Monday, November 12, 2012

CRO improves lead generation on the web

Website conversion rate optimization isn't just for e-commerce sites with millions of visitors.  CRO can improve your online lead generation, no matter what size your business is.  

Lots of small businesses have two problems with their online lead generation.  One, they don't get very many leads, and two, the ones they do get are soft leads.

Most companies view these problems as a numbers game.  If my website has a 10% conversion rate for leads, and I close about 10% of those leads, then I need 100 visitors for my website to get 1 new customer. While this logic is sound, it doesn't address the problems.  Why are you only closing the deal with 10% of your leads?

I find that most websites do a poor job of qualifying and prepping leads.  It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if you can just get someone's number or email, you can sell them anything.  You don't want to scare them off with a high price or slow manufacturing time, so you wait until you talk to them to break the news.  

Your website can sell your products and services better than any sales person.  Not because your website is better at convincing people to buy, but because it can talk to thousands of people at the same time, and let them do the leg work of qualifying themselves for your offering.  If your website weeds out the un-committed visitors, prepares your leads with the downside, and excites them about getting started, all you have to do is take orders.  Website conversion optimization isn't just about increasing your conversion rate, it's about increasing the quality of those conversions too.  A 3% conversion rate with a 100% closing rate, would triple the size of the business in the math above.

Could your online leads be better?

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