I’ve worked with several businesses who have high traffic to their website, but can’t quite figure out how to convert that traffic into leads and ultimately sales. If you feel like your website should be providing you with more leads and more sales, read on!
Step 1
The first step is to make sure your direct call to action is clear. You need a Buy Now button on your website. If you don’t already have one, stop reading this and check out this article, Is your website button Superman or Clark Kent?.
Step 2
Assuming you have the right Buy Now button, we can wade into deeper waters. What happens when a customer visits your website, and they are simply not ready to buy? Maybe it’s the first time they’ve heard of your company. Maybe they were just doing research. Maybe they were curious after seeing the clever ad you wrote.
Whatever the case, you need to have an action plan for these browsers who may be great customers but aren’t there yet. You need a way to get enough information to keep in touch with this customer before they leave your website.
If your browsers are on your website, but they’re not ready to buy, the right marketing strategy can make a massive difference for your business. The StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap will show you how to do just that. It is truly magical.
P.S. If you purchase the StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap and send us the receipt. We’ll do a professional review of your wireframe for free before you send it to your designer so you can be sure every single section is right on the money!
Step 3
You’ve got your marketing assets in place, but how do you implement it? Practically speaking, how do you collect your browser’s information before they leave your website?
My favorite tool is the popup. Popups though sometimes annoying, work so well you wouldn’t believe it. When you pair a popup with a great lead magnet like a well-titled eBook or free video series, you are sure to get results.
When you pair a popup with a great lead magnet like a well-titled eBook or free video series, you are sure to get results. Share on X
There is, however, a right way and a wrong way to do popups. (We are going to get a little bit technical. If you wake up in 5 minutes, having fallen asleep reading this, don’t worry. We can deal with all these technicalities for you, and you can focus on following up on all your new, hot leads!)
Five types of popups
There are five main ways to fire a popup for your visitor:
Immediately: You can set a popup to fire as soon as your website loads. Don’t do this. To many users, this can come across as salesy, gimmicky, or insincere. More importantly, it gets in the way of the grunt test and confuses your potential customers.
Timed: Timed popups are delayed by a set time before they show. They are great because it allows your potential customer some time to check out your page, see what you do, how it makes their life better, and see your Buy Now button. There are a few different ideas on how long you should delay. If you combine all the results, the window is from around 10 seconds to 30 seconds. You will want to experiment to see what works best for your website.
Scroll point: Some popups can show when a browser scrolls down on the page. They work in a way that is quite similar to timed popups allowing the browser to get a feel for the site before being prompted to “Sign Up.” These can work very well on blog pages, but for simplicity’s sake, I tend to use timed popups more instead.
Exit-intent: I love exit-intent popups. These work by following the user’s mouse and popping up a window right before the user can click their back button. The movement on the screen draws the user’s eyes back down to your website, giving you one last shot to capture their information. One drawback of exit-intent popups is that they are not supported very well on mobile. As mobile traffic has increased, several companies like OptinMonster have created technologies to mimic desktop functionality. It’s not quite there yet, but better than nothing.
Button: You can set a popup to show up when a user clicks on a button on your website. I love using these in the footer section with an image of the lead magnet. This allows me to capture any user who may have closed the automatic popup earlier. Because they made it to the bottom of my website, they are clearly still interested in knowing more.
A quick note on mobile popups
Google has taken action against popups on mobile devices and punishes web pages that use them by lowering the page’s ranking and placement in search engine results. Here’s the best way to work around this. Instead of popping up a full window, you can place a small banner or button at the top or bottom of the user’s screen. When the user taps the banner or button, they get the popup and can fill out the form at that time.
Step 4
Make sure that you follow up with your new leads or place them into an automated email campaign to warm them up for you so you can convert them from browsers into buyers. Most popups technologies will allow you to connect directly to your email service or CRM. Don’t miss this incredibly important step.
The backup to the backup plan
Both Google and Facebook also have tools for retargeting your customers with paid ads, even if they never fill out a form on your website. Be sure to check those out.
What’s your next step?
If you’d like help setting up a powerful popup on your site, or running an effective retargeting campaign, give us a call today.