How NOT to Respond to Web Inquiries
A client recently told me a great story – the kind an SEO copywriter likes to hear. An inquiry came into their website from a Google search for a high priced piece of equipment, and within half an hour they had made the sale. How great is that?
Now I’d like to say that it was my brilliant optimization and copywriting that made the sale. However, that wouldn’t quite be right. My work opened the door, but it was my client’s fast and diligent follow up that closed the deal.
When the lead came in via the contact form, it didn’t sit in an inbox or get handled by a trainee. The lead went directly to an experienced sales professional who was able to answer several technical questions quickly, honestly, and authoritatively, earning the customer’s confidence and trust.
Bravo! Here is a company that understands the importance of a complete lead support system.
Without SEO, the opportunity never would have surfaced. But how many opportunities are squandered because of poor follow up? Never underestimate the importance of the human element. Web marketing is all about statistics, BUT. You cannot predict sales based on mathematical calculations alone.
Be careful what you wish for. Companies that invest in SEO to generate a stampede of site traffic just might get it. When the leads pour in, companies must have a rock solid system to handle them. Otherwise, their brands will take a pounding in social media and through word of mouth.
How Well Are You Being Served?
How many times have you found a website that appeared to meet all your needs, only to be seriously disappointed by a lack of follow up after making an inquiry? If you have a minute, please share your happy stories and your horror stories.
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Chicago based SEO copywriting, blog consulting, and content strategy consulting.
This kinda reminds me of a story the CEO of Stream Energy, Rob Snyder, told us last weekend. He said they initially built their customer infrastructure to handle about 20,000 electricity customers within their first 3 years, back when they first opened the business in 2005. But he had no idea how well the marketing would take hold. They actually got about 100,000 in the first 10 months!
He puts it this way: “Many times, our biggest failures are a result from a failure to dream big enough.”
Robert, A great quote, and certainly sums up the dangers of thinking incrementally. Thanks for sharing!
Poor pipeline management is the downfall of many organizations. Another problem is when folks get so focused on generating front end numbers that things get said which sabotage efforts to close. Anything to build the funnel.
Fred, It’s a shame that something as obviously important as a good pipeline so frequently gets mishandled – why is that?
Really great article, Brad, since you give proactive strategies to make sure the deal is closed. In part it’s stepping out to put in place good SEO behind the blog and then adding the human touch up-front. I sense you are this kind of leader!
Brad, what an excellent point and very true. I have worked with clients who complained about SEO efforts because they were not closing deals. The traffic was massive and targeted but they were not doing the right things on the back end. I have also had the personal experience of finding a site, and sending a contact form (because there was no phone number or other method to contact) and in far too many cases I am still waiting for a response years later! I love it when people post their location and hours, and their time frame for following up. With autoresponders there is no reason not to have at least an immediate acknowledgment of the message.
@Brad – in answer to your question why? each company is different but I often run into three primary issues 1) Underestimating the time and resources needed to track/close a lead. 2) Confusing big numbers with targeted leads and 3) Wishful thinking that tries to jam a square product into a round hole.
Hi Brad – This is great to hear. I’ve dealt with some companies who have followed up over a month later – long after I actually needed the product. Insurance companies are the worst and the scary thing is, they can be paying around £25 per lead.
Folk expect things faster online. We’re used to automation and downloads. Even the inconvenience of waiting for a real person to quote me can be a pain – especially for things like travel, when other companies can quote immediately.
Robyn , In most businesses – especially b2b – human contact is part of the sales and customer service process, and it cannot fail. People get irritated with a poorly functioning website, but that can be overcome with the personal touch. On the flip side, bad experiences with people can seldom be overcome by a slick website.
Fred, Thanks for the insights. It sounds like you need to give these firms a big dose of reality check.
Cath, That’s a great point – the internet has raised our expectations for customer service. When I started selling years ago, it was quite acceptable to deliver a price quotation three or four days after an inquiry was made. Today that would be completely unacceptable.
