do so many B2B lead ads fall flat?

It’s not the tools or the targeting.

It’s often a mix of misleading metrics and misplaced priorities. Below, we unpack the key reasons.

The illusion of cheap leads and dopamine hits

It’s easy to get hooked on that dopamine rush when you launch a lead ad campaign.

You set it up in under an hour, tweak a few targeting options, and boom. Leads start rolling in at a fraction of what you would pay for other formats.

But here’s the catch.

Those low CPLs often mask a deeper problem.

As Chris Walker highlighted in a LinkedIn post analysing Metadata’s B2B advertising benchmark report, a staggering $37 million in ad spend across 236,000 “leads” resulted in an estimated lead to win rate of just 0.3%.

That means you would need 333 leads to close one deal, turning that $37 million investment into only about $22 million in revenue.

This benchmark is not just a statistic.

It’s a wake-up call for how misleading quick wins can be.

The contact ≠ lead trap

The core issue?

Most B2B lead ads are not generating leads. They’re collecting contacts.

There is a massive difference.

A contact is just an email address or phone number, often from someone casually browsing or grabbing free info without any real intent to buy.

Sales teams end up chasing ghosts, wasting time on people who are not ready (or willing) to engage.

This “contact ≠ lead” trap stems from a lack of commercial intent.

Too many campaigns use lead ads to push top of funnel (TOFU) content. Like generic ebooks or webinars.

That attracts browsers, not buyers.

Lack of commercial intent

Think about it.

Platforms like LinkedIn and Meta make lead ads incredibly user friendly, with auto filled forms that reduce friction to near zero.

One click, and someone’s details are yours.

But that ease comes at a cost.

People submit without thinking twice, leading to forgetful opt-ins and mismatched audiences. Marketers get excited about the volume, but when pipeline results do not follow, the blame game starts.

Sales says the leads are unqualified. Marketing points to the numbers.

The reality?

The strategy was flawed from the jump.

We’ve seen this play out time and again at Web Marketer.

Businesses jump into lead ads because they are quick and seem effective, but without aligning them to the buyer’s journey, you are essentially fishing in the wrong pond.

The platforms encourage this by counting every form fill as a “lead,” even if it is spam or irrelevant.

No wonder lead quality tanks.

There is no filter for intent. And let’s not forget the psychological side.

That initial rush of seeing CPL drop can blind you to the long term inefficiencies.

It is like chasing likes instead of sales. Feels good in the moment, but does not pay the bills.

Real world examples: The Metadata benchmark

To illustrate, consider how this lack of intent plays out in real campaigns.

If your ad promises a broad overview of industry trends, you will draw in researchers, students, or competitors, not decision makers with budget.

The Metadata example underscores this.

With “Download” as the top CTA, companies were essentially paying $126 per lead for someone to maybe glance at a PDF.

That’s not sustainable.

Instead, we need to question why we’re gating content that does not directly tie to a purchase decision.

This misalignment creates a vicious cycle where marketing looks efficient on dashboards but fails to contribute to revenue.

Rethinking your B2B lead ads strategy

To fix this, we need to flip the script. A solid B2B lead ads strategy is not about making things as easy as possible. It is about creating value that aligns with purchase intent. Let’s explore how to realign your approach.

Aligning lead magnets with purchase intent

Start by auditing your lead magnets.

If they’re purely informational. Like a broad PDF on industry trends. Ungate them.

Let people access that stuff freely to build awareness.

Only gate content that directly supports a buying decision, such as guides that resolve objections or speed up the purchase process.

Bad examples include generic PDFs or TOFU content that casts a wide net but catches few buyers.

Good ones?

Buying guides that support the next step in a real sales journey, like checklists for evaluating vendors or ROI calculators.

Case example: EV buyer’s guide vs. broad EV content

Take this example from my own experience.

When I was shopping for my first electric vehicle (EV), I ended up with a VW Buzz.

I knew a bit about EVs from past client work, but as a buyer, I had tons of questions.

A dealer’s “How to Buy Your First EV” guide would have grabbed me.

