Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [125]
a
b
Figure 11-26: a) An overly demanding CBSSportsline.com Fantasy Football registration; b) a simplified version of the form
Tracking
One thing you can do to get a better handle on your website and marketing is to start adding small registration or contact forms throughout your marketing. You should not only add the forms but also integrate tracking codes through the programming so that when a form is completed, the salesperson (or whoever receives the forms) is able to know which page the visitor was on and what they were looking at when they sent the form. This little bit of programming enhancement can help your sales force be much more prepared when contacting a website visitor.
Adding tracking codes to forms can also help you tie together the search terms or the advertising that brought the visitor to the site, what they saw, and what persuaded them to take action and contact you. Tying together search terms and actions on the website can be a powerful way of optimizing your content and positioning information to be better understood by the visitor. Additionally, receiving a form and knowing the page, content, and specific context of the contact form will enable a better contact and answer to be provided the visitor.
Encourage Actions after the Conversion
In Chapter 7, old sales axioms were applied to new marketing methods. This concept is along those very same lines. It is one of the foundational sales truths and very effective in its execution, and that is to follow up after the sale.
There is a phenomenon experienced by consumers or purchasers called buyer’s remorse. It is the second guessing that takes place in the buyer’s mind after making a commitment. Buyers wonder whether they made the right decision, whether maybe there was a better product, or whether this is the right company to do the job. Either way, once humans have committed to something, there tends to be a creeping doubt about that commitment. The sales advice to follow up after the decision is based on the behavior of people to accept another person’s opinion that they have made a good decision. Reinforcing the commitment is a powerful way of ensuring the visitor that they have made the right decision. This is why a car salesperson will call you a week or two after you purchased your car, telling you that you made a great decision.
Unfortunately, this great sales technique has made very little inroads to the online world. Once a visitor makes a conversion on a website, they are typically left with a black page that says “thank you.” What a horrible way to start a new relationship.
This visitor just gave you some of the most valuable time and information that they could give. Their email address is a thing of value, and it should be treated as such, with graciousness and appreciation. If the conversion included the credit card, then it also required a high level of trust. Either way, the visitor converted on your site by giving items of high value, only to be shooed away with a simple thank-you message.
Instead of languishing with mediocre thank-you messages, this is your opportunity to express sincere gratitude, compliment the decision, and start developing that new relationship. Replace the boring and bland thank-you page with valuable information, related products, downloadable information, and links to other items that they may find of interest. Just because a visitor converted doesn’t mean they have to leave the website!
This is particularly effective in B2B applications, because the thank-you page from a contact form could provide a checklist of information to have handy when the sales rep calls or information to gather for the next stage of the purchase process. In either application, prepare your new customer with information that will reinforce their decision, prepare them for the next contact, and provide them with more than they ask for. You just may see your retention rate and long-term sales rate increase as a result.
The process at site