Real World Computing
Convert and prosper
It's important to keep the dialogue going once you've got someone onto your mailing list. An autoresponder will send a predetermined sequence of emails at specified intervals, but you can also send a broadcast message to everyone on your list containing up-to-date industry news. This is an incredibly effective marketing strategy if the information you're sending them is genuinely valuable, as it ensures your name crops up regularly and establishes you as an expert - when that client requires the type of work you specialise in, you'll become their natural choice. By offering something worthwhile, you'll greatly increase your conversion rate in the long term, and the only cost lies in setting up the autoresponder system (most can be rented) and generating the materials you're offering.
Falling off the hook
Once you've got the interest of your visitors, it's essential you don't then lose them through the process of signing up. This is a particular problem when it comes to purchasing products online - it's almost criminal to have a client there who wants to buy but is frustrated by the process. You need to make it as simple as possible, to ask for as little personal information as you can get away with, and to keep an eye on the process in real-time.
Google Analytics offers an excellent way to get an overview of where in the process your customers are leaving. Analytics lets you set up a funnel analysis that shows graphically what percentage of visitors move to the next step in the process, where they came from, and where those who abandon the process go to. As an example, we recently launched www.passyourcitizenship.co.uk, and one of its memberships involves sending out a book, so I included a page that asks for the new member's address.
The issue here was that most of the membership packages do not include a book, and therefore for most people the address isn't required. I quickly noticed in Analytics that nearly 40% of the people who arrived at that page (the second in the sequence) jumped ship at that point, and was immediately able to remedy this by simply changing the process so that only those who bought the package that includes the book were asked for an address. You can simply glance at a funnel analysis and immediately spot problems, and it's this quality of data that makes it possible for marketers and developers to hone their product far more quickly than in the past.
The essentials
Finally, when it comes to converting visitors into customers, here are four powerful features that, depending on your particular industry, might radically improve your conversion rate. First, always offer some sort of money-back guarantee, unless there's a truly compelling reason not to (and if you're selling a product to consumers, this is absolutely mandatory). If your product is good and you treat your customers well, it will cost you next to nothing.
I added a money-back guarantee to www.passyourtheory.co.uk a couple of years ago and the conversion rate improved significantly, but over that time I've refunded only two people under the terms of the guarantee, because only two people have failed their test after studying our materials and then gone on to ask for their money back. If you're in a service industry, you may need to be more creative in coming up with guarantee terms. Where projects can cost thousands or tens of thousands of pounds, you clearly can't give a money-back guarantee, not least because you're unlikely to be paid in full until you've delivered the product in acceptable condition.
