What numbers matter most to you when it comes to your truck driver recruiting? Everyone is scrambling to get an edge on the competition. Generating driver leads is a major part of that.
But, when you look at all of your recruiting data and the breakdown of your numbers, what is your primary focus? For many, it has become all about the sheer volume of leads they can acquire, and on the face of it that makes total sense.
You need to hire drivers, so it stands to reason that if you get more leads you have a better chance of hiring the needed drivers. More leads = more drivers. Right?
It’s this line of thinking many fleets have adopted and because of that, they view CPL as the be all and end all of their strategy. You may have a set budget for your recruiting, and obviously you want to get the most out of that budget. This may lead you to putting most if not all of your effort behind whatever recruiting channel it is that is providing you with the lowest CPL.
Is this really the best strategy to pursue though? Isn’t there more to recruiting than just CPL?
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Your recruiting costs could be misleading you.
Recruiting, much like the trucking industry itself has many facets and is very complex. CPL is an important facet, but should it be the go to number you rely on moving forward with your recruiting?
Investing in recruiting channels with a lower CPL will allow you to get more leads, but if they don’t translate into quality hires does that really matter? That’s what I’d like to look at. The numbers we will discuss are real and have been taken from a previous recruiting campaign (though for the sake of this example the company shall remain anonymous).
It is important to remember that while these are real numbers, your results, CPL, and CPH may vary (in some cases wildly) based on the type of haul, driver type, industry reputation, home time, and location; all of which are variable and can factor into the process.
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The recruiting campaign utilized the following recruiting channel mix:
- Search (Google, Bing, and Yahoo)
- CareersInGear.com
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Of these channels, Facebook provided the most hires for the previous month with 15 total hires. Of the group, Facebook also came in with the second lowest CPL at $18.75. If you look at this number alone, it’s easy to assume that Facebook is a great place to dump more recruiting spend. It’s providing the most new hires, and it’s doing it at a low-cost. But there’s more to this equation than just those two numbers.
Digging deeper and analyzing the data in the company’s applicant tracking system in conjunction with Randall-Reilly’s Lead Attribution Tool we found something interesting. While it is true that Facebook provided the most hires at a fairly low CPL, the cost per approved application attributed to Facebook ballooned to $1,100.
Looking at other channels we did some number crunching and found out that other channels were actually providing approved applications at the lower cost of $650. With that in mind we shifted the spend AWAY from Facebook and funneled it into these other channels.
Generating leads is and always will be important, but in the end hires, quality hires, should be your guiding light. Looking beyond the surface numbers of CPL we were able to find and fund channels that actually provide hires at a lower cost than those generated by Facebook.
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CPL shouldn’t be your only focus in recruiting.
Focusing primarily on lower CPL channels to try and generate the most leads will in fact get you more leads . . . but it could also actually cost you more money in the long run when you take approved applications and actual hires into account. Resist looking at CPL with tunnel vision and dig deeper to utilize all the data available to you.
Blindly pursuing cheap leads without factoring in all of the other variables actually costs you more money.
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Move your driver recruiting forward with data and analysis.
There are no two fleets with exactly the same needs. The one thing you do have in common with every other fleet out there is that you need quality drivers to keep your trucks moving. Drill down and look beyond the surface numbers. Invest your spend in areas that actually provide drivers at an affordable cost.
If you’re not exactly sure how to move forward let us know. The recruiting experts at Randall-Reilly have years’ worth of experience helping people just like you reach their goals. Working together and using the tools available, such as our Lead Attribution Took, you can make sure to get the most out of your recruiting dollars and get the drivers you need.
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