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In a competitive market where consumers have a wealth of choice, it’s more important than ever for businesses to maximise marketing return with successful lead conversion. Up to 75 percent of Internet leads¹ are lost because businesses don’t have the right knowledge and tools to plug leaks in their lead funnel. Up to 75 percent of Internet leads are lost because businesses don’t have the right knowledge and tools to plug leaks in their lead funnel
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Steven Prestidge, Managing Director at ReachLocal said, “In an ideal world every prospect would find you online, visit your website, contact you and become a customer. In reality, only some of those prospects will turn into customers. By identifying and fixing leaks in your sales funnel, you can maximise the number of leads that convert into sales.”
The lead funnel is made up of three parts, one where prospects ‘discover’ you, another in which they ‘contact’ you and a third in which they ‘choose’ you. Each of these stages must be handled properly to make the most of marketing dollars. Some customers are ready to buy, whereas others need nurturing. You must have the right tools in place to generate, nurture and convert your leads.
ReachLocal offers six tips to help business owners ensure leads are maximised and ‘leaks’ are plugged.
1. Have a well-designed, smart website
A website is a key conversion tool for any business. Getting it right can result in a huge uplift in leads and revenue. It should:
• Be well designed: your website represents your business and if it’s poorly designed customers will go elsewhere.
• Have visible contact information: up to half of potential sales are lost because consumers can’t find your contact information. When a potential customer visits your website they may have already conducted extensive research and be ready to engage with you, so you may lose them if they have to hunt for your contact information. The top right hand corner of your website is the optimum position for contact details.
• Clearly demonstrate what you do: a website should demonstrate your value proposition and contain a clear call to action for customers.
• Have sufficient conversion paths: customers should be able to complete a transaction or request further information from any and all of your web pages.
• Be optimised for all devices: remember that many customers will access the internet on a mobile device, so optimise your site for both smartphones and tablets to make buying simple.
2. Offer additional contact methods
Many people searching for services may not immediately telephone you, especially if they are at work or it is outside business hours. Provide email forms, live chat and social channels to make it as easy and convenient as possible for people to contact you. These methods will also help you capture valuable customer data.
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3. Capture sufficient customer data on every channel
One of the biggest leaks in the sales funnel is caused by a failure to capture customer data. If you don’t know who your prospects are, you can’t understand how they found you and you can’t follow-up to convert them into sales. Wherever possible, capture contact details such as the prospect’s email address. This lets you actively follow-up on leads.
4. Support sales staff with the right information
Consumers expect to be contacted quickly when they make an inquiry. Invest in a system that provides real-time notification of new contacts via text message, email or mobile app alerts. This ensures that leads can be acted on while they are still hot and makes sure no leads go unseen or unaddressed. Call recording software can also help you capture the finer details of a conversation for future reference and lets you review calls and provide appropriate training to improve sales skills.
5. Consider automated marketing systems
As lead numbers increase it becomes more difficult to manage customer contact. An automated marketing system can help businesses by:
• building custom, branded lead-nurturing emails,
• automatically sending customized marketing emails to prospects to keep the merchant top-of-mind until they are ready to buy, and
• sending the sales team reminders of active leads.
6. Respond quickly to every query
Aim to reply to web forms, emails, and calls within an hour. With multiple businesses to choose from, many customers will opt to do business with the company that calls back first. Responding to new customer emails within 20 minutes can significantly increase conversion rates
“ReachLocal helps tens of thousands of small to medium-sized businesses market their goods and services online, so we see first-hand how difficult it can be for these merchants to convert website visitors into leads and then convert those leads into customers. Following these tips will help make the lead nurturing process simpler and plug any leaks,” said Steven. “A system such as ReachLocal’s ReachEdge can help you automate this process to free up time and resources for other parts of the business.”
For more free tips on building your lead funnel visit www.dontleakleads.com.au
About ReachLocal, Inc.
ReachLocal, Inc. (Nasdaq:RLOC) helps SMEs grow and operate their business better with leading technology and expert service for our clients’ lead generation and conversion. ReachLocal is headquartered in Woodland Hills, CA, with offices throughout North America and in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. In Australia, ReachLocal has a direct office in Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, Brisbane, Goldcoast, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.
For more information please visit ReachLocal at http://www.reachlocal.com.au/
Follow us at http://www.reachlocal.com.au/social or email info@reachlocal.com.au
[1] http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/14416/100-Awesome-Marketing-Stats-Charts-Graphs-Data.aspx
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