How does my sales and marketing team convert website visitors to customers? If you are a marketing agency, in-house marketer, a CMO, or anyone associated with marketing, you will get this question more often than any other. It is a tough question because, as we know, even the best marketing organization only converts 2% or so of their website visitors. As a matter of fact, many organizations have had their website up for several years and have never converted a web visitor and, perhaps, never even received a phone call or form fill.
According to Adobe:
‘Approximately 96% of visitors who visit your website are not ready to buy — but they may be willing to provide contact information in exchange for valuable content. Also, you have no more than eight seconds to persuade your website visitors to stick around.’
At Nighthawk, we have found that converting business-to-business website visitors into sales-qualified leads (SQL’s) is almost always a multi-step process that requires an effective mix of content, design, and marketing strategies. I’m sure that is nothing new for any of us marketers to hear. However, it always helps to communicate to our clients why it is so difficult and time-consuming – many don’t know.
We chose the four challenges that we believe represent 80%-90% of the reason B-to-B prospects are so difficult to convert.
- Longer Sales Cycles: Unlike B2C, B2B sales often involve multiple stakeholders and longer decision-making processes. One visit might just be an initial touchpoint in a series of interactions before a sale is made.
- Complexity of Products/Services: B2B products or services can be complex, often requiring in-depth explanation, customization, or demonstration. Websites might not always be able to communicate the full value proposition or fit for a specific business’s needs.
- Multiple Decision Makers: In B2B sales, several people often influence the buying decision, from technical experts to financial officers to C-level executives. A website might cater well to one audience but not to another.
- Lead Qualification: Not all website visitors are qualified leads. Filtering out unqualified leads to focus on high-potential prospects can be a challenge.
I love the image of the Buyer Journey above more than most. Despite the blurriness of the image and my inability to use Canva the image conveys many of the touchpoints and marketing assets that are needed to move a prospect from a Google Search to a purchase.
Most organizations don’t have the patience to take the hand of the customer from website visits through the entire sales cycle to finally welcoming the new customer. Defining the buyer’s journey is not so much about “what is it” but “HOW is it” executed. A simple definition could be – The process a buyer goes through to become aware of, consider, evaluate, and then decide on purchasing a product or service.
Marketing & Sales Must Communicate to Convert Prospects
You don’t have to speak to many marketers to know that the marketing and sales relationship is often difficult, ineffective, and perhaps nonexistent. In the digitally influenced buyer’s journey, successfully engaging customers requires constant engagement. Sales training includes digital sales transformation to teach salespeople how to engage with prospects at every stage of their journey skillfully. The goal is to build trust and rapport between the business and the prospect, not just selling. Research shows that the biggest differentiator in selling success is gaining the prospect’s trust. Building credibility, usefulness, and trust above competitors gives you the advantage of converting prospects into customers.
According to an excellent report by Hubspot, the Hubspot data conclude, “the less frequently you publish, the less visitors you get per month and vice versa. For example, 36% of sites that publish multiple times a day get between 1,000 and 15K monthly visitors whereas 100% of websites that publish once a quarter or less do. Also, only sites that publish multiple times a day get over 10 million total monthly visitors.”
In addition, the CMO Council found that 9 out of 10 B2B buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on purchasing decisions. Further, according to B2B PR, 80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information from a series of articles versus an advertisement. Finally, according to Sirius Decisions, reaching a prospect takes eight cold call attempts. Yet, the average salesperson only makes two attempts, and only 2% of cold calls result in an appointment.
To put a stamp on this section, a Google study showed that a full 89% of B2B researchers used the internet during their research process This isn’t surprising in today’s internet-centric world, but that number will only keep growing.
Marketing Tactics and Actions that Will Drive Customer Acquisition
- Understand Your Audience: Before anything else, ensure you know your target audience. Create buyer personas to understand their needs, problems, and behaviors.
- High-Quality Content: Offer valuable and relevant content that speaks directly to your target audience’s pain points and needs. This can be blog posts, e-books, videos, and more.
- Landing Pages: Design landing pages specifically for your offers, whether it’s an e-book, a webinar registration, or a product demo. Make sure they are free of distractions, have a clear value proposition, and a compelling call-to-action (CTA).
- Lead Magnets: Offer something of value in exchange for their contact details, like e-books, whitepapers, webinars, or discount codes.
- Clear CTAs: Every page should have a clear call to action guiding visitors towards the next step in their journey. Whether it’s to “Learn More”, “Get a Free Trial”, or “Contact Us”, ensure CTAs are visible and compelling.
- Chatbots & Live Chat: Implement AI-driven chatbots or live chat options to answer queries in real-time, helping visitors move further down the funnel.
- Testimonials & Reviews: Showcase reviews and testimonials to build trust. Authentic positive feedback can greatly influence decision-making.
- Retargeting: Use retargeting ads to bring back visitors who didn’t convert the first time. This keeps your brand top-of-mind and provides additional opportunities to convert.
- Email Marketing: Capture email addresses and nurture these leads with personalized content, news, and special offers.
- Optimize for Mobile: Ensure your website and landing pages are mobile-friendly. Many users might be accessing your site via smartphones or tablets.
- A/B Testing: Continuously test different elements of your website (like CTA buttons, images, or copy) to see what resonates most with your audience and drives conversions.
- Speed & Performance: A slow website can deter visitors. Optimize site speed to ensure a smooth user experience.
- SEO: Optimize your content for search engines to drive organic traffic. The more relevant your content, the higher the chance of attracting potential leads.
- Engage through Social Media: Share valuable content, engage with your audience, and drive them to your website.
- Trust Signals: Display badges for any industry certifications, associations, and security measures you’ve taken on your site.
- Engage with Videos: Use videos to explain complex products or to tell your brand story. It’s a dynamic way to engage visitors.
- Interactive Tools: Quizzes, calculators, or interactive infographics can engage users and can be used as a lead capture tool.
- Personalization: Use tools and strategies to personalize the user experience. Tailored content based on visitor behavior or source can increase the likelihood of conversion.
- Educate with Webinars & Workshops: Offering educational sessions can position your brand as a thought leader and attract leads interested in learning more.
- Clear Value Proposition: Ensure your website clearly communicates the unique value you offer. Visitors should quickly understand why they should do business with you.
Conclusion and Introduction to Part 2
I realize we did not solve the major 4 problems that we introduced in terms of closing website visitors who visit a busness-to-business seller’s website. The issues of (1) Longer Sales Cycles, (2) Complexity of Products/Services, (3) Multiple Decision Makers, and (4) Lead Qualification demand an article of their own so we will be working on “How to Convert Website Visitors to Customers? Part 2” as soon as possible.
Our goal in this blog post is to discuss the problem, provide 20 effective, diverse solutions or better known as marketing tactics and re-emphasize the fact that B-to-B website effectiveness and sales will be among the top focus for most organizations for the foreseeable future.
To Learn More About How Nighthawk Can Help You, Please Call Us – as Always, We Are Happy to Help – 1 (858) 692-0819