As marketers, we're always under a lot of pressure to generate more leads. The volume of incoming leads will depend on the type of industry you're in – for example, big-ticket items may get fewer inquiries and have a longer sales process while less expensive consumer goods may generate a lot of interest very quickly.
Generally speaking, a significant portion of your inbound marketing activity will focus on profiling and attracting the right leads to your brand with valuable content and good strategy. Naturally, your sales team will be pleased to have plenty of prospects to call, but what happens if those leads aren't converting into new customers?
As we know, inbound marketing and sales are all about gently guiding the prospect through the sales funnel and allowing them to make an educated purchasing decision for themselves. Too often, however, businesses don't look at the customer experience that their website offers, and there are no clear instructions on how to proceed if the customer wants more information or is ready to buy.
Here it's essential to have clear CTAs that highlight the conversion path for the customer and help them to take the desired action. It doesn't help if the steps you provide are too complicated. If there are too many hurdles to jump through, like long contact forms or your sales team doesn't get back to the enquirer on time, you've probably lost that lead.
Sure, you may be pumping out some fantastic ads and attracting leads to your website. But once they get there, are you providing incredible and engaging content that answers all their questions?
Or, if your sales team is dealing directly with the individual, do they have any supporting content like educational videos and testimonials that they can forward onto the prospect to help them feel more confident about the purchase?
Having dedicated resources available on your website will assure the lead that you are a reliable company that will always have the available information they need to get the most out of your product or service.
Inbound marketing and sales are all about methodology and personalisation. If you're launching campaigns without carefully studying the results of your efforts, you cannot make the necessary adjustments that will align your offering with the needs of the customer.
It's important to establish which channels are going to be most effective when communicating with your leads, and then setting targets and KPIs that you regularly observe. Without data, you cannot progress.
6 key conversion metrics to observe:
There are many other crucial metrics worth taking a closer look at. The ones we've mentioned above are some of the basic foundational indicators which will highlight the quality of leads your campaign is attracting, the effectiveness of the channels you are using, and the return on investment you can hope to gain from these acquisition activities.
If the numbers don't add up, you'll know that it's time to go back to the drawing board and review the bottlenecks in your sales funnel as well as the areas where your strategy may be missing the mark. By paying attention to these details, you ensure that your sales team gets the kind of leads that align with your brand and are much easier to convert because they are, essentially, your Buyer Persona.
Customers are the lifeblood of your business – pardon the cliche, but we know it's true. Customer acquisition means that you can grow your business, pay your expenses, and show investors that you have a potent business model.
Lead generation and customer acquisition are a bit like relay partners:
Lead generation focusses on the top of the sales funnel, bringing your brand to the forefront of your prospects' attention and ensuring that your ideal buyer personas can find you.
Customer acquisition, however, takes into account the entire funnel and the service delivery that will not only convert the lead into a paying customer but also win over their loyalty for the longterm.
It's likely that your customers prefer one platform or mode of communication over another. It may be a case of trial and error, but you should experiment with different channels until you find the one that has the highest engagement and focus your strategy there.
Creating new and engaging content is essential, but you undoubtedly have plenty of fantastic existing resources that could do with a bit of sprucing up. Look into the metrics and find your most engaging blogs, videos, or whitepapers. Update any statistics or outdated information and republish them.
Help your existing customers gain even more value from their purchases by guiding them towards add-ons and complementary products in your catalogue. You'll not only improve your customer's experience, but you'll gain more long term value from the sale.
As long as you keep in line with inbound best practices, sending informative and engaging emails will help you to generate even more interactions from your highly targeted traffic. According to HubSpot, email marketing generated about 3800% ROI, so be sure to use this great tool by leveraging your own subscribers and formulating effective email nurture sequences.
If you're ready to start effectively converting your leads into customers, we've got the tools and resources to open up new horizons for your growing business. We've covered the basics and touched on a few important points in this blog, now lets dive into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to truly improve your customer acquisition strategy. Start by downloading our free eBook where we answer the 13 Critical Questions in Sales.