So your Eden site is getting at least one new lead a day. That’s great. You’re used to logging into Eden twice a day to check your Forms module to see who wants to get in touch with you. Cool. You’re typically converting at least 1 new lead to a customer a week. Awesome.
Now, don’t you wish you could have an email sent to your inbox immediately after a form is submitted on your Eden marketing site? Of course you do. That’s why we created the email handler feature within Eden’s forms module. The email handler allows you to follow up with new leads quickly, giving you a higher probability of closing them.
You can even set up the email handler to include the form submission data directly in the email so you won’t ever have to log into Eden to view form submissions again!
Want to see how to set up the email handler within Eden? Check out the instructions here.
If you’re like most business owners, getting leads online is the main reason you created a website in the first place. Sure, you may have a stellar SEO campaign, a beautiful design and an über low bounce rate, but without a well-planned contact strategy, you can’t turn those pageviews into conversions.
Online conversions aren’t just for ecommerce websites. In fact, most businesses use their websites to initiate one-on-one conversations, which is what we’re helping our Eden customers focus on. By personally engaging a contact, you are more likely to turn that contact into a customer. So, what’s the trick?
First, you need to understand that most people don’t want to give their phone numbers or email addresses to yet another website — the thought of spam is horrifying. And it’s not just privacy hawks who shy away from contact forms; most websites only achieve a 2-3% conversion rate. Furthermore, people don’t want to have to worry about waiting for a return phone call to address their problems or questions. They want to get the answers they need with as little effort as possible.
Follow these nine tips to make your website design and customer service more approachable, and thus, gain the trust of more customers.
- Use the words “Contact Us.” It may sound boring or generic, but the phrase works. (There’s a reason exit signs don’t use the words “leave” or “depart.”) People don’t read your site — they scan — and they’ve been trained over time to instantly recognize those two words.
- Place contact info and phone number at the top, right corner of the page, where it’s expected. Also, make sure to include your phone number as an HTML, not an image. That way, a mobile user can tap the phone number link and launch into a call immediately. When mobile browsing eclipses desktop browsing in two years, nearly everyone will need that instant access. While you open yourself up to potential spamming, the benefits certainly outweigh the risks.
- Keep contact forms simple. While it may help to get a full profile of your visitor by asking pre-qualifying questions, it can be very intimidating for that user. Ask for as little information as possible and require only that person’s name and email address. If you seek other information, such as phone number and address, make it optional.
- Create one-column form fields for quick contact. It helps to put form labels directly above form fields. Usability studies show that users who filled out these types of forms saved time by only having to move their eyes vertically, not laterally.
- Don’t be afraid of large input boxes. While considered a design trend, large input boxes are not only more fun to fill out, but also force you to limit the number of fields on a contact form.
- Give visitors a clear action button. Because people read from left to right and top to bottom, place the final action button in the lower-right of the form. Give the button plenty of weight with a standout color.
- Have some fun. Nothing eases people’s worries better than good humor. Why not spice up your contact form with some personality? Not only will it give your users a laugh, but it will also make your contact page more human. Consider a witty introduction or quirky photo.
- Make a promise. Tell your users that their information is safe, that you won’t share it with any third party. Place this promise right next to the submit button; that way they’ll experience a nice aftertaste upon opting in.
- Offer instant chat. Perhaps the lowest website threshold is instant chat. It requires the user to supply little, if any, personal information and allows you to provide quick and personal customer service. Consider giving one of these services a chance.
How has your company improved its contact forms and its customer service? Has it strengthened your business?
Thousands of online retailers will discount their stock for Cyber Monday, the online version of Black Friday, now in its sixth year.
Last year, Cyber Monday sales topped $1 billion in the United States, making it the biggest day for online retail to date. Yet many businesses are increasingly discounting their goods on Black Friday as well, and consumers are responding. Online sales this past Friday were up 24.3% compared to last year, according to an IBM survey of 500 retailers.
For a look at Cyber Monday’s inception and how the movement has grown during the past half decade, click on the infographic in this post to view an expanded view.
Are you offering any sort of retail discount to your customers today?
Thanksgiving Day was last Thursday and traditionally a time for giving thanks. As busy as small business owners are, I hope you have time to stop and think about what you’re thankful for this year.
While the pundits and experts will tell us the recession ended back in 2009, 2010 was still a tough year for most entrepreneurs. If you are having trouble finding things to feel thankful for, here are some ideas:
- Be thankful you’ve made it through. Though it may not feel like the recession is over, I think most of us would agree that things are (finally) looking up and that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer—and brighter. If your business has survived the past two years, you’ve got something to be proud of.
- Be thankful for your employees. No business can survive without its employees—especially in the past few years. If your employees are like most, they’ve risen to the occasion, pulled together and done everything they can to help sustain your business in tough times.
- Be thankful for your customers. Customers have more options than ever in this constantly connected world. It’s easy for them to seek out new solutions when you’re no longer meeting their needs. Don’t ever take them for granted.
- Be thankful for the Internet. Innovations like cloud computing, live chat software, social media, myriad free online tools to help start and grow businesses, content marketing platforms and the rise of virtual employees and remote workers—all powered by the Internet–have helped small businesses do more with less.
- Be thankful for your support system. Whether it’s your family, your friends, your colleagues or some combination of all three, no small business owner can go it alone. Today, more than ever, we’re relying on each other for moral support, ideas and encouragement.
- Be thankful for the lessons you’ve learned. You don’t make it through an economic landscape like today’s without being smart and savvy. Tough times teach us things, and the lessons we’ve learned in the past few years will help us run better, smarter, more profitable businesses in any economy.
We at Preation are extremely thankful for all of the items mentioned above and we’re looking forward to another successful year in 2012. What are you thankful for as a small business?
