Corks for Plugging Leaks
There is a horrible truth about online Lead Generation that people still do not comprehend: ‘driving more traffic to a website does not necessarily mean an increase in leads generated’. Look at this statement again: driving more traffic to a website does not necessarily mean an increase in leads generated.
Shocking or what? Imagine you are at a petrol station and you are filling your car. Your fuel tank has a massive hole in it. No matter how much petrol you put in the car, it is going to leak out.
It’s the same with your website. If it isn’t lead leak-proof, all the work you carry out sending traffic to the site has been wasted.
Here are some methods of leak-proofing your site that will help you retain at least some of the traffic for you to convert to sales.
Social Proof is a good way to develop trust in your visitors, and trust-based marketing is on the rise, the concept being ‘if Joe Bloggs trusted these guys and they delivered, then that is one less worry for us if we choose them’ Social proof has been defined as ‘a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behaviour for a given situation.’
Social proof gives you the reassurance that you actually know what you are doing. It gives us a sense of belonging to the group (or ‘tribe’, as group affinity is often referred to) that is carrying out similar actions. If you feature in OTHER places, say as a guest blogger or speaker will reinforce your social proof credentials and sway other ‘tribe’ members.
Build Rapport
Testimonials are another facet of trust-based marketing that you should really push. If a potential client sees that a paying customer has had a good experience with you by viewing client testimonials, this can help to overcome reluctance on their part to hand over their money to you. Traffic linking off from a single featured testimonial to read more on a page full of testimonials is a good indicator that this lead source is a good source of qualified prospects.
The Buyer Journey
It is a fact that every visitor to your site is likely to be at a different stage in the buying process. They may be just browsing, researching, or even if they are at the buying stage, may not have sufficient faith or trust in you to commit. This where some psychological sales warfare comes into play. By offering some form of useful information, or even a free trial of a product or service, the seller activates two important triggers; reciprocation and trust-building. By offering a ‘lead magnet’ (that’s what these giveaways are called), the buyer subsequently feels obliged to reciprocate in some form or other – and can be the tipping point that seals the deal. The lead magnet is given in exchange for the visitor’s
contact details, making the prospect a perfect target for further marketing, simultaneously developing a sense of trust between seller and buyer. Even if the customer is not currently in ‘buyer mode’ chances are that he will be attracted to the company who gave him valuable information earlier when he does decide to make a purchase in the future.
At the lead magnet download stage it is important to follow up with the client affirming that they have made the right decision by downloading your valuable content. No good waffling on about ‘ we promise we won’t send you too much stuff, thank you for signing up, grovel, grovel. You have just given them some great information, (or at least you should have!) so you should be affirming their decision and welcoming them to a whole new scenario – entry into your own ‘tribe’.
Plugging the leaks in your lead capture is critical and must be done before we head into traffic generation techniques.