A lot of time, effort, and resources are required to generate online leads. It demands a sophisticated approach to marketing, where you entice and intrigue potential customers to find out more about what you are offering. This could involve them visiting your website or completing a form.

Yet, lead generation is only half the battle. Interested parties have to be turned into customers. If not, all the work you put in to persuade visitors to give your brand a chance will, ultimately, be worth nothing.

That’s why lead a conversion strategy is so essential.

Once you have caught the eye of a potential customer, you cannot let them off the hook. You need to reel them in and ensure they’re added to the other sales you’ve caught. Lead conversion makes that happen.

There is just one question: What lead conversion tactics are effective in getting the job done?

We have the answers below to help you boost those conversion numbers.

Make sure you understand your audience.

Research. That’s the first key step in putting together a powerful lead conversion strategy. If you fail to truly understand the desires of your target audience, it’s likely you will miss the mark with your conversion attempts.

The good news is that if you’ve managed to generate leads successfully, you should already have a fair idea about your customer base. You appeal to the problem they are attempting to solve – now it’s all about presenting the solution in a way that resonates with them.

When you craft content that encourages visitors to solve their challenge with your product or service, you will more likely nurture a positive connection, one that sees them become new customers.

While you will have information about your audience based on your initial marketing efforts, it’s also vital you learn from the data gained during the lead generation process.

Where are your leads coming from? Is it through organic search? Are they engaging with your newsletter content? Perhaps they’re most interested in your social media channels? Either way, you need to meet your audience where they are instead of telling them where to go.

Don’t forget to follow up early and often.

This is obvious, right? Who wouldn’t follow up once a potential client is there for the taking? Well, you’d be surprised at the number of businesses that fail to take the initiative. Yet, by not sending out an email or social media message, this could easily see realistic sales slip away.

With this in mind, never forget about following up with potential customers. This follow-up can be as simple as a gentle nudge in the right direction, a way to push your brand back to the forefront of the minds of your leads.

However, you do not want to leave it with just a single follow-up message. Okay, you certainly want to avoid sending out too many follow-ups, annoying your audience, and being placed in the dreaded ‘Spam’ folder. Yet you want to touch base with potential clients more than a solitary time.

Based on research by Propeller, five follow-ups are necessary to close 80% of sales.

So, you need to plan out quite a few emails that will not only leave a strong brand impression, but are also coherent and effective in promoting your products/services. In addition, these have to be scheduled to land in their inboxes at the right time.

Example Follow-up message.

A lead has been gained following a sales demo. Yet, this demo alone hasn’t been enough to turn this lead into a paying customer. As a result, a follow-up email is sent to give the prospect a reminder about the key points covered during the demo.

The email could look something like this:

Subject: Hello Again! We Thought We’d Remind You…

Hello [PROSPECT NAME],

It was great meeting with you today. After our product demonstration, we thought we’d remind you about the main benefits available:

[BULLET-POINT LIST OF BENEFITS]

If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask. You can reply to this email or contact us through whatever channel works best.

Kind regards,

[SENDER NAME]

The best time to send this follow-up email would be soon after the product demo. This way, that initial presentation remains fresh in the potential client’s mind.

Tempt visitors with a special offer.

Everyone loves a freebie. That’s why it remains one of the most effective marketing tactics any business can utilize. Of course, ample care and attention is required before deciding on your special offer. The last thing you want to do is throw too much money away with an offer that’s more costly than the revenue it brings in.

Fortunately, your free item or discount doesn’t have to be anything truly special or lavish. On the other hand, it also has to be worthwhile for the recipient. Go too cheap, and it might have the opposite effect and reflect badly on your business.  

There are many different directions you can go with a special offer. This can be a free gift with a purchase, for example, or you may decide to run a giveaway.

It can often be a case of testing out options and fine-tuning your strategy. The more information you acquire, the more you can learn how customers engage with your brand. The result: you can better personalize and refine your communication efforts.

Do not underestimate the importance of the latter point. When you can personalize the likes of emails, where the content appears to be specifically for the recipient, this only further engages them – which again helps with your lead conversion strategy.

Example Lead Magnet

A marketing agency has decided to release a downloadable report about how to effectively implement a social media marketing strategy. Yet, they are not going to charge people to read this report – it will be used as part of a giveaway.

This report doesn’t have to be the size of a feature-length novel. In fact, it can stay below 15 pages while delivering the in-depth knowledge those consuming it seek. For that professional touch, the report should contain well-designed graphics and images that make reading the content a breeze.

The marketing agency has decided to use this report to target prospects who are already taking in their content via blog posts. Acting as a content upgrade, users exchange their email addresses for this free report.

