Closing the Deal: Converting Visitors to Leads

Converting Visitors to Leads with Marketing Automation

Not everyone that comes to your website is going to buy from you. You know that.

But you can convert a website visitor into a lead and, from there, continue to market to them in a manner that creates a chance of them becoming a paying customer.

What’s more, a marketing automation program, once set up, can market to leads without you lifting a finger.

Below, I’ll sketch out some ways you can do this.

Website Visitors Offered Something of Value Will Become Leads

Accidents happen, but 99 percent of the time it’s something you’ve done that has drawn that visitor to your website. Maybe your website showed up as relevant in a search, or your PPC ad promised the answer to their question, or your social media post intrigued them.

But if they bounce almost immediately, that’s troubling.

If your landing pages don’t hold onto visitors once they arrive, you may have a problem regarding relevancy. Your landing page must be about what your keywords, ads, tweets, or any other part of your inbound marketing content say it’s about.

A landing page must be relevant to the visitor’s needs for it to be of value to them.

That’s the most important step toward converting site visitors into leads.

You must make sure your marketing is congruent, reflecting the same message from piece to piece within a campaign, and that your landing page ultimately is relevant to the visitor and addresses their question or needs.

Unfortunately, even having a congruent message and an informative and persuasive landing page doesn’t guarantee a visitor becomes a lead.

As you know, you have to have contact information for a visitor for them to be considered a lead.

My advice: ask for it.

Obtaining Website Visitors’ Contact Information

You’ve presented a straightforward, no-nonsense, answer-the-question landing page that addresses the user’s needs and tells them you are there to help. Why not add a call-to-action that asks for their email address so that you can give them more information?

A contact form is another standard method of obtaining an email address, plus such information as name, geographic location, and phone number. You may even ask more detailed lead-qualification questions, such as about income range or other data significant to your business or industry.  

One way or another, you have to ask. But you’ll enhance the chance that any request for users’ information will succeed if you offer something in return, such as:

• More detailed information, such as a downloadable infographic, ebook or white paper that more fully explains the landing page topic.
• Case studies of how you helped customers with similar demographics.
• A newsletter subscription, promising a continual flow of useful information.
• You might even direct them to another landing page created for customers that match their demographics.

Many websites collect email addresses by requiring them to set up an account or to perform certain functions on the site. On the one hand, site users are used to this and are likely to comply; on the other, no one likes this. It is far better to offer something, anything, in exchange

Marketing Automation and an Email Campaign

Regardless of how you do it, you know (and so does your site visitor) that the main point is, now you have their email address and can market to them individually and personally.

You can now use their email and other contact and/or demographic information to devise a mini-campaign just for them.

This can be set up in a marketing automation program so that the addition of the new lead’s email and demographic information triggers a series of contacts already crafted just for them – or, at least, leads just like them.

This is sometimes known as a “drip campaign,” because it is sent one drop at a time over a defined period. It can also be set up so that specific email is triggered by events, such as immediately after setting up an account, or after the lead watches a video on your site, or “likes” or comments on a social media post.  

The content is up to you but should be based on an understanding of your customer personas and that segment of it in this particular demographic. It should also be consistent with your landing page and other marketing material.

As each additional contact is made, you should be giving your lead more information about the value and benefits of your intended conversion, and another opportunity to convert or to contact a company representative directly with questions and concerns.  

It is also important to make it easy for the email recipient to opt-out. If they are truly not interested, there is certainly no need to bother them with more email.

Learn More about Leads, Conversions, Sales and Revenue

If you’re struggling to convert visitors to leads or would like to learn more, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, at my email [email protected] or visit our website www.jeremysaid.com.