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Before we talk about how to increase lead conversion let’s break down the terminology.
We’ll start with leads – a term that refers to those who’ve shown interest in your offering.
The three types of leads
Leads (dull name – but there you go!)
These prospects usually hover around the brim of your sales funnel and show interest in offers.
On occasion, they may fill out a form, email or request information via one of your social channels.
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
These customers are engaging with your brand and venturing further down the proverbial rabbit hole.
Although not ready for the pitch they’re actively reviewing your mid-funnel offers and are close to buying.
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)
Having abseiled to the bottom of your sales funnel these customers are all but frothing at the mouth and ready to talk.
Pick up the phone to an SQL and you’re bound to find some low-hanging fruit – although the outcome will depend on the strength of your pitch.
Three tips to increase lead conversion
How quickly you convert leads will depend on the complexity of your product and customers’ mindset. So, these tips (which we promise do work) won’t necessarily transform your business overnight.
#1 Strike while the iron is hot
Earlier we outlined the types of leads – each manifesting within different stages of the sales funnel. Fail to distinguish between them and your lead conversion will be seriously compromised.
To ensure success:
- Segment your leads into two lists – cold and hot
- Nurture the cold leads until they’re ready to talk
- Meanwhile, call those who are close to converting
This is how to increase lead conversion: by identifying and prioritising high-quality enquiries.
#2 Constantly interrogate data quality
Duplicate, incorrect, or poor-quality data could be harming your conversion ratios. Duplicate or incorrect email addresses, missing fields in forms, and formatting issues are just three examples of such issues.
This translates into:
- Time wasted chasing non-existent or poor-quality leads
- Poor content delivery rates and missed opportunities
- Unrealistic lead scoring and inaccurate segmentation
Regularly reviewing your data is vital if you want to increase lead conversion rates. That way you can dedupe records, remove invalid entries, and optimise online forms.
#3 Is your website letting you down?
Targeting prospects with the right content at the right time is of paramount importance. But what if the delivery mechanism is flawed or broken?
Imagine spending time and effort moving a customer from the awareness to the decision-making stage – only for the conversion opportunity to be scuppered by…
- Confusing in-site navigation that disrupts the user experience
- Unforgivable typos or pricing errors that destroy trust in your brand
- An incorrect email address – meaning customers can’t message you
- A broken link, meaning they can’t access the offer
Whether you manually review your website – or use a free tool like Screaming Frog to identify issues – regular cataloguing and testing is non-negotiable if you want to increase lead conversion.
Of course, if you lack the time and expertise to nurture and convert prospects into customers we can help.
Book a free call with one of our lead conversion experts now to learn more.
