The Key To Lead Generation Is The Easy ‘Yes’
Sometimes the biggest obstacles to online lead generation are the ones companies put in their way.
The key to online lead generation — inspiring a phone inquiry or a website form submission — is the easy “yes.” In other words:
- Making it easy for prospects to say yes to giving you information
- Making it easy for prospects to say yes to having a sales rep make contact
- Making it easy for prospects to say yes to trying your product or service
In online marketing, an offer is a value proposition: Website visitors make a mental calculation of whether it is worth their time and energy to take the business relationship to the next level. And, in many cases, visitors are looking for reasons to say no. Deep down, they don’t want to try something new or talk to a sales rep, or give up their email addresses and phone numbers. You have to make it worth their while.
This is why lifeless offers and calls to action are a lead generation death sentence. Saying, “Call now to talk to a sales representative” is OK if the prospect is favorably disposed and ready to buy. However, what if the prospect is thinking, “I don’t want to get tied up talking to a pushy salesperson. If I make the request, the person will never leave me alone.” It’s likely far more prospects will have the latter mindset.
Here are ways to put life into your offers and value proposition:
- Keep required form fields to a minimum. Resist the temptation to make inquiry forms the linchpin of your prospecting database; all you’ll accomplish is limiting its size.
- Personalize your sales team with photos, video, customer endorsements. Take the fear out of that sales contact request.
- If trial orders are the hook, then stress guarantees, no long-term commitment required, and other language to reinforce your credibility and the prospect’s lack of exposure to risk.
- Give prospects something tangible for phoning in or submitting a form — a T-shirt, coffee mug, pen, discount if they place an order, etc. Will it work? Will it prove to be too expensive? You won’t know until you test it, but a freebie could be the way to double or triple your lead generation.
- Design your submit forms to be incredibly easy to use on desktops and mobile devices. Test forms on a regular schedule to make sure they are working properly. Here’s a good post on contact form UX to jump-start your usability review.
- Put a privacy statement on your contact form to assure prospects you won’t give their information to third parties that will spam them to death.
Over to You
What methods have you used to put life into your online offers and value propositions to boost lead generation?