This is very true. Most of our traffic these days comes from SEO – people finding us in Google. The art of SEO is very trick but can definitely pay off if done right and consistently. The hard part though is once someone finds you to get them to come back repeatedly by choice and even getting them to purchase your product or service. This is where the human element comes in as no one wants to interact with a robot or just a blank screen. You need to engage the customer and give back timely responses and/or advice.
Using social media though, it gives you the opportunity to engage your potential customer on numerous different levels. Make sure that you are everywhere where they might be and listen to what they’re saying.
Trace, Glad you brought up social media. Those sites not only bring in the human element, they are a good source of site traffic – so social media combines the human element with SEO. That’s a unique combination.
Brad,
The concept of planning for success makes sense with regard to all aspects of business life, including SEO.
One aspect of the planning for success concept involves firms making an appropriate level of preparation so that they are in a position to capitalize when they experience a high level of success in any area.
This is no different to SEO – companies that make sufficient preparations so as to be in a position to provide excellent follow up service to each and every one of the potential customers who comes out of the woodwork as a result of SEO are planning to capitalize upon the anticipated success of SEO to generate traffic – planning for success. Firms which fail to do this are not planning to capitalize on SEO related traffic – planning for failure.
I see absolutely no point in investing tons of resources into SEO unless firms are prepared to also make a sufficient level of investment in resources with regard to customer service so as to capitalize their SEO efforts.
Andrew, Your emphasis on preparation is so appropriate. As bad as a lack of preparation can be with respect to SEO, I’ve seen worse situations. CRM comes to mind – a company can squander hundreds of thousands of dollars on sophisticated software when the underlying customer service system – the human organization and training – is weak. You cannot solve a business problem by throwing technology at it.
Brad,
Yes, I’ve heard a lot about CRM, and from what I have heard, organizations which already have a strong culture of excellence in service tend to benefit from it quite a bit.
But there were some companies, from what I have read, who seem to think that all of their customer relations problems are automatically solved from the moment of purchase, without any further effort or planning on their behalf.
Smart use of CRM software represents one part and one part only of the process of managing customer relations in an effective manner.
Brad, you are right, being able to respond fast and more importantly to the point is extremely important. While I rarely get sales people who take their time to respond (it sometimes took weeks to get all the info I needed to decide if I wanted to buy an ad in a magazine), the most often problem I run across is lack of information and worse, lack of interest towards my initial inquiry. I try to be very specific when I ask for details on something. So if I get a follow up call from a sales person who never bothered to actually read my email and we go over to details they already have, that just drives me nuts! It’s my time that gets wasted
Alina, You are so right – and isn’t it amazing how companies get away with bad customer service? People in our area are screaming mad about Comcast, the local TV cable service, because of their broken promises, misinformation, and apathetic attitude. Personally, I can deal with a lack of information – a diligent person can always run down an answer. But an apathetic attitude toward taking my money? No way.
Fabulous offeirngs, I enjoyed most of these based on your tweets recommending them. Kudos!
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by PatMarcello: New blog post:: Copywriting Triggers http://ovblogger.com/1691/copywriting-triggers-to-increase-conversion/…Reply – Social comments and analytics for this post…Quote
This comment was originally posted on OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO
Nice content it would be helpfull for me .I am impressed your website . Its layout is very attractive .Thanks and keep on working.Reply – Quote
This comment was originally posted on OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO
“Please, you got to have a Twitter ID. Please, please…” As you can see, two buddies have no presence in Twitter.
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SEO and Customer Service Needed for Conversions http://ow.ly/R6aC
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Fabulous offeirngs, I enjoyed most of these based on your tweets recommending them. Kudos!
This comment was originally posted on WritingToExhale
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by PatMarcello: New blog post:: Copywriting Triggers http://ovblogger.com/1691/copywriting-triggers-to-increase-conversion/…Reply – Social comments and analytics for this post…Quote
This comment was originally posted on OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO
Nice content it would be helpfull for me .I am impressed your website . Its layout is very attractive .Thanks and keep on working.Reply – Quote
This comment was originally posted on OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO
“Please, you got to have a Twitter ID. Please, please…” As you can see, two buddies have no presence in Twitter.
This comment was originally posted on WritingToExhale