Who brings the most leads to your company? Your marketing people, your salespeople or other sources such as recommendations or events?
A lead is a potential client who has shown a form of interest in your company’s products or services. Moreover, you already have some information about this person like name and contact details.
In the context of physical distancing, how can companies continue to generate interest in their products or services, when there is no networking available?
A Hubspot study has shown that the no. 1 priority of marketing people in 2020 is to increase the number of leads.
However, the quantity and, most importantly, the quality of leads generated by marketing teams are usually below expectations. 59% of marketers believe that they bring quality leads, while only 25% of salespeople agree with this. Sales teams still generate the highest numbers of leads.
If you don’t have an online leads generations strategy yet, take a look through some tips & tricks you can use to attract and convert potential clients through your website.
1. Build an engaging homepage
What’s the first thing visitors find out about your company when they land on your website? Most internet users have limited attention spans and don’t spend more than 15 seconds to understand the main content of a page.
The most important message you can display on your homepage is your value proposition: what solution you can offer to your target audience. Try to express what you can solve and how you help, rather than talk about what you offer.
If you have expertise in a particular field, a solution or a different process, this is the place to tell its story.
Show some of your friends your homepage for 15 seconds then ask them what they remember about it. Similarly, Usability Hub offers 45 free trial days to check out their platform.
2. Display next steps
Most websites have a generic call-to-action button on their homepage, inviting users to contact them or schedule a call. Considering that less than 4% of all website visitors are ready to buy, for the majority of them, such a call-to-action appears too early in their buyers’ journey.
Instead, you can show your visitors other ways of interacting with your website. You can invite them to discover your work-process, what industries you work for or how your services and products create value for current customers.
The call-to-action message should complete your value proposition and guide visitors. Keep in mind that most of them are looking for information, not buying something.
The most efficient homepages have at least three call-to-action buttons, designed for differing needs and types of users.
3. Use live chat
Nowadays, we are looking for instant responses. A live chat application helps you communicate with your visitors in real-time. Also, it guides them through the website more comfortable, responding to any inquiries. Chatbots can store information about your website users and connect them with a live team member when they browse highly essential pages, such as your services or pricing pages.
Users appreciate this type of instant communication, the rate of interaction being 15 times higher than on email.
If you want to test a solution before investing in it, a series of platforms such as Drift, Tawk.to or HubSpot offer live chat services freely.
4. Share interesting educational content
The best way to convert anonymous website visitors into warm leads is to offer them something useful in exchange for their contact details. You can think of a guide about how potential clients can solve a business problem, a study about the trends of your industry or an article where you gather the opinions of experts.
The content you create can have various forms, from infographic videos to guides. Try to understand what questions your potential clients can have and what information can be useful for them. For this, start noticing frequently asked questions in your sales meetings, what issues are on social media or what keywords search engines display.
The more educational content, the higher the number of your leads. When companies raise their content pieces from 10 to 15, the number of leads increases by 55%.
5. Build trust
One of the most crucial buying criteria is, without a doubt, trust. We always want to make sure we make the right choice and buy a quality product or service from a trustworthy company.
How can you ensure trust? Show your visitors what other clients you’ve worked with. Don’t just display their logo; make sure you post a picture of them with a short review. Potential customers love to see whom you’ve worked with before and how you helped others.
Do you have assurance for your product? Show it off, don’t hide it in the footer.
6. You’ve got a blog? Make it work
If you already have a company blog generating visits, then you can optimise it for lead generation. At the end of each article, you can add a call-to-action to another related article, download an educational piece of content, sign up for the newsletter or take part in a webinar. Your blog writers have already shown interest in your content, give them more options!
A call-to-action in the form of a banner works much better than a simple text message. Keep that in mind!
7. Don’t rush into a sales meeting just yet
What should you do with your website generated leads? Start calling them and discuss business? Do you send the same generic email to all?
The best approach is to understand where the conversion came from (did they complete a form or downloaded a guide? etc) and therefore how you can communicate with them.
Most people who shared their contact details still need more information and content from you, before sitting down and talking business. You can send them content related to what they downloaded, you can continue to send them useful links and maintain the conversation based on their responses. Marketing automation platforms can help you go through your databases and send automated email sequences.
We hope you now realise how important your website is when it comes to conversations with potential clients and converting them into leads. Now more than ever, when the possibility of direct interaction is low, it’s vital to optimise your website as well as possible. Going into 2021, check the latest trends and statistics and make sure you optimise your website accordingly so it generates more leads for your business and is not just a presentation brochure.
This article was first published on backtobusiness.ro
