More and more people are using the web as a shopping and research tool and companies are spending millions attracting customers to their websites. It is surprising therefore, that most of these companies seem to do very little to maximise the opportunity when a potential customer visits their site. That prospect is warm to their brand (they've chosen their site) and shopping for a product that they offer. Most companies seem happy to effectively let that prospect walk into their "shop", look around and walk out without making any effort to sell to them. Some may send a follow-up e-mail but that's generally as far as it goes.
This is a wasted opportunity which is why we developed Optilead.
Since we launched in March 2007 we have spoken to Directors and Managers in many different industries and the two things that everyone agrees on are:
- Their online conversion rates are significantly less than their telephone conversion rates
- Improving online conversion rates is an area they need to focus on
So, what's our answer for improving online conversion? Talk to your customers! It's really that simple!
The trick is to do it quickly while the customer is still online. That customer could be undecided, looking for answers or more information, or just plain confused. Speed is where we tend to find most companies struggle and we regularly come across companies that make outbound follow-up calls 24 hours (and more) after the event, just because that's the quickest they can physically do it. In many sales scenarios that's just too late! Companies that have managed to reduce this time to under one hour often end up with manual processes that involve giving staff lists or spreadsheets of customers to call - not very efficient and difficult to manage and report.
The stats we see from our clients prove that you are almost twice as likely to get hold of a customer if you call them within 10 minutes rather than leaving it for a longer. Plus the ones you get hold of are then twice as likely to buy from you.
Optilead allows you to outbound call your customers within minutes after any kind of 'trigger' event on your website. As we talk to more and more people about Optilead we are finding new applications and below are just some examples of 'triggers' where an outbound call can make a big difference:
- Completion of an online quote or enquiry form
- Dropping out of an online quote, enquiry form, shopping basket, order form, booking form or payment process
- Opening a marketing e-mail or clicking on a link in that e-mail
Optilead is web based so you don't need to buy any new hardware or software. A simple piece of integration with your website and an inbound phone line is all you need. Optilead will give you access to real time stats so you can see exactly what's going on with all your leads right down to which staff member is talking to which customer, and their performance.
Whilst our customers get their best results from the outbound calling, you can never get to speak to all of your customers all of the time so, Optilead also allows you to easily integrate, SMS (text messages), e-mail, outbound IVR and mobile internet into your communication strategy as well.
Read more about how it works...