It focuses on the practical steps to making a purchase, not just general knowledge.

Contrast that with “Everything You Need to Know Before Buying an EV,” which sounds similar but is really TOFU content aimed at curious browsers.

The difference is huge.

One sparks purchase momentum, the other just educates without pushing toward a decision.

Small framing shifts like this can transform your results.

By aligning lead magnets with bottom of funnel (BOFU) intent, you are attracting prospects who are closer to buying. This is not about tricking people.

It is about providing real commercial value.

When your ad, content, and follow up all sync up, leads become relevant, timely, and actionable. Suddenly, sales are not complaining. They are closing.

Mapping to the buyer’s mindset

But rethinking goes beyond content choice.

It involves understanding the buyer’s mindset.

In B2B, purchases are rarely impulsive. They involve committees, budgets, and timelines. Your strategy should map to that.

For instance, if your audience is IT directors evaluating software, do not offer a “Beginner’s Guide to Cloud Computing.”

Instead, provide a “Buyer’s Checklist for Migrating to SaaS Without Downtime.”

This targets pain points in the decision stage, increasing the chances of conversion.

We have applied this with clients across sectors, and the uplift in lead quality is consistent.

It is about quality over quantity, ensuring every lead ad dollar spent moves the needle on revenue.

Integrating with the broader ecosystem

Moreover, consider the broader ecosystem.

Lead ads do not exist in a vacuum; they are part of a larger funnel.

Aligning with purchase intent means integrating with CRM tools, email sequences, and sales enablement.

If your gated asset does not naturally lead to a demo or consultation, rethink it.

This holistic approach turns lead ads from a standalone tactic into a revenue driver.

3 ways to improve lead quality from lead ads

Ready to get tactical?

Here are three actionable steps to optimise your B2B lead generation campaigns and start fixing poor quality B2B leads.

These are not theoretical. They are battle tested fixes that boost intent without killing conversion rates.

1. Add smart friction

Friction gets a bad rap in marketing, but when done right, it is your best filter.

The goal is not to make forms impossible. It is to ensure submissions are conscious and intentional.

Replacing auto filled fields

Start by ditching auto filled fields, especially for email.

Platforms pre-populate with whatever is in the user’s profile, often a personal address, leading to low-quality data and forgotten opt ins.

Instead, use custom fields like “Work Email.”

This forces users to type it in, making them pause and commit.

At Web Marketer, we do this in nearly every lead ad campaign, and it works wonders.

People remember submitting, you get better branded emails, and overall lead quality improves.

Sure, you might see a slight drop in volume, but the trade off is worth it.

Higher intent means better sales handoffs.

Why smart friction works

Why does this work?

In a world where inboxes are flooded, people are picky about sharing data.

Low friction forms attract tyre kickers. Smart friction weeds them out, leaving you with prospects who see real value in your offer.

We have seen clients reduce no show rates on follow up calls by 30% just by implementing this. It is simple but powerful.

Encouraging a moment of reflection ensures the lead is invested from the start.

Plus, it improves data accuracy, as personal emails often bounce or go unread in professional contexts.

2. Use self selection questions

Hard qualifiers like “Are you ready to buy?” can feel salesy and scare people off.

Enter self selection.

Let prospects identify themselves naturally.

Subtle filters over hard qualification

We pioneered this for an agricultural machinery client targeting farmers.

Their lead ads were generating volume, but many were not from actual farmers.

Think hobbyists or unrelated industries.

We added a subtle dropdown. “What kind of farmer are you?” with options like pigs, sheep, or cows.

No “Other” allowed.

That defeats the purpose.

The result?

Every lead post change was a farmer, and surprisingly, CPL dropped. It felt personalised, not pushy, which boosted engagement.

Implementing self selection effectively

This approach qualifies without resistance. Test it in your forms.

For software sales, ask “What team size are you managing?” or for consulting, “Which industry best describes your business?”

You are filtering for fit while making users feel seen. Clients often worry about excluding people, but remember. You are not fishing for everyone. You are targeting the right ones.

