How to capture leads from your website and turn them into customers

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You’ve got a website, right? Did you know that all the people who visit your website are leads? But when you don’t know who these people are, how do you make sure they do actually go on to buy from you?

You capture them! Don’t worry – it’s not painful and it definitely doesn’t involve any kind of net. You capture them by getting their details so they’re not anonymous anymore.

If you’re not sure how you do that, you’re in exactly the right place. I’m going to take you through it all.

What exactly are leads?

People talk about leads in terms of whether your business is a B2B or a B2C. For me, it really doesn’t matter to whom your business sells because…

A lead is someone you want to buy from you.

It really is as simple as that. They’ve popped up and shown a good amount of interest in your business. That means they are a potential customer.

What do these leads look like?

Leads come in several guises. And they’re not limited to your website. But, for this blog post, let’s focus on the ones that do visit your website.

Subscribers

Of course, your email subscribers visit your website! You’re sending them emails to entice them to do that. Maybe you’re writing blog posts or spotlighting products or services. Whatever the content, they’re heading to your website and if they haven’t bought from you before, they’re definitely a lead! Even if they have bought already, they’re still a lead because you’ve got other things to sell to them.

Readers

Have you been sharing your blog post on your social networks? Guess what? People are interested and they’re heading to your site to read. This is a big indicator that they’re interested in what you’ve written. Obvs! But if you look more closely, they’re interested because they identify with the problem you’ve laid out in the blog post. A bit like this one! And it’s a problem you can solve.

Browsers

We’ve all been there, right? Browsing sites, mentally making a note of things we’d like to buy… or have bought for us. Whilst this set of visitors might not be ready to buy straight away, they are mulling things over.

Searchers

Not the band! This group of people is actively putting searches into search engines. They’re in the market to buy because they are specifically searching. But they are evaluating a number of brands before they make their decision.

What all these groups have in common is that they’re people that could buy from you, but they haven’t made up their minds yet that it’s you they’ll spend their money with.

How do you get their details?

An important thing to remember is that you don’t know who your website visitors are. You only know how many of them and what they’re looking at. How? Through Google Analytics.

You have to do a bit of work to figure out who they are. And the way you do this is by getting them to hand over their details! How? Here are two specific suggestions.

Blog posts

You spend a fair amount of time and energy writing these. So they need to work hard for you. You know you’ll be sharing them via email and social media. But people will also find your posts on their own, through organic search.

You’ve got their attention, so now’s the time to figure out who they are!

Some examples of how you can do that:

1. End your blog post with a call to action (CTA) that asks people to join your email list. This one’s great for anyone who isn’t already a subscriber.
2. Include a content upgrade. This is something that’s related to the post you’ve written. An educational piece that will help your readers. They access it by submitting their email address.
3. Entice them with an offer. You know the ones. Get 10% off your next purchase by joining our email list? That sort of thing. But it doesn’t always have to be a discount. It could be a value-add offer. Something that enhances their purchase.
4. Invite them to an event. Again, this should be related to the topic of the post you’ve written. Events work equally well for B2Bs and B2Cs.
5. Work out which of your blog posts get the most visitors. Again, Google Analytics will help you here. Add forms to these posts that let visitors easily join your email list.

Pop-ups

Did you groan? I have to admit I’m not a big fan of a million pop-ups appearing within seconds of me landing on a website. But done correctly, they are effective.

What can you offer on these pop-ups?

1. Tips – yes, really. People love tips. I know I do. Organising tips, time management tips, gift wrapping tips. You’re the expert in what you do, and you have tips to share. Package them up in a simple PDF.
2. eBooks – maybe you’ve written a series of blog posts on a certain topic. You can take those posts and package them up into one comprehensive eBook.
3. Webinars – you’ve done this on a specific blog post, but it’s a good idea to have the details on a pop-up too. Here, you’re targeting those who don’t read that post… how very dare they!
4. Offers – this is great for a variety of instances. Got a masterclass you want to fill? Offer an upgrade for a limited period. Need to sell your end-of-line products? Have a flash sale. There are lots of options – have a think!

At this point, I’ll come back to the fact that we all find pop-ups annoying. Here’s how you can make them less so:

• Make it easy for your visitors to close them.
• Don’t use patronising language.
• Don’t have them block all the content on your page.
• Set them to exit intent. They will only appear when visitors are about to leave your website.

Oh, and another tip – use a pop-up tool that integrates with your email marketing software. It’s especially important for the next part I’m going to take you through.

What should you do with your leads?

Follow up with them! You might have heard of the term lead nurturing campaigns. What this means is that you have a plan for these leads.

Remember, people may not be ready to buy from you immediately. In reality, they really won’t be. But with a bit of nurturing, you can lead them to the point where they are ready. And I’m going to tell you how!

Email automation + leads = sales

I’ve said it before – email automation is your secret weapon. It helps you save a ton of time by sending that nurturing email campaign out automatically. Yes, you have to do some work up front, but once you’ve done it, you just let that automation sequence do its magic. Here are some pointers to help you:

• Plan your campaign sequence ahead of time.
• Use evergreen content. That’s stuff you don’t need to keep updating. Remember, you want to set it and forget it.
• Make sure each email in the sequence adds value. This will help you with the know, like, trust factor.
• Offer them the opportunity to get your regular emails. They may not buy at the end of that particular sequence, and you want to keep in touch with them beyond that.
• Don’t get despondent. They may not buy straight away but believe me they will at some point. Some of my customers took a few years of nurturing before buying!

Now, here’s where I’m going to hit you with a content upgrade! It wouldn’t normally be as obvious as this, but I want you to see me doing it, so you know you can too! I have an email automation planning worksheet. It will help you plan your sequences. And here’s where you can get it.

I hope I’ve shown you that capturing leads from your website doesn’t have to be complicated. As with any marketing campaign, some planning before you get started will pay dividends. It’s worth doing because realistically, you’re never going to know who your website visitors are without it.

If you’re looking for an email marketing tool that helps you send your newsletters and more, look no further than Constant Contact!

Here’s what you also get:

• Build relationships with email automation
• Build an awesome website
• Run Google, Facebook or Instagram ads to get more website traffic, find new customers on social media or grow your email list
• Manage your social media by scheduling posts, replying to comments and viewing analytics
• Create a logo to build your brand
• Build an online store, promote your products and track stock

It really is the complete small business marketing platform, and you can try it free for 60 days.

No credit card needed, and, if you fill in all your details, you’ll be assigned a marketing coach from Constant Contact to help you.

Get started today!