How To Qualify Leads And Boost Conversion Rates
If you’ve been in the online space for any deliberate period, you know all about bounce rates and conversions. And these words probably give you all kinds of headaches. In case you’re feeling a little lost, a click-through is when a web visitor reaches you through an external link. It’s usually from an ad, or a link-back from another website. Bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave your site without meaningfully exploring it. Conversion is when the visitor interacts long enough to request your services or buy something. So, how do you turn passing visitors into paying customers?
1. Build A Good Landing Page
Your update begins with something eye-catching, something that is bold, controversial, or tantalizing. The headline might get people on your web page, but you need to hold their attention once they get there. Put careful thought into the page that clickers will land on. Keep it clean and legible, with well-done illustrations and quality text. You don’t want your readers to feel you tricked them into wasting time on your article. Convince them you have added value and taught them something new. If they’re happy with your piece, they’re far more likely to stick around and explore. Make it easy for them to go deeper into your website.
2. Give Your Guests A Road Map
A visitor might want to find out more about you, but they may not always know where to start. Give them a nudge in the right direction. End each article with an elevator pitch that says who you are and what you do, and what they should do next. Make it friendly and informative rather than salesy. Have a subtle side-bar that lists related articles, pieces that are similar to what the visitor has just read. Intersperse helpful internal backlinks throughout your article, and make sure they open in different tabs. If they open in the same tab, your visitor may forget to come back to the initial landing page.
3. Get Your Visitor’s Email
Once you have your visitor’s contact details, you have an opening to get in touch. There are a few basic ways to ask for your prospect contacts. You could offer them an eBook and email it to them or give them a fun quiz and offer to email them detailed test results. In both these cases, tailor the content carefully to make sure it’s solid and useful. This way you retain the potential customer’s trust. You could also invite them to sign up for a newsletter. Ensure that this newsletter has additional information on the topic that got them to the site in the first place. For instance, if they were drawn in by a listicle, offer exclusive audio clips. Attach photos, or videos that dig deeper into the topic.
4. Automate, Automate, Automate!
Nobody likes to talk to a machine, but it’s not practical to respond to all visitors by hand. Spend some time creating a personalized communication template. It can be done with a few lines of code. It should address the prospect by name and offer them specific instructions to follow. If they found the page through a corporate eLearning link, offer them a few more links of must-have resources to help them enhance their microlearning online training library. The point is to make them feel you are interacting with them on a personal level. Generate a cache of material that sounds as individualized as possible. Then, use an automated system to identify relevant data and share it with prospects.
5. Follow Up With Useful Information
You’re on the inside now. You have the customer’s ears and eyes. Now, you need to hold on to their attention and keep them from unsubscribing. Limit the amount of information you give your prospects. You should only get in touch once a week or so. And you should always tell them things they want to know. Ideally, send them a brief tutorial. It could be a 45 second video, a list of useful links, or a how-to-guide related to their initial bait. You want to keep them focused on your tutorial for a minute or two. And you want them to feel that time was beneficial. Keep your communication short, and let go before they get bored. That way, they’re more likely to open subsequent emails.
6. Target Your Sales Content
When you eventually do try to sell them something, don’t make it generic. At this point, you’ll have quite a bit of information on the prospect. You’ll know which link they clicked on, which email they opened, which article they read. Use that data to identify one or two products or services that they might enjoy. Another facet of targeting is to pick an approach. Based on their interaction with your content, you can determine some of their preferences. For example, some of your subscribers may prefer a personal anecdote that teaches a life lesson while others look for a quick bit of wit that imparts a useful tip. Show them a product they’d love to buy and they’re a lot more likely to go for it.
Getting people to visit your website is the easy part. If you want to keep them interested in your product or service, make the landing page arresting. Gain their permission to stay in touch, and automate your subsequent interactions. Develop content that is specific to segmented customer targets, and always give them something that adds to their lives. Build a rapport, create a need for your skill set, and watch the leads convert into sales.
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