Lead Gen Forms are one of the most impactful performance marketing products for universities looking to drive quality students on LinkedIn. To make sure you’re getting the most out of your campaigns, we’ve developed valuable best practices after working with successful universities on our platform.

1. Mastering Lead Gen
Forms for Higher
Education
LinkedIn EDU Webinar Series

2. Beth Hoffman
Client Solutions Manager
Education Vertical
Ira Amilhussin
Group Manager
Education Vertical
2
Jarrod Butler
Sr. Client Solutions Manager
Education Vertical

3. Agenda
Why LinkedIn?
Lead Gen Strategies
Implementing Lead Gen Forms
Measurement and Optimization
Q&A
3

4. Why LinkedIn?

5. Generating
quality leads &
proving value
are the
greatest
challenges
marketers face
Source: 2017, DemandWave
56%
16%
Deliver quality
leads & prove
ROI
Generating
enough leads
Producing
quality content
Securing staff
& budget
Not sure Other
14%
8%
5%1%
What is your biggest digital marketing challenge?
5

6. Better conversion
rates on
LinkedIn vs.
Facebook
Universities are
seeing
5x
Source:ConvergeConsulting,2016
6

7. According to admissions,
the best candidates are found on
LinkedIn
The best candidates are found on which networks?
88%
35%
24%
CarringtonCrisp, a higher
education research and
consulting firm, surveyed
173 admissions staff
globally to find out how they
use social media.
7

8. LinkedIn advertising lift
LinkedIn advertising lift: non-degree graduate programs
Increase
People who click on LinkedIn
ads are more qualified, activated
and interested than the average
person who submits a
lead somewhere.
Not exposed
but on LinkedIn
Exposed
to LinkedIn
ad
Clicked
on LinkedIn ad
58%
58%
Inquiry-to-startrates
4.6% 4.1%
7.1%

9. 12%
17% 17%
LinkedIn lift by inquiry source: Google
LinkedIn advertising lift: prospects attributed to Google at one institution
Inquiry-to-startrates
Not exposed
but on LinkedIn
Exposed
to LinkedIn
ad
Clicked
on LinkedIn ad
42%
Increase
42%
Google + LinkedIn is
more valuable than
Google alone.

10. 2018 Business Insider Digital Trust Report
Trust on LinkedIn translates to ad relevance
LinkedIn ranked #1 in five out of six
pillars of digital trust including:
• Ad Relevance
• User Experience
• Community
• Legitimacy
• Security
Overall
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
2017 2018
10

11. Lead Gen Strategies

12. 1. Target broadly to discover your real audience
Source: LinkedIn Internal Data
Blinded Case Study
45% better cost-per-enrollment for broad targeting in A/B test
vs.
BROAD AUDIENCE TARGET NARROW AUDIENCE TARGET
12

13. Demographic data from the LinkedIn
profile
*Target the prospects you care about more by retargeting your website visitors, or matching your email
contacts, account lists, marketing automation segments, against the LinkedIn audience
Email contact
targeting
Website
retargeting
Account
targeting
Data
integrations
Our data + your data:
Target the people most likely to become qualified leads
13

14. 2. Stay top of mind with high-frequency messaging
Source: LinkedIn Internal Data
Blinded Case Study
R E A C HI M P R E S S I O N
V O L U M E
786K + INDIVIDUALS (Audience Size 100M+)
I M P R E S S I O N S
E N G A G E M E N T S
C O N V E R S I O N S
463K
(60%)
63K
(8%)
3K
(20%)
5K
(33%)
462
(16%)
1304
(50%)
1 - 2
3 - 9
1 0 +
of conversions
driven by
8% of reach
50%
( W I T H F R E Q U E N C Y O F 1 0 + )
14

15. 0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
0%
80%
160%
240%
320%
400%
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
CostPerLead(Vs.1st
Month)
Spend(vs.1st
Month)
Spend vs. Initial Month Cost Per Lead vs. Initial Month
3. Be always-on and capitalize on the efficiencies
CPL declines over time
with increased brand
awareness, campaign
optimizations, and
improved ad relevance
scores generating
cheaper bids
Source: LinkedIn Internal Data
Blinded Case Study
CPL vs. Spend Over Time
15

16. 4. Mix brand with DR to get the best ROI
2x
Lift in Lead
Submission Rate
1,335 Leads604 Leads
At 0.2% submission rate
of exposed audience
SINGLE DR CREATIVE MULTIPLE DR + BRAND CREATIVES
At 0.4% submission rate
of exposed audience
DISPLAY ADS
DYNAMIC ADS
SPONSORED INMAIL
SPONSORED CONTENT
DISPLAY ADS
Source: Blinded Case Study
16

17. 5. Leverage all the tools in your toolkit
24x
Source: LinkedIn Internal Data
Increase in enrollment
rate when running
Sponsored Content +
Text Ads + InMail vs.
only Text Ads
Native ads that appear
in the LinkedIn feed
Sponsored Content Sponsored InMail Text Ads
Personalized, targeted
LinkedIn messages
Simple PPC or CPM
desktop ads
17

18. Engage your prospects with relevant content in the world’s only
professional feed and in premium placements beyondSponsored Content
Build customer relationships at
every stage of the buyer’s
journey on mobile, desktop,
and tablet.
18

19. Sponsored InMail Send timely, convenient, and relevant private messages
to the people that matter most to your business
19

20. Text Ads Generate quality leads with an
easy PPC solution
20

21. Implementing
Lead Gen Forms

22. Lead Gen Forms Capture quality leads using forms that are
pre-filled with LinkedIn profile data
Lead Gen Forms can get up to
3X better conversion rates than Sponsored
Content
Measure your ROI, including the specific
audience segments you’re converting into
leads
Easily manage your leads: Download from
LinkedIn or send to your CRM or marketing
automation system
22

