In a digital age, and one that is becoming rapidly more online with the changes facing businesses across all industries, it is absolutely imperative that business owners utilize every tool available to convert leads from their web presence. This means anything from website add-ons to utilizing Google tools.
“The website, above all else, needs to convert,” says Chris Behan, CEO of Socius, a digital marketing firm specializing in remodeling and home improvement. “When you do an evaluation of where your traffic comes from, [your website] is where you have to start.”
Predictive Pop-Ups
Website add-ons work to keep customers on your website and, thus, lead to a higher rate of converted leads. Predictive features and chat boxes are popular, encouraging customers to stay on the page and directing them toward the content they’re looking for.
DontGo is one such feature. Using predictive, “exit intent” technology, DontGo appears when a visitor’s mouse moves to exit your webpage. Popular among remodelers, the add-on window pops up to make sure they really want to leave the site. DontGo offers customizable pricing options based on which features best suit your website, but pricing starts at $599 per month after an initial set-up fee. Visit dontgo.com for more information.
“You can also use what’s called predictive pop-ups on your website,” Behan explains, referring to a long-time favorite module add-on for converting traffic. “You can set an offer to pop up that you present just as somebody is getting ready to leave that might give them an addition 5 percent off, or free installation.”
According to Behan, most home improvement sites have a “time on site” of 2 minutes and 21 seconds for legitimate traffic. Remodelers seeking to utilize this tool could time a pop-up to appear at 2 minutes and 10 seconds to best capture engagement. He warns against installing these modules on pages with forms, such as contact us pages, because this will interrupt the user while doing an action you want them to do, and it may turn them off.
Understanding User Engagement
Mouse record add-ons record user activity and allow website managers to review issues their customers may be having with the website. “A program like that, for these medium sized companies and up, is a great program for them to use,” Behan says. “You’re going to learn things about how people interact with your website that you never could before. You’ll see where they get lost, where they’re finding information.”
Ease of navigation and content availability is vital for keeping potential customers on the site. Recording user sessions can show where customers are getting lost or frustrated with a website, and what needs to be changed.
Mouseflow is a popular mouse record add-on and one that is easy to navigate, filter and organize recordings, and it supports all types of pages from checkout to members-only. It allows website managers to sort session recordings based on location, language and platform, among others, to best target user issues. Mouseflow starts at $24 per month. Visit mouseflow.com for more information.
The New Homepage
While not a website add-on, Jeff White, director of customer success and digital marketing at Surefire Local, a digital marketing company with a focus on local traffic for small businesses, points out just how critical the Google My Business profile is for small businesses. “The Google My Business Listing is essentially the new home page for businesses,” White says, because the first thing potential customers do when searching for a product or service is turn to Google. Therefore, businesses want their company to be the listing Google displays first on the sidebar for recommended services.
“You claim it; and once you claim it, you’re just making sure that it’s accurate and consistently up-to-date,” White explains. Google uses the My Business listing information to ensure your business’ information is the same across all platforms when running analytics and creating website rankings. If the information is not consistent, or the My Business listing is unclaimed or inaccurate, White says, Google is going to put somebody else ahead of you.
Google My Business is a free feature provided by Google and can be claimed and managed at any time. Visit google.com/business for more information.
Dedicating money toward website plug-ins and software can seem daunting for business owners, especially smaller businesses where spending dollars have to be allocated on a tight budget. White seeks to assuage those fears: “I think for small business owners, investing in software [helps] makes a smaller business operate and act like a larger business.” The small changes that can be done now to make a website run more efficiently will convert leads for less in the long run. QR