Expanding on this, self selection can be layered for more precision.

For a SaaS client, we used “What challenge are you facing?” with options tied to product features.

This not only qualified but also segmented leads for tailored nurturing. The key is subtlety. Avoid anything that screams “sales filter.”

When done right, it enhances user experience, making forms feel conversational.

We have rolled this out across dozens of campaigns, and the consistent feedback is higher engagement and better SQL rates.

3. Align offers with buying triggers

What is stopping your prospects from buying right now? Your lead ads should answer that.

Identifying buying triggers

Focus on offers that resolve pain points or accelerate decisions, like objection handling checklists or personalised demos. Avoid generic TOFU bait. Instead, create content that dovetails with your sales process.

For instance, if you are in SaaS, a “Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Right CRM” positioned around key triggers (e.g., integration challenges) will attract hotter leads than a broad “CRM Basics” ebook.

Pair this with seamless follow ups, like thank you pages that nudge toward action. LinkedIn’s new Calendly integration is gold here.

Let warm leads book calls instantly. But only if your offer screams “purchase intent.”

Testing and refining offers

To deepen this, map buying triggers to your ICP.

Research common objections via sales calls or surveys. What is the “one thing” holding them back?

For a manufacturing client, we created a “Cost Saving Calculator for Supply Chain Optimisation,” addressing budget concerns head on.

This not only qualified leads but also provided immediate value, increasing trust.

Test variations. A/B split your offers to see what resonates.

Over time, this alignment turns lead ads into a predictive revenue tool, where each campaign iteration refines based on real data.

Lead ad best practices for B2B marketers

Here are some overarching lead ad best practices for B2B marketers to keep in mind as you refine your approach.

Prioritise value over volume

Shift metrics from lowest CPL to highest lead to sale conversion.

Track how many leads turn into meetings or deals, not just form fills.

This mindset change is crucial. Celebrate quality wins, like a 20% uptick in demo bookings, over raw numbers.

Test intent aligned content formats

PDFs are fine, but experiment with interactive tools, quizzes, or video series that support buying journeys. Always ask. Does this help them act faster?

For example, a quick ROI calculator can outperform a static guide by engaging users actively.

Always filter before nurture

Use the tactics above to screen early.

Nurturing junk leads is a waste. Focus energy on qualified ones. Integrate with tools like Zapier to auto route high-intent leads to sales, bypassing generic email drips.

Consider new tools and integrations

Integrations like LinkedIn Calendly can supercharge results, but they are useless without strong intent. Test thank you pages for upsells or bookings.

Also, explore AI driven personalisation to tailor forms dynamically based on user data.

Implementing these will help you build campaigns that feel like genuine help, not sales pitches.

The best lead ads spark conversations because they meet buyers where they are. Ready to move forward. But do not stop at implementation.

Iterate relentlessly.

Monitor post lead metrics like engagement rates and win/loss reasons.

Share insights cross team to refine targeting.

Over time, this builds a flywheel where better leads fuel better data, leading to even stronger strategies.

Budgeting for ongoing testing

One more tip.

Budget for testing. Allocate 10 to 20% of your ad spend to experiments, like varying friction levels or self selection options.

We’ve helped clients double their lead to opportunity ratio this way. Remember, in B2B, patience pays.

Focus on sustainable growth over quick hacks.

FAQs

Q: Why do most B2B lead ads fail?
A: Because they chase low-cost contacts with no buying intent, rather than supporting the sales journey with high-value offers.

Q: How can I improve my B2B lead ads strategy?
A: Add smart friction, align your offer with buying intent, and use self-selection questions to filter the right people.

Q: What are the best practices for B2B lead generation campaigns?
A: Focus on value over volume, screen leads with subtle filters, and use intent-aligned content formats.

Q: What’s the problem with gated PDFs in B2B lead ads?
A: They often attract people looking for top-level info—not buyers—which leads to a poor lead-to-win ratio.

Q: Should I stop using lead ads altogether?
A: Not necessarily. The issue isn’t the format—it’s the strategy. Lead ads work if they support real buyer needs and intent.