23. After running lead gen
forms for six months,
an online school
experienced a
65%
decrease
in cost per lead
compared to the
previous six months
with the same
investment level.
Blinded University Case Study
$435
$152
$0
$50
$100
$150
$200
$250
$300
$350
$400
$450
$500
H1 H2
CY18 Cost Per Lead
65%

24. To get started, click “Create campaign”
14

25. Select “Sponsored Content” or “Sponsored InMail” to create a new campaign
15

26. Select the option to “Collect leads using LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms”
16

27. Lead Gen
Form
Offer Headline
(40 characters)
Offer detail
(2 lines of text,
~70 characters)
Privacy Policy
URL (required)
Sponsored
Content
Image
(1200 x 627px)
Introductory Text
(150 Characters)
Assets needed to begin
1 2
Thank you page
“Thank You” message
(160 characters) &
URL for members to
visit after
submission
3
27

28. Know how members
can fill out the form
FIELDS THAT A MEMBER CAN EDIT BEFORE
SUBMITTING
Email
Work Email
Phone Number
Work Phone Number
Gender
Any field not filled out from their profile
Custom questions
If a field besides email,
phone number, and gender
is pre-populated from your LI
profile, it will not be
editable.
A MEMBER CANNOT
SUBMIT A FORM WITH AN
EMPTY SECTION
28

29. Questions can have up to
5 custom multiple choice
answers in a drop down
Questions can have
free-form answers
AND/OR
CUSTOM QUESTIONS
Advertisers can create up to 3 in one form
Quick tip #2
With the drop down option, the
first answer is auto selected by
default. Have that answer read
“Select 1” or similar to ensure data
is clean & accurate
Quick tip #1
Use the free-form answer option
as a workaround to selecting
“work email” as this will cause the
member to manually input an
answer.

30. Content & Form Creation
PART 1
DO NOT ASK FOR TOO MUCH
INFORMATION
Less is more. 3-4 fields is a good
best practice.
If opens are high but leads are
low, it could be that you have
too many fields. Put yourself in
the member’s shoes.
TRY NOT TO INCLUDE FIELDS
REQUIRING MANUAL INPUT
Phone number and gender, or
fields that may not be listed on a
member’s profile already, require
the member to manually type the
information in before submitting.
Members cannot submit form with
blank fields.
CONTENT AND FORMS CANNOT
BE EDITED AFTER THEY ARE
SAVED
If you need to make changes to the
content or form, turn them off and
re-create.
You can duplicate a form, make
edits to it, and then save the new
form template.
30

31. Content & Form Creation
PART 2
MAKE SURE IMAGES AND COPY ARE
RELEVANT THROUGHOUT
As a member clicks from the update
through the form, make sure the
messaging is consistent.
Test different forms and find what works
best for you
BE DIRECT.
MAKE SURE MESSAGING MATCHES THE CTA.
Keep in mind lead forms are bottom funnel. Be
upfront with the value the member is getting by
giving their information.
ROTATE 3-4 ADS EVENLY
Share same SC frequency cap so having 3-4 variations
is ideal.
Start by rotating evenly before optimizing for CTR.
31

32. Previewing your ad and form
Note that forms will go through
“review” in the same way that
Sponsored Content does today.
Under the “Ads” tab, click “Lead
Gen Forms”.
Click through to see the
creative, the form, and “Thank
You” message.
32

33. Measurement &
Optimization

34. All Lead Metrics can be found in the
leads tab of the campaign manager
dashboard
Leads
Lead form opens
Total Spent
Reporting
Lead form
completion rate
Cost per Lead
Attributing leads to a specific update
or campaign
Click into the individual campaign in the
CM tool and break down the lead data by
update
Download a report by ad performance or
campaign performance per month.

35. Reporting
Leads are included in the drop down
to show leads by day

36. Reporting
COMPARING COST PER CONVERSION VS. COST PER LEAD
If testing the success of the lead form campaign versus conversions on
your landing page, run conversion tracking on a regular Sponsored
Content campaign at the same time. Compare costs and quality.

37. Download your leads directly from Campaign Manager

38. Or pass your leads to your CRM or
marketing automation system
38

39. CONVERSION TRACKING VS. LEAD GEN FORMS
When should you use them?
*Can track conversions on thank-you page on Lead Gen Forms
Conversion Tracking Lead Gen Forms
Use Case Wants to get conversions on website Wants to get leads on LinkedIn*
Conversion Type
Multiple Types
(Purchase, Add to Cart)
One Type
(Leads)
Ad Formats All Only SC & InMail
Delivery Mobile & Desktop Mobile & Desktop
Needs
Insight Tag?
✓ -
Demographic
Reporting
✓ -

40. 13
Putting it all
together

41. TARGET
CONVERT
MEASURE
1
2
3
4
5
6
Reach out to your account team with any
questions about how Lead Gen Forms
can fit into your overall LinkedIn
marketing strategy.
Target people likely to convert
with Matched Audiences to
engage people who’ve shown
affinity for your brand; for
example, website visitors.
Be sure to follow creative best practices, such
as headlines that create a sense of urgency, ie.
“Apply by Deadline”
Majority of conversions happen after 10+
impressions, so focus on your target audience
with increased frequency.
Measure lead quality,
return on ad spend, conversion
rates, new site visitors acquired,
and more using built-in campaign
lead reporting and conversion
tracking.
Use campaign and website analytics
to optimize your results for even
greater impact
Iterate and Improve
41

42. Q&A

43. Thank you!