Huddle up! It’s September which means one thing to millions of Americans – the return of football. To us, it also means fall and falling for your eCommerce customers. With that in mind, we developed a game plan to help you turn tentative leads into converting customers.
Playing field
According to Hubspot, the buyer’s journey has three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. In the awareness stage, the buyer has just discovered that they have a problem. During the consideration stage, the buyer begins to understand their problem and look for potential solutions. In the decision stage, the buyer makes their choice. It is critical to identify what stage your lead is in so you can follow up accordingly. A lead who is in the awareness stage will require a different level of nurturing than one in the decision stage. Pushing too hard on a lead in the awareness stage could frustrate them and take you out of the running. On the other hand, being too distant from a lead in the decision stage could encourage them to take their business elsewhere.
Delay of game
If you wait too long to follow up, the lead could be unimpressed with your responsiveness, or be gone altogether. Let’s say a lead fills out the “contact us” form on your website. You could send an automated email thanking them for their inquiry and letting them know that someone will be contacting them within the next 30-60 minutes. This gives you time to prepare an answer to their question but still respond promptly. According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that responded within an hour were 7 times more likely to qualify that lead than those that responded in 2 hours, and 60 times more likely than those who waited 24 hours!
Interference
There is some debate about how many times you should contact a lead to generate a sale. Traditional wisdom says that five to seven touches are the optimal amount to turn that prospect into a customer. However, this notion tends to clash with modern inbound marketing principles. Buyers are smart and more capable than ever of learning about your company without you calling them all the time like a desperate ex. Ideally, you have already created a strong online presence and supply valuable content to potential customers. Once you have a lead, you should engage and nurture them through the buyer’s journey by continuing to add value.
Extra point
When nurturing leads, consider your company’s products and buyer personas. What can you do to add value and stay front-of-mind throughout the buyer’s journey? Let’s say your company sells refrigerators. For buyers in the awareness stage, you might publish a blog post or article about how to know when you need to replace your old refrigerator. Those in the consideration stage would likely appreciate a whitepaper or shopping guide on how to choose the best fridge for their needs. For the decision stage, send a coupon code they can use at checkout. When contacting leads, always have a purpose for doing so that benefits the lead. Each time you offer something useful to that lead, you score points over the competition.
Block in the back
Avoid getting in your own way when following leads. I once had two or three sales people from the same company send me follow up emails within a 24-hour period. Needless to say, that company looked unorganized and a bit like a stalker. A system to manage and monitor leads, like a CRM system, is critical to keep it all together. This system should classify leads based on where they are in the buyer’s journey and assign one contact person to work with that lead.
Fair catch
How did the lead learn about your company? Not only will this information provide insight into the background of the customer, it will help inform future marketing decisions. This question can be included in a contact form or asked during your first conversation. The Acquisition section of Google Analytics can also give valuable insight into where your leads are coming from. Discover which web browser, device type, social network, ad campaign, or search criteria they used to access your site. Make it easy for customers to tell their friends about your product with social sharing buttons. One you know which of your channels, ads or platforms is most effective, you can ramp up efforts on those and gain even more leads.
Now you know how to follow up on leads to drive more conversions. Go get ‘em! And don't forget, ParadoxLabs is always here to be your marketing coach.