Generate quality contacts to get contacts in quantity
Nowadays there are so much opportunities and information on the web, that being able to produce an interesting content it is not an easy job.
In this universe of data, e-mail marketing campaigns stand out for their ability to help companies pursue one of their main objectives: to transform the user into a real contact, and then convert him/her into a customer.
The marketing strategy aimed at acquiring and generating a list of contacts sincerely interested in a company's proposals is called Lead Generation.
There are two key elements that determine the success of this strategy: quality and quantity of contacts.
The most logical process is to work on the first point, quality, and then have a positive return on quantity. Of course this is not an immediate process, but it is all part of a marketing operation that will be tested and implemented over time.
In order to attract quality contacts, and therefore valid users, really interested in our services, it is necessary to implement different techniques. Let's see some of them.
1) Make the registration process simple and intuitive.
Clarity and simplicity can make the difference in the web world. In order for a communication to be immediately visible to the user, we must be good at highlighting the information we are most interested in conveying.
To push the user to leave their contacts, you could use the subscription box: this can be a subscription form to the newsletter or a webinar or that gives the possibility to download an informative pdf.
Regardless of the service offered, it is important that the box is well structured. Therefore, it is advisable to:
- Create a plain and essential box: your goal is to induce those who browse our site to leave their contacts, so you should not exaggerate with the request for personal data but - on the contrary - you should only focus on the main information (name, surname, e-mail). Don't forget to include in the box also a short text that explains in a few words what are the advantages of subscribing to your newsletter and then invite the user to release their contacts.
- Choose clearly visible colors and correctly separate the different sections of the box. Remember to include an adhesion button (the so-called call to action) that is separated from the rest of the text and that is large enough to attract the user's attention.
- Place the box in strategic points on our site: for example in the header of the site or navigation bar, or in the sidebar (which is usually located to the right of the web page), or within the "Who we are" section.
2) Create useful content
Since, as we said at the beginning, there is so much information on the web today, it is necessary to find stratagems that allow our brand to stand out from the competitors.
One of these is to generate content that has a certain usefulness and that can help the customer to make the most of the potential of our products/services.
For example, if our company sells body care products, we could write articles describing the benefits of using specific creams on our skin. In order to make the user feel more and more interested in what we say and - as a consequence - in what we sell, a good technique can be to create a certain seriality between one article and another, as if it were a serial story. So every week we could focus our communication on a different product that benefits a different part of the body than the one we talked about in the previous article.
The principle of utility must be extended to all the tools we use for the generation of new contacts, such as webinars, ebooks, pdfs etc. Also the voucher must be perceived by the user as convenient and interesting, in order to be taken into consideration.
The more our communication/our offer will stimulate the curiosity of those who browse the web, the more we will be able to gain the trust of these people and make them become our customers.
3) Give it some time
The process of transforming the user into a buyer is not something that can happen immediately, but is part of a set of actions that need to be extended over time. If we have succeeded in inducing the user to fill out a registration form and then provide us with his data, we should also be careful how we will use the data.
Let's proceed step by step. Before explicitly making a business proposal, we should demonstrate to the potential customer that we deserve their trust and that our company has a level of expertise that should be chosen over others companies of a similar nature. In order to do this, it is advisable that the first communications are primarily of an informational nature and that they give those who come into contact with our business a chance to get to know us better.
We could then send newsletters referring to a previously created information content or invite contacts to a video lesson focusing on a topic we consider of particular importance. In short, we should cultivate the relationship with our lead: this is the phase of lead nurturing, i.e. the construction of a long term relationship with recently acquired contacts.
For the creation of an effective newsletter in this phase we refer to other articles on our blog. In the meantime, we remind you that on Mail Marketing you can build customized newsletters, according to your stylistic preferences and communication needs.
4) Do not underestimate the power of customer service
Today there are many tools and instruments to interact directly, simply and immediately with the user. The chatbots integrated on the site are one of these ways, but we also think of Facebook Messenger and other social chat, or the classic - but always effective - telephone support service.
Our online presence and above all our availability will affect the opinion that those who visit our site make of us. The more we are able to promptly handle support requests or answer questions/curiosity, the more the person who contacts us will be well prepared towards our brand and therefore will be inclined to want to find out more about our products.
In addition, customer support allows us to get in direct contact with those who still know very little about us and gives us the opportunity to show the outside world how we work and how important it is for our company to guarantee a punctual and reliable service.
5) Implement the Retargeting strategy
It will often happen that those who browse online visit your site just to have a look, without the explicit intention of buying something. The same thing that happens when we enter a store that we didn't know before to see if the products may or may not interest us.
On the web there is a way to show our services/products to those who have visited our site even once. This is thanks to retargeting, that is the possibility - through the Facebook monitoring pixel - to track all the people who visit the website or who have visited certain pages of the web page. This is a great advantage, since it gives us an extra chance to stimulate a user's curiosity about the web again.
That's why you should always think about a creativity that attract the attention of those who browse the web; the graphic aspect is fundamental, so we shall use photos or images that are appealing and engaging. Of course you should always include a short accompanying text, which explains in a few words what product or service it is.
These are just some of the many techniques that can be used to acquire qualified contacts. Keep in mind that generating leads for the sole purpose of filling our database with contacts is an inconvenient choice, because not only could create problems in terms of GDPR, but it would also be counterproductive in terms of optimizing your work. If those contacts are not really interested, they are unlikely to become customers, and consequently we would only waste our energy.
That is why, as repeatedly stated in this article, it is important to focus our efforts on quality, rather than quantity. Over time, we will be able to increase sales and thus achieve the goal we had set ourselves from the beginning.
