Turn your website into a goldmine

How many businesses do you know that have websites that capture enquirer details – or allow you to click to call or send an email to arrange contact?

Now think about how many you’ve used personally where you’ve fired off your question, enquiry, order or sales lead and received no response at all. All too many I suspect. The good news is that because most organisations don’t do this well it’s very easy to make a real impact in your market by getting the basics right.

There are a few golden rules to follow when using a website to generate and capture client enquiries or sales leads. Follow these rules and your website could become increasingly lucrative for you.

Reply Quickly

Make replying to web enquiries core to your business, not a chore. Consider rewarding staff for doing it well and converting enquiries into leads.

And you can win pretty easily by simply being one of the companies that responds to web enquiries at all!

A recent Siebel Systems/Microsoft/Romp Survey (June 2003) looked at the responsiveness of companies to sales enquiries coming from a variety of sources. Average response time was a staggering 4.6 days. And website and email enquiries were far less effectively dealt with.

Don’t Assume

a. That real customers / good quality leads will come in via the telephone. A client of ours receives the majority of new business enquiries by email and via their website.

b. People will call if they don’t receive a response from you. They’ll probably be shopping around on-line and if you don’t respond someone else will.

c. Your reputation won’t be damaged if you don’t reply – it certainly will.

Mystery Shop

As a visitor to your website what’s the experience like? Are you asked for relevant information? Can you find all the details you are looking for? How quickly is your enquiry responded to? Ask yourself – if I were a genuine customer would I be satisfied, would I want more information or better service. If the answer is yes – then put it right and do so quickly.

Have Effective Systems

Use any systems you have (especially data management and enquiry logging systems) effectively. Make sure your staff are trained to record information correctly and understand the importance of having accurate enquiry data – and the rules connected with the Data Protection Act of course. If you are thinking of implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to help manage web enquiries do make sure that you specify very clearly what your requirements are on paper first, before you start talking to the techies about what they might be able to deliver. All too often CRM systems fail abysmally to meet the requirements or expectations of the client – due mainly to a lack of clarity in the specification by the client, insufficient operator training and I have to say it – all too often over promising by CRM providers.

At the end of the day the CRM system itself is no substitute for a clear strategy and good client service and management.

Keep it Simple

Make it easy for customers, enquirers and your sales people. Don’t put systems or processes in the way. That means having a clear and well documented sales process that the sales force and sales administration staff can follow. It also means that any web based sales administration should be easy to understand and complete. And a critical point here is – don’t ask for more information than you really need. Am I the only one who finds it offensive to have to give my full telephone number and email address, along with my full postal address and age – just to enquire about something on a website. I’ve no objection to giving my email address if I’m asking them to send me something by email – likewise if they need to mail me the goods I’m ordering that’s fine. But why ask for my phone number when all I’m asking for is say a report to be emailed to me.

Think about and listen to your customer preferences. If the system isn’t clever enough to establish preferences – ask them.

Service, service, service

Start as you mean to go on. Respond to enquiries quickly or set expectations, up front on the website, when this may not be possible. Get the basics right – if you are taking on-line payments make sure your system is secure and reliable.

Your website can be the door to many sales and sales enquiries – or of course it could be a real barrier – the choice is yours.

Article written by Teresa Harris of Second Opinion Marketing. Second Opinion Marketing is an independent marketing consultancy specialising in communication solutions and the customer experience. Contact: Teresa on 01789 740396 or tah@secondopinionmarketing.co.uk.

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