Can you improve B2B lead quality by blocking free email addresses?

I try to stay out of internet arguments, but sometimes I slip up. In this case, it was about blocking free email addresses, e.g., Gmail or Hotmail, from B2B enquiry forms.

A freelancer running B2B Google Ads was struggling with poor-quality leads. They'd read that blocking enquiries from people with free email addresses would improve lead quality. Their thinking was that good leads would be using a work email address. Anyone with a free email address was going to be junk.

A lot of people agreed. I was the only one who thought it was a terrible idea. Here's why:

• A free email address doesn’t guarantee that it’s a bad lead.
• The value of a B2B sale is much higher than the cost of calling a lead.
• You can't fix poor lead quality by stopping people from inquiring.

A free email address doesn't guarantee that it’s a bad lead.

I've generated more than 2,000,000 leads using Google Ads. A lot of them were from Gmail and other free addresses. And a lot of those leads were good quality.

My favourite Gmail-lead-turned-into-a-sale comes from a client who sells waterjet cutting machines.

He received an eight-word enquiry from a Gmail address.

I’m looking for a water jet cutting machine

Every instinct suggested that this was going to be fruitless. However, he called and spoke to an enthusiastic young engineer from a mine in a neighbouring country.

That eight-word email turned into my client's biggest sale in five years. The mine bought a second machine some months later. The relationship is still worth significant money from spares, consumables, and training.

I've got similar stories from B2B clients in commercial property, software, construction plant, steam handling equipment, staff training, tractor spares, air compressors, and a shedload of other industries.

While it is true that some leads from free email addresses are a poor fit, it's not in any way a universal law.

The value of a B2B sale is much higher than the cost of calling a lead.

I've heard arguments against calling every lead because people don’t want to invest hours in a deal that might not go anywhere. That makes perfect sense, but it doesn't take hours on the phone to figure out if someone is a good fit. You could do it with 3 questions in 5 minutes.

It seems to me that saving 5 minutes at the risk of losing the lifetime value of a new client is a poor trade-off.

You can't fix poor lead quality by stopping people from inquiring.

Even if it were true that people with free email addresses were low-quality leads, you couldn't fix this by blocking their enquiry.

All that happens when you stop people filling in a form is that you hide your lead quality problem. You're still advertising to the wrong people. You're still paying for irrelevant clicks. But you just don't see it anymore. I guess it's a bit like putting a sticker over your check-engine light. It hides the problem, but it doesn't fix it.

If you're getting poor-quality B2B leads from your Google Ads, you might find these ideas useful.

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