If you aren’t selling a product online, the end goal of a website is to try and obtain contact information from a user. This allows you to follow up with them and perhaps sell them your services later down the road. But how do you do that? Here’s a step-by-step process that will see your leads increase and set you up for success.

The Gauntlet

As soon as a user arrives on your site, they immediately start reviewing your content (often subconsciously) looking to answer 3 key questions. You need to survive these 3 initial questions as they run the gauntlet to even make the cut.

1. Do you provide the service I am looking for?

Is it immediately clear what type of service you are offering? The customer should be able to answer this question within the first 2 seconds they are on your site. You can accomplish this with clever descriptive taglines, appropriate imagery, and with a descriptive logo.

2. Is this site trustworthy?

Do you have testimonials or social proof of the quality of your work? Does your site look outdated? Does it have a consistent design style throughout? If your site doesn’t look current and has no supporting trust-building elements, it’s very likely the user will go check out the competition.

3. Why should I choose you over your competition?

What differentiates you from the competition? Have you been in business for a long time? Do you have an expert team? Are you offering a special deal or incentive? Ie: Free Consultations or the promise of Satisfaction/Money Back Guarantee.

 

Whew! Now What?

If you get past those 3 initial barriers, you are well on your way to a successful user conversion. You are providing what they are looking for, you seem trustworthy, and your pitch is on point. The next steps are fairly simple, but there are many opportunities to lose the user along the path if you aren’t careful. What’s the best way to proceed? Our lead developer Gabriel suggests following these 3 steps.

1. Make it Easy

How easy is it for the user to find what they are looking for? Is there a clear CTA (Call To Action) button that leads them to either submit their information or to another page to further convince them? If another page is needed to convince them further, is it simple for the user to know what to do next?

2. Make it Fast

Make sure you value your user’s time. Give them enough information to answer their big questions quickly and then capture just the basic information you need.

Make sure you value your user’s time. Give them enough information to answer their big questions quickly and then capture just the basic information you need. This should only be their name and one piece of contact info – ie: phone or email. If the user has more questions, try and answer them, but instead of cluttering your page, provide links for the additional information they can access without leaving the page.

3. Stroke the Ego

Remind the user what an incredibly good decision they have made in using your services. Provide them with strategically placed additional pieces of information throughout the conversion path that might help remind them why it’s such a good idea. A quick testimonial spot here. An award for excellence there. The user obviously made a great decision with going with your company, you are just reinforcing that concept in their minds.

 

Successful lead generation is all about obtaining some kind of contact information from a user. If you are getting people to provide that on a consistent basis, congratulations. Keep it up. If not, you may need to revisit the gauntlet and discover where people are falling off.

– – –

Written by Gabriel McCay

About the author

Gabriel McCay is a soulpepper who is passionate about creating positive social and environmental impact. A sought after web designer with over a decade of marketing, and development experience, he also the founder of his own full-fledged digital agency.

Like what you see? Subscribe to our newsletter for more great tips and strategies to grow your ecommerce empire.