Solved: Low Conversion Rate from LinkedIn Leads, High CPL

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your situation. Dealing with low-quality leads when you're relying on paid ads for new business is incredibly frustrating, and it sounds like you're right in the thick of it with your cybersecurity consulting firm.

The $120 CPL on LinkedIn does feel high, I agree, but honestly, for B2B services, especially high-ticket stuff and particularly on LinkedIn, that number isn't always the main issue. We've seen CPLs for B2B decision makers range quite a bit, sometimes higher than that depending on the niche and targeting competition. For instance, we've had campaigns for B2B software hitting $22 CPL on LinkedIn, but also others where it's significantly more. The real red flag you've raised, teh one that jumps out immediately, is that less than 2% conversion rate from lead to paying customer. That metric is screaming that the leads simply aren't qualified or are too early in their buying journey for your sales team to close.

Let's talk about lead quality and where they come from...

You mentioned getting 'leads, technically'. This phrasing is key. It sounds like you're collecting contact information, but these aren't people genuinely interested in or ready to buy your cybersecurity consulting services. One of the most common culprits we see for this exact problem, especially on LinkedIn, is the use of LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. They're super convenient for the user – just a couple of clicks and their pre-filled details are sent over. Great for generating a high *volume* of leads quickly, yes, but often terrible for *quality*. It's just too easy to convert accidentally or out of mild curiosity without serious intent. We've seen loads of campaigns get flooded with low-quality leads this way. People are scrolling through their feed, see an ad, click, and before they know it, they've submitted their details without really processing what they signed up for. It's a low-friction action that doesn't filter for intent at all.

For B2B services like yours, which I imagine involve a significant commitment and likely a longer sales cycle than, say, signing up for a software trial, you need leads that are much further down the consideration path. They need to understand the value you offer and have a real, pressing need. A quick form submission via Lead Gen Forms often doesn't capture this necessary level of intent or qualification.

Refining your LinkedIn approach and offer...

If you're set on making LinkedIn work – and it absolutely *can* for B2B if done right – the first area to attack isn't just the CPL, but the quality filter. This involves two main things: targeting and the lead generation method itself.

On the targeting side, you need to get forensic. Who exactly is the ideal customer for your cybersecurity services? Not just "small and medium businesses," but *which* small and medium businesses? Are there specific industries facing particular threats you specialise in? And within those companies, who are the decision-makers or key influencers? For cybersecurity consulting, that's likely Heads of IT, CTOs, maybe even CEOs or CFOs depending on the size and structure. LinkedIn's strength is its ability to target by job title, industry, company size, etc. Are you using these options effectively? If your targeting is too broad, you're inevitably paying for clicks and leads from people who will never be a customer.

Have you considered targeting specific company lists? If you have a list of businesses you know would be a great fit, tools like Apollo.io or ZoomInfo can help you get contact data, and you can upload these lists to LinkedIn to target decision-makers at those exact companies. This is often called Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and can yield much higher quality leads because you're going after companies you already know are good prospects.

Beyond targeting, the lead generation method needs scrutiny. As I mentioned, Lead Gen Forms are suspect for quality. My strong recommendation would be to test sending your LinkedIn ad traffic to a dedicated landing page on your own website instead. This landing page needs to be highly persuasive and specific to your offer. It should clearly articulate the problem you solve (cybersecurity risks for SMBs), who it's for, and the specific value or outcome you provide. Crucially, the form on this landing page should ask for slightly more information than a Lead Gen Form might automatically provide, and the user has to actively navigate to your site and fill it out. This adds friction. Yes, this will almost certainly increase your CPL – fewer people will complete the action – but the people who *do* fill out the form after landing on your page and reading about your service are far more likely to be genuinely interested and qualified. They've taken a more deliberate step.

Exploring other platforms like Google Search...

You also asked about other platforms, specifically Google Ads. This is a very valid question, and for services like yours, it might be a better starting point entirely. Think about *when* a business typically looks for cybersecurity consulting. Often, it's when they've had a scare, a breach attempt, or a specific, urgent need arises (maybe they're required to get certified, or a key person left, or their current system failed). At that point, they are actively searching for a solution.

Google Search Ads targets people based on what they are searching for *right now*. If businesses in your area or niche are searching for terms like "SMB cybersecurity consultant," "business security assessment," "help with cyber attack [city]," "find IT security expert," etc., you can place your ad directly in front of them at the moment of highest intent. This 'pull' strategy often yields higher quality leads than the 'push' strategy of showing ads to potentially relevant people on social media who weren't necessarily looking for your service at that moment.

We've seen this work well for other service businesses. For example, we're currently running a campaign for an HVAC company. People aren't scrolling social media looking for a new furnace; they search on Google when their heating breaks! Similarly, our best consumer services campaign, a home cleaning company, got leads at £5 each primarily because people were searching for "house cleaning services near me." While cybersecurity is more complex than HVAC or cleaning, the principle of capturing high-intent searches is teh same. You'd need to do thorough keyword research to see what terms businesses are actually using.

The cost per lead on Google Search can also be high for competitive B2B terms, potentially similar to or even higher than your $120 on LinkedIn, but the *conversion rate* from lead to customer is often much, much better because the initial intent is higher. You might get fewer leads, but they could be teh right ones.

Understanding the B2B sales cycle and your offer...

It's also important to consider the nature of B2B sales for a significant service like yours. As you mentioned, it's not usually a quick decision. Changing or implementing a new cybersecurity framework is a big undertaking for a business. Leads generated from ads might require significant nurturing and a longer sales cycle before they are ready to buy. Your sales team might be used to leads from referrals or other channels who are already warmer or have a relationship, so adjusting their expectations and follow-up process for leads coming from paid ads is important. Sometimes the issue isn't just teh lead quality, but also the sales process for those leads.

Related to this, your website and the offer itself are crucial. Just like with the B2B SaaS accounting system I saw once where ads weren't working because they didn't offer a free trial for a complex system, your offer needs to match the buyer's journey. What's the easiest 'yes' you can get? A free initial consultation? A basic security audit? A valuable piece of gated content? The landing page the ads point to needs to make that initial step extremely compelling and easy to understand. Professional copy can make a huge difference here in clearly communicating your value and building trust, which is especially important for something as critical as cybersecurity.

Putting it all together: Recommended Actions

Based on what you've shared and our experience with similar B2B campaigns, here's an overview of the key areas I'd recommend you focus on testing and optimising:

Implementing and testing all of this takes time, expertise, and iterative effort. It's not usually a case of changing one thing and suddenly everything works perfectly. You need to systematically test different approaches, measure the results not just on CPL but crucially on lead-to-customer conversion rate, and continuously optimise. It's a process of finding teh right message, the right audience, and the right platform/methodology that filters for genuine intent.

This is exactly the kind of challenge that expert help is designed for. Someone who has navigated these waters before for other B2B service or SaaS businesses can help you identify the most likely culprits for the low quality leads, build structured tests, interpret the data correctly, and accelerate the path to finding campaigns that actually generate profitable customers, not just costly 'leads'. It avoids the risk you mentioned of just burning budget through trial and error without a clear strategy based on experience.

Happy to chat through your specific situation in more detail if that would be helpful. Sometimes talking it through can help clarify the best path forward and how to tackle these issues systematically.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh