3 cheers and a round of applause; a host of visitors have just arrived on your website. Regardless of whether they found you via an organic search, through a sponsored ad, social media or better still, a referral from another site, the fact is they are right here, on your site and your marketing strategy has clearly paid off.
So now what? You have attracted customers like bees to a honeypot, but unless there is something sweet in it for them, they are not going to hang around. The average website visit lasts no longer than 30 seconds, which doesn’t give you long to make a lasting impression. But don’t panic, most of the hard work has already been done.
In order to get this far, the likelihood is that you have a sound SEO strategy. Optimised, engaging and easy to navigate content will increase your Google ranking, thereby increasing your chances of being discovered, and if you have been noticed, then chances are your SEO and digital marketing is already on point.
But now your prospect is looking to make the next move. Imagine the good old days when a customer would potter up and down the high street, they have walked in to your shop and are ready to buy, but there are similar products in the shop next door. How do you keep them committed to buying from you?
In the world of digital marketing, buying refers to taking action such as hitting the contact us button to complete an enquiry form, picking up the phone to book a consultation or requesting a callback. Remember that your clients are busy people, and before they even get to this point, the path to taking action needs to be crystal clear. If they have to search for a contact us tab or scour pages of content for a phone number then you have already lost them. Regularly evaluate your website from an outsider’s perspective, and see if they can find where to take the next step at-a-glance during their journey through your pages.
Check your Analytics
Analytics are incredibly important here too, as they will highlight which pages are working well and which are not. Do you pages have have high bounce rates and if so, ask yourself why this might be? Maybe your calls to action aren’t located in the right place on the page; too high, too low, not visible enough, or simply not on the pages which are being viewed most? One of the most common mistakes is that websites only have one call to action across the entire site and that is on a separate ‘contact us’ page. Yes you need this separate tab, but there should be a call to action clearly visible on each and every page so that prospective clients are only ever one click away from contacting you.
Another important consideration is the information you gather from your prospective client. Many businesses fall into the trap of asking for everything from eye colour to date of birth on and enquiry form, and tentative clients can find this hugely off-putting. You purely want enough information to act on, such as name, email address and telephone number. That is all you need to get you started, you can find out all about them and their needs when you call them back.
So the answer to keeping clients at your door?
Make your call to action clear and your contact form concise, so you can go on to develop a personal client relationship.