The report itself can further sell consumers on the paid services available with the marketing agency. They will also be able to target those that supplied their email address for the report with specific messages pertaining to social media, how their services can help, etc.

Use the right calls to action.

When talking about simple online lead conversion tactics, look no further than utilizing calls to action.

A CTA, when used correctly, has the power to guide potential customers in the right direction to complete a sale. Think of it like a sign in a shop highlighting a sale. With the ideal placement and visuals, it has the potential to grab a customer’s attention and push them toward making a purchase.

If your website fails to have a decisive, interest-grabbing CTA, you could struggle to get those all-important sales over the line. The last thing you want to do is make site visitors guess. They need to know exactly where they’re going to reach their end goal.

While creating CTAs may seem straightforward – and generally, they are – you have to pay attention to the verbs or phrases you incorporate. A ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Download Now’ CTA is straight to the point, but it can also make site visitors feel like they’re following an order.

Instead, think about creating something that’s a little more persuasive without being forceful. Here are some examples:

• Sign up and save
• Contact today for a free assessment
• Sign up for weekly treats
• Book an appointment
• Start saving today
• Give [BRAND] a try
• Let’s begin a new project together

CTA Example

A software business is attempting to get people to sign up for a free trial of their SEO tool. To achieve this goal, they have used a simple CTA stating the following:

Try our SEO tool for free today

Along with the text, the CTA was created with the brand’s color scheme firmly in mind. Its placement was also given careful consideration. It was strategically placed at the top of the homepage.

For those interested right off the bat, they can get started with the free trial straight away. If they need a little more convincing, the rest of the page covers the main benefits of the SEO tool, detailing how it can help companies achieve their digital customer acquisition goals.

The bottom of the page then uses a secondary CTA. Rather than repeating the one at the top of the page, this CTA opts for a different text combination:

Get started and improve your SEO strategy

Both CTAs have the same end goal, aka getting visitors to click and begin their free trial. Yet by using two CTAs, with one at the top of the page and one at the bottom, this improves the chances of potential customers taking that next step – and, naturally, improves the company’s lead conversion rate in sales.  

Optimize the web experience.

The CTA is only the start when it comes to optimizing the web experience. You want to ensure your website is crafted with the right content and structure, along with everything functioning seamlessly under the hood.

For instance, SEO is an essential factor in driving organic traffic to your site. However, the implementation of keywords, backlinks, etc., should not negatively detract from the customer experience. If a poorly placed keyword sticks out like a sore thumb, this can instantly take the reader out of the moment.

The result: you lose a lead because they have given up on consuming the rest of the site’s content.

A site that is sluggish and unresponsive is also a killer for retention. In the present day, people are not going to wait around for a slow site to load. Even if the delay is just a couple of seconds, most will press the ‘Back’ button and go to an alternative source. Unbounce notes that almost 7 out of 10 customers “admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer.”

The result: you lose a lead.

With these points in mind, a fast, responsive website that flows seamlessly is an integral ingredient for lead conversion.

To track and refine performance, metrics such as bounce rate and session duration should be utilized. The longer users remain on your site, the more indicative your content is working. You can also use this to measure the performance of specific landing pages. Top performers can receive an extra push via your marketing methods, while you can also learn from these pages to improve those that aren’t currently reaching the same levels.

Related: Conversion Optimization Tips

Put effort into social media. 

When converting leads, your primary focus is, rightfully, on your website. Yet, this site is only a portion of your online presence. Customers will be finding and interacting with your brand via different platforms. This is certainly the case with social media.

Everyone is on social media. Your audience is on social media. There’s no getting away from that. You also should not attempt to go against the grain – you should embrace this and ensure your business is conveniently placed right where your audience is located.

It’s not just about convenience, either. By adding a social element to your business, this further helps turn those leads into customers. You can interact with leads, share information, gain feedback, and build fruitful relationships.

Social Media Marketing Example

A crafting business invites leads to join its private Facebook group. In this group, the business shares exclusive deals and information about the latest upcoming products. That said, posting on Facebook goes beyond simply being an advertising platform.

The company uses it to interact directly with any questions or comments from its leads. They also listen to feedback to further improve their business offerings. Additionally, a converted lead is also more willing to share their purchase in the group, which helps to further encourage extra sales.

In Summary…

If you are still unclear as to how you can use lead conversion in your business, ask yourself this question: What is the biggest challenge your potential customers are facing?

If you can identify the real problem and offer a solution to it, then you will maximize the impact of any lead conversion campaign.

The final step is to remember that lead conversion strategy is as much about personal relationships as it is about sales.

Try to build connections with potential clients and show them that your business cares about their success and well-being. As they come back to you again and again with their business problems, you can turn them into the best clients you can possibly hope to have.