As most visitors only spend 45 seconds on a web page, we only have little time to:
1. convince them they have landed in the right place
2. draw them further into the site
3. engage with them based on their interests
As with SEO, website content is key and can help us capture some of the 80% of leads that slip through the net and subsequently buy within 24 months. So how do we keep these prospects interested in us? We simply provide them with information that will help them make their decision.
Try and think about your own decision making process when it comes to those more complex purchases. Initially a substantial amount of time is spent gathering information and whilst a lot of offers are perceived comparable when it comes to their features and benefits, who influences our thinking and ultimately our shortlist? Is it the one who:
A. shouts loudest about their fabulous, unique products & services and their 30 years of experience; or
B. has proven themselves helpful in unravelling a mind-field of information...(whilst possibly having influenced our thinking and accelerated our journey along the decision making path)?
As we can’t dedicate our resources to every web visitor who demonstrates a glimmer of interest, but also don’t want those 80% of leads to slip through the net, we should look at our website to do some of the work for us, before alerting us to the requirement of a more personal approach.
So once we have devised our helpful, engaging, informative content, which does not only highlight our products and services, but addresses questions technology buyers may have at various stages of the decision making process, we can start profiling and nurturing our leads online.
Whilst email software and analytics tools are essential in this process by recording visitor behaviour and responsiveness to certain types of information, we have to do the initial thinking ourselves. If it was as easy as implementing a bit of software, we wouldn’t be blogging about it as an opportunity to create a real competitive advantage...
Some of the questions we need to ask ourselves are before we can start devising our communications matrix and associated content is; What information requirements do our prospects have at every stage of the decision making process? Can we make assumptions on what stage of the process they are at by assessing their online behaviour? What supplementary information would they be susceptible to? How do they prefer to be communicated with? When are they ready to be handed to the sales team?
Finally, as with most things in life, the 80/20 rule applies; 80% of your success lies in planning and implementing your automated lead nurturing programme and 20% lies in evaluating and refining it.