How to Transform Your Website into a Lead Generating Machine

Featured article by Mat Calica, Independent Technology Author

Long gone are the days of purely informative websites. Today, companies strive to create websites that convert visitors into customers. Doing so is no easy task and it requires that companies take into consideration key elements like website design, chat boxes, calls to action, landing pages, and more.

Responsive customer service has become of special importance, as it can be the defining factor between someone leaving a site when they’re unable to find what they’re looking for, or staying for a bit longer. Implementing virtual office technologies can help you stay up to speed with live chats and customer service, especially if you’re a small company. 

Website Design for Conversions 101

Great aesthetics are important, but more important is making sure that your website is user-friendly. Great UX design includes requires visual design, information design, great architecture, great content, and a clear understanding of user needs.

A brief word on getting visitors to your site: get familiar with current SEO trends (figure out important keywords, optimize and simplify content, make use of headings and tags, etc.).

When visitors land on your website, it has to be easy for them to figure out what their next move (or click) should be. Make calls to action visible with buttons. Don’t swarm your website with blocks of text, and make sure that what’s above the fold aligns well with user needs and your company objectives.

In other words, your website should be intuitive and the content you include should be kept simple and relevant to your audience. Whatever you do, make sure your website is optimized for desktop and mobile! 

Landing Pages

Landing pages are a key element of successful online marketing strategies. A landing page is the is the page visitors land on after clicking a hyperlink on a search engine result, marketing promotion, social media profiles, email campaign, or ads.

For best results, companies should create specific landing pages tailored to different promotions, offers, or campaigns. Doing so will improve the user experience and will lead to increased conversion rates, as the messaging and images of the landing page will provide targeted messaging that most likely matches the visitor’s interests.

Before you create  your landing page, make sure you can clearly answer the following questions:

– What is the goal of my landing page?
– Who am I competing against?
– Who is my audience?
– How will they get to my landing page?

15 Key Elements of High Converting Landing Pages

1. Keep it short and simple
2. Offer high-quality content
3. Have flawless design
4. Have a clear, visible call-to-action
5. Have engaging copy
6. Have an attractive offer
7. Are easy to scan (whitespace)
8. Include high-quality images
9. Align perfectly with the ad/promotion
10. Ask for basic information only
11. Have clickable buttons
12. Are mobile-friendly
13. Are fast
14. Are colorful and eye-catching
15. Follow-up with a thank you page

Live Chat

Live chats have become an essential tool for businesses seeking to improve their website conversion rate.

In an era where people expect fast service at all times, having a live chat option on a company website can help reduce expenses, increase sales, improve customer service, discover customer pain and common issues, expand your market reach, and provide you with reports and analytics.

All of the above translate into competitive advantage.

One of the main benefits of live chat solutions is that they enable companies to answer customer questions and solve issues in a timely manner. Consumers today want access to information that can help them make an educated buying-decision. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, having a live chat can be the determining factor between leaving your website or staying on it to chat with someone who can solve their answers.

Though live chat solutions offer a variety of benefits, they require that a team member always be online. Though some companies use automated, live chat bots, people prefer to talk to people instead of robots, which is why using a combination of bots and live chat agents can help you deliver the best customer service experience.

Bots are great to figure out what a customer needs and prepare an agent to address it. Though  there are some questions and issues that can easily be addressed and solved by a chat, some definitely need human intervention. 

Live Chat + Virtual Receptionists

Because live chats require that someone be online at all times (or most of the time), especially for companies with an international presence that spans different time zones, it can be hard to manage at times.

Virtual receptionist services, which are typically offered by virtual office providers, can help companies automate the live chat process at an affordable price. (Extra advantage: they can help convert website visitors, as well as phone leads. Like we said, people prefer talking to other people, and there will always be those who’d rather pick up a phone than send an email or chat online).

Virtual receptionist services can be hired for normal business hours, after hours, or 24/7. They offer a customized solution to each client, meaning that your assigned receptionist(s) will answer all phone calls or live chat messages with your company name and the previously agreed upon script that follows.

Virtual receptionists are trained to provide customer support, sales, tech support, help customers book appointments, and more. Furthermore, virtual receptionist services can be hired in various languages.

Delegating live chat and customer service responsibilities to a virtual receptionist can help companies have an efficient live chat process that can transform a website into a lead generating machine.

Key Virtual Receptionists Features:

– Live answering 
– Live chat services
– Tailored greetings and scripts
– Transcription services
– Booking and scheduling
– Screen calls and messages
– Identify patterns
– Provide reporting and analytics

It’s a fast-moving business world, and companies who don’t respond fast enough risk losing clients to the competition.