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It's elementary! Your website is a crime scene and I am going to cry bloody murder!
Every second of every day websites are drawing qualified traffic that's not converting to leads and customers.
And that's not the only crime being committed! Companies are not setting goals, they are not benchmarking results and often have no basis to track improvement in their marketing over time.
These are all crimes and I call on all internet marketing CSIs (crime scene investigators) to use their deductive reasoning to solve these five puzzles for improved conversion and business success:
1. HOW - How did visitors learn about your site?
It is critical to know how visitors are learning about your site. Track referring sites for all your visitors. You should identify which sites (and types of sites) are sending you the most visitors and visitors that convert to leads. It's amazing what a little focus on the best sources can do to improve your conversion rates.
2. WHO - Who are your visitors (and leads and customers)?
Do you know the kinds of visitors (personas) who are most interested in your products and services? Qualifying questions on forms can capture explicit information about your visitors and implicit clues such as site visits, downloads, and content viewed can tell you a lot about the DNA of your ideal audience. Use targeted marketing campaigns to home in on suspects who make ideal customers for your business.
3. WHAT - What content interests your visitors?
Do you know what content or keywords are attracting visitors to your site? Which lead generation offers get the most downloads? Track the performance of all your content. You can use some clues to optimize or create new content that will attract more visitors and convert more of them into leads.
4. WHICH - Which are your most effective marketing channels?
Is your site a search traffic magnet because your pages rank high for a multitude of keywords? Perhaps your email campaigns generate fewer visitors but are more influential in converting your audience into customers. Figure out which of your channels work best so you can use them strategically to generate more traffic (prospects) and convert more customers.
5. WHY - Why do your visitors become customers, or not?
This is toughest (and most subjective) puzzle to solve. There are a multitude of reasons customers buy: they need your product, they really liked your sales rep, or maybe you came highly recommended. Ask your customers after every win and document it. More importantly, in the event of a lost deal ask the prospect why. Focus on your strengths and work on filling up the gap to ensure a higher win rate.
Are you a marketing CSI facing similar challenging business puzzles? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Photo Credit: Sashafatcat
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