The whole focus of online marketing is getting conversions; putting out engaging ads, producing a high converting landing page and tracking a customer’s progress through the sales funnel. If that is conversion is an online form fill, then while the marketing journey is over, the sale is still not necessarily confirmed.
So where do you go once a form fill is submitted and how do you effectively turn those leads into profitable sales?
Initial Form
The follow-up email can either answer many of their questions – such as turn around times and price, or it will require more information from them. This is completely dependant on how much information your form requires.
While a name, email and cell number is a must, asking for material choices and house size can put people off completing the form. However, it means those who do complete the form are more likely to be a serious prospect. An overly complex form fill will never convert well, but asking two or three additional questions may be enough to sort the likely customers from time wasters. If you are not sure which route to take, you can always run A/B testing on two landing pages, one with a thorough form and the other with a simple form and make a decision based on the quality of leads and Conversion Rate.
Templated Response
An initial response needs to be professional, pertinent and move the customer closer to the sale as well as begin to put in time frames. That is an awful lot to ask from a single email, but it can be done, and it can be produced consistently with a well-crafted email template.
Your response should acknowledge the information they have already provided so depending on how thorough your form is, depends on how much more information you need to seek, and what answers you can already provide. At the absolute minimum, let them know you have seen marked their interest, the next steps you are taking and the additional information you need. This is also the perfect time to secure an opportunity to call them.
Initial Call
Depending on your Target Market, an initial call could be well-received or ignored as an unrecognized number! Once the follow-up email is sent and additional information is gathered, you should come to that call with answers to some of their questions (such as the price of one material vs another for the quantity they need, or when you would expect the job to be started).
If your follow-up email has gone unanswered or you prefer the first contact to be via the telephone, make sure you are prepared. Unlike an email communication, you don’t have the luxury of time to formulate the perfect response, having the answers in front of you can be the difference between closing the sale and losing the customer.
Lack Of Response
Not every lead is going to end in a sale, just as not every contact is going to respond to you, but how do you decide who has just missed your email and who is uninterested in your company?
A structured timeline of follow-ups will help you stay on top of managing those who require attention and also make sure nobody is left for weeks with no attempted contact. Spacing your contact attempts will help you walk the line between the interested party and spamming. You should also mix up calls and emails.
If you make multiple attempts with no success, consider adding them to a monthly newsletter list or a remarketing audience so they have the opportunity to re-engage when they choose.