With all of the opportunities for lead generation out there, one of the easiest and most effective ways to capture your potential customer’s contact information is through your web forms. These forms are valuable tools that let you collect crucial data so that, once qualified, you can funnel those prospects into the sales pipeline. Not only do these forms provide invaluable information to you and your sales team, they are also key players in achieving sales success with the Net-Results Marketing Automation platform. Once a visitor has done you the favor of filling in their coveted contact information, Net-Results can then identify that customer down to their company name, first name, last name, phone number and email address each and every time they come back. Not only when they come back, but how long they are on your site, what products and services they are interested in, and what their navigation through your site is.
So, all you need to do is just build a few simple HTML “Contact Us” forms on your website and the leads will just start flowing in, right? Wrong. As technology continues to advance, so do threats of SPAM, ID theft, and email address selling, making visitors to your website more hesitant than ever to just hand over their contact information. Because of this SPAM fear that has been deeply instilled in your prospects, you must use your forms to barter with your prospects for their information, provide something they can’t get elsewhere, and something that is more than worth their email address. You want your prospects to come in, check out what you have to offer, be amazed and intrigued by those offerings, and gladly give up a few pieces of personal data in exchange for the obvious benefits your site and company provides.
There are a few simple ways to ensure your visitors will WANT to fill out your forms and WANT you to contact them-
Create A Need
Give your customers a taste of your offerings, without exposing everything. Giving them a bit of very useful information, and asking them to register for the rest, shows them that you do have credibility, but you want to establish a personal relationship with them before discussing the rest. This sample creates a need for the end of the story. Providing a few paragraphs of a white paper or informational document can be intriguing enough for a visitor to submit their email address to finish the piece.
Trade Up
Everyone likes free stuff, and if you say you don’t, you’re lying. Creating an offer with a promotional price, coupon or free item in exchange for personal data provides the customer something that they didn’t really have to work that hard to get. Your visitors will be a bit more willing to exchange their email address when there’s a free donut at stake.
Make A Deadline
We’ve all given up our email address in exchange for an offer that ends today, tomorrow or in 3 weeks. We absolutely know the offer will still be available next month, but we do it anyways. Giving your customer a deadline to get information, get a promotional price, or get insight into future exclusive events, adds a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
Members Only
Making visitors part of a “cool kids only club” to get insider information on product releases, events or updates, provides another sort of barter for information. You’ve let them into an exclusive club where they will get the best deals, have access to the best information, and get invited to the best parties. (Well maybe not the last one, but you get it)
Breaking your website visitors of their commitment phobia (or at least web form phobia) will not only help you to better utilize the power of the Net-Results platform to increase your revenue and marketing ROI, but also give your potential customers a better idea of your credibility and insight into the important products and services you can provide to them.
