Here’s our recap of the roundtable discussion on navigating the ever-evolving landscape of lead generation in the digital era at the Home Builder Digital Marketing Summit hosted by Blue Tangerine and Outhouse. As part of our Gold Sponsor package, we have the incredible opportunity to get around a table with those in the industry to discuss a topic of our choosing. After taking into account the insights we get from our customers and a few conversations, we settled on “From Click to Close: Combining tech with the human connection to drive sales-ready leads and outperform in a competitive market.” It’s a bit of a mouthful but the content is important, we promise.
Whether you were at the event or not, here is a recap of our roundtable.
Setting the Stage
After introductions, we set the scene with a nod to the overall importance of a seamless handover between marketing and sales in today's integrated landscape. The goal: a consistent approach to messaging and customer experience to close more deals.
“From Click" - Driving Traffic
With the website acting as the modern storefront it has become the first point of call for many buyers. The discussion kicked off with talk about the strategies used to first attract potential customers. This is the “first click”.
For any marketer, the channels used won’t come as a surprise.
- SEO
- Paid Ads
- Social Media
- Word of Mouth
- Events
Whilst objectives like awareness and engagement exist, the ultimate goal is to land the sale. This means first generating a lead which beforehand requires getting the potential prospects to the website, therefore means getting the "first click".
Each of these channels haves their own strategies and tactics to optimise and track, but we need to remember that the “first click” is an important part of the journey, but not the end goal.
"The First Close" - Converting Visitors into Leads
The focus then shifts to what it takes to convert those hard-earned website visitors into qualified leads ready for sales teams to engage. This is the “first close”.
And since nothing drives home a point better than a statistic, or three...
- 1-5% is the average conversion rate for most websites, meaning 95-99% of said hard-earned visitors leave without taking the next step
- 61% of visitors leave after 5 seconds if they don’t find what they want
- 63% of customers are more likely to purchase from websites with live chat
Check out our marketing stats to know in 2024!
This highlights the importance of good UX, easy-to-use website navigation, meaningful content, and effective call-to-actions (including chat). Websites that meet these needs can only be built when taking the human experience into account, and addressing the wants and needs of the target audience.
We (obviously) advocate for the use of chat in addressing the needs and wants of the prospects, and believe this to be key to successfully executing an omnichannel method of communication that ultimately results in more sales.
Visitors who chat are 3x more likely to make a purchase!
Chat Options
Diving into our world of expertise, chat, the discussion moved to cover the various ways in which chat can be deployed. Each with their own set of pros and cons.
Types of chat deployment
There are benefits to each depending on the type of business and the end goal for deploying chat. Our experience has led us to firmly believe that the human interaction is irreplaceable. Within the scope of an online chat conversation, a real human agent on the other end allows for increased engagement, better personalisation, and customer satisfaction. All things that point towards a better long-term experience that works toward landing the sale (or the "Second Close").
At the end of the day, our customers are human and whilst they want expediency they also want to deal with a company they can relate to and trust. That requires a human experience.
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"The Second Close" - Turning Leads into Customers
The roundtable concluded with a focus on the crucial end goal of the “second close” and the internal processes that support this.
Once a visitor has been qualified as a lead and the details have been passed over to the sales team, there are a few key tactics that need to be employed to ensure prime conversion rates.
- Response times: The importance of being the first to respond to inquiries cannot be overstated. Consumers want to be valued and see responses quickly. This has an incredible impact on conversion rates.
- Handover process insights: Entry into nurturing campaigns and OSC team engagement.
- Lead context: Utilising all of the context of the enquiry and not having prospects have to repeat themselves is important. This is where context-rich leads from chat interactions provide an advantage.
To Summarise
In summary, our roundtable explored the intricacies of turning clicks into conversions through the use of technology but without losing sight of the human element needed to truly turn leads into happy customers. By understanding the nuances of driving traffic, converting leads, and nurturing prospects, businesses can gain a competitive edge in the evolving landscape of digital marketing and sales.
