Struggling With Junk Leads? Here’s How Smart Digital Marketing Folks Are Improving Lead Quality in 2025
- Maneesh Konkar
- Nov 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 21
If you’re running digital ads and your sales team is drowning in poor-quality leads, you’re not alone. Lead generation has evolved fast, and 2025’s platforms have changed the rules again. You don’t have to put up with time-wasters and vague form submissions. Leading brands like Audi, Mercedes, Mahindra, and Hyundai are rewriting the lead-quality playbook. Here’s what’s really working now in improving lead quality, straight from the front lines of campaigns across India.
Targeting Has Changed—Understand How Location Filters Work Now
Remember when you could simply target "people living in," "recently in," or even "traveling to" a location? Those days are gone. Thanks to privacy changes, Meta now blends these audiences, making true geo-targeting tougher. If you run a dealership in a specific city, you no longer have the surgical precision you once enjoyed, which means your ads might get seen by commuters or even people passing through on highways. The fix is to use geo-fencing with includes and excludes, making sure you weed out neighboring regions and avoid wasting impressions on those who will never buy from you.
If you’re running a Mumbai-targeted ad, it’s not enough to just target Mumbai. Exclude Pune, Surat, and any other city where you don’t want visibility. This does 80% of the job and keeps your budget focused on your real sales territory.
Improving Lead quality: Fix Your Lead Forms—Filtering Out the Fluff
Geo-fencing alone isn’t foolproof, so the next step is to qualify your leads right in the form. Smart brands ask strategic questions before asking for a phone number, forcing prospects to show genuine intent. Audi, for example, will ask which model you’re interested in, deploying two-factor phone number authentication so only high-intent prospects move forward. When people have to enter an OTP, those “just browsing” will drop off fast.
Mercedes has taken this to another level. Their forms are stacked with questions about when you want to buy, your intent, and even preferred contact times. If you're planning to buy "after 45 days," the form thanks you and shows you the door. Only serious buyers proceed, and your sales team gets real prospects, not bored browsers.
Lead Filtering—Find Your Sweet Spot
Nexa and Mahindra also use five levels of lead filtering. First, they ask broad questions—like what state and city you’re in—to weed out out-of-territory leads right at the beginning. Then, they drill down into your purchase timeline, asking if you intend to buy in the next month or three. Only those signaling near-term intent get their contact details submitted. This reduces junk at the top of the funnel and focuses your sales team on people ready to have a real conversation.
Survey questions are crafted so that users who don’t fit your sales window exit gracefully without sending in their numbers. It cuts down on demotivating your team with hopeless prospects and ensures conversations move forward faster.
Offers, Carousels, and Content—Get Creative and Catch Real Buyers
The top brands know the real hook is relevance, not just reach. Hyundai uses carousel ads that showcase different car features, model variants, and stories matching various customer personas. For busy urbanites, they highlight comfort and tech. For safety-conscious families, it’s all about seatbelt reminders and advanced braking systems.
Carousels allow you to pitch the right feature to the right buyer without overwhelming them with everything at once. Connecting the creative to the next step in the lead form makes the journey smooth, and qualified users are more likely to submit serious interest.
Upping the Game—Two-Factor Authentication for Higher-Quality Leads
If you have enough traffic and a seasoned ad account, implementing two-factor authentication for lead forms can be a game-changer. Before prospects can submit, they enter a phone number and receive a one-time password (OTP). Only those who really want to talk to you will take this extra step.
Brands running this approach have seen cost-per-lead numbers stay healthy, even with higher filtering thresholds. It’s a great way to ensure only verified, contactable leads make it into your CRM, helping your sales teams stay motivated and focused.
The Bottom Line—Lead Filtering Logic for Every Stage
Level zero filtering is for the brave but not the wise: run your campaign wide open and get flooded with junk and out-of-territory responses. Level one adds questions about geography or dealership choice, which helps a bit but still lets a few slip through. Level two gets really precise, sorting between vehicle variants or features to see exactly who’s serious and for what product.
The best campaigns—like those for Tata, Kia, Audi, and more—use layered, conditional logic combined with creative ad formats and aggressive geo-fencing. They even switch to the local language for rural markets, making sure users understand every step. Remember, it’s all about qualifying your leads before they drain your team’s energy, time, and morale.
If you’re spending more energy screening leads than closing sales, a few smart tweaks to your targeting and forms can turn things around. Watch today’s best brands and you’ll see the new standard for lead quality is all about working smarter, not harder.
Start filtering for results, not just numbers. Let your sales team work on signals, not noise, and your next quarter could look a whole lot brighter.
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Ready to Transform Your company's Digital Marketing?
If you want to implement this approach or need digital marketing / lead generation support, connect with us at Direction One. Our team specializes in digital marketing, corporate training, and customized elearning solutions to drive measurable results.
Maneesh Konkar is an MBA from IIM Bangalore with over 24 years experience in sales & marketing. He runs Direction One, which is into online courses, sales & marketing training & digital marketing agency services.
Connect with him at directiononeonline7@gmail.com
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