Redesigning your Eden website is a critical decision as it can have a strong impact on your visitors. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate the factors involved in website redesign and carefully plan it.
Before you redesign your Eden website, ensure that you really need it. Avoid redesigning your site just for the sake of it. You should consider redoing your website design only in case of the following situations:
An Unprofessional Look or Outdate Design
If your site has an unprofessional look, it can be safely said that the visitors will not give it a second glance. In such a situation, depending on your business, opting for a stylish design can be a great idea. Consider inclusion of high quality imagery to make your site more reputable.
Redesigning your site is also important when your site possesses an outdated look. The factors that make a design outdated can include distorted text, widgets, and broken images. In most cases, a design is considered outdated when it fails to support enhanced versions of plug-ins.
Remember that visitors avoid exploring a site that possesses an outdated design.
High Bounce Rate
Many sites get loads of traffic, but have a high bounce rate. The visitors explore the site for a short period and exit quickly. A poor website design could be responsible for the high bounce rate.
Consider the fact that a good website design highlights the main purposes of the site and the content. Additionally, it offers clear instructions, thus allowing visitors to navigate through it smoothly. If your site is experiencing a high bounce rate, you can consider revamping its overall look.
Low Traffic
A poor web design can be partly responsible for low traffic. If you find that people hardly visit your site, you should consider redesigning it. Pay attention to content and SEO issues as well; the reason for low traffic could be uninformative content or lack of proper Meta tags to attract search engines.
Considering these factors, and evaluating your current situation will help you to decide about website redesigning.
So what are your options?
- Bring in your own web designer that you’ve worked with before. It could be a relative or a friend if you like. Just make sure they are familiar with XHTML and CSS. We have designer documentation we can provide along with phone/email support.
- Hire one of Preation’s authorized design partners. Our designers are professional and competitively priced.
- Do the design work yourself. Once again, if you’re familiarity with XHTML and CSS is strong, we will support you with the redesign endeavor.
Make sure that you are tracking your visitors and conversions before and after a redesign to make sure that you didn’t mess anything up! Remember, conversions are the reason for having a marketing site on Eden!
Contact us today for more information on redesigning your Eden site.
After Q3 2011 brought a 13 percent increase in e-commerce sales, independent technology and market research company, Forrester, is estimating that U.S. online holiday sales will grow 15 percent this year to nearly $60 billion. The study reports that this increase will take place because of the increase in consumer-use of tablet computers for shopping combined with a growth in online holiday deals.
You can take advantage of this increase by preparing your content marketing/e-commerce website for the ‘price-savvy’ shopper and present more lucrative deals for online shopping and free shipping, especially on high-volume shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. One key way to take advantage of this up-tick as an Eden Platform user is by optimizing the middle to bottom of your online sales funnel through the use of SEO and Offers. Check out this article to learn more.
The report shows that 58 percent of Americans say they are more price-conscious today than they were a year ago and nearly half believe they find better values online. With Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday only weeks away, we’ll see soon if shoppers flock online for deals and savings, as is predicted.
Sign up for your free trial of Eden today and prepare for the holiday masses!
Today, Google announced a change to its search algorithm that the company says will impact 35% of Web searches. The change builds on top of its previous “Caffeine” update in order to deliver more up-to-date and relevant search results, specifically those in areas where freshness matters. This includes things like recent events, hot topics, current reviews and breaking news items.
Google says that the new algorithm knows that different types of searches have different freshness needs, and weighs them accordingly. For example, a search for a favorite recipe posted a few years ago may still be popular enough to rank highly, but searches for an unfolding news story or the latest review of the iPhone 4S should bring the newer, fresher content first, followed by older results.
How does this change impact Eden users?
This is certainly great news for Eden users. We’ve been preaching for over 8 months to create a content schedule and stick to it by adding and optimizing at least one page to your site a week. Google is now going to reward websites that have fresh content by pushing them up higher in the search results. Be sure to take advantage of this update! Thank you Google!
Are you relying on a “professional” search engine optimization (SEO) consultant to optimize your website? Are you tired of paying expensive monthly retainer costs just to show up higher in the search engine results? Are you being kept in the dark when it comes to knowing what’s going on with the day to day operations of your site? Are you being nickled-and-dimed for every little change that needs to be made on your site?
We at The Eden Platform believe that SEO and content management should be easily accessible and understood by everyday small business professionals. SEO is not some sort of rocket science only reserved for the super-techy. It’s actually a somewhat simple concept that once grasped, can propel your website to the top of the search results, and in turn grow your revenue!
What is your web company doing to help you with your marketing efforts and SEO? Do they provide you with step by step instructions on how to properly optimize your pages? Do they suggest implementing strategies to generate more leads? Do they know the current optimization trends and techniques used to boost results? Do they teach and consult you so that you learn the SEO process and understand why you’re doing what you’re doing? If you’ve answered no to any of these questions, it’s time that you give Eden a try.
We are dedicated to the online success of our clients. Our goal is to empower small business owners with the tools necessary to take their online marketing efforts into their own hands and teach them along the way so they can be self-reliant and self-sufficient in the future. The holidays are almost here! Don’t waste another minute being held hostage by your web firm and paying too much for results! Grab the reins and take control of your marketing destiny!
In last week’s blog post, we discussed the process of optimizing your websites traffic aka “Top of the Funnel” optimization. This process results in not only more traffic, but qualified traffic. Today we’ll be looking at the middle to bottom rungs of the funnel, conversion optimization. Obligatory rhetorical question time: what’s the point of getting visitors to your site if they do not convert into leads? Every business needs customers, and you have the highest probability of converting leads into customers on your Eden website by optimizing your on-site conversion percentage.
Looking at the graphic on the right (click for expanded view), you’ll see a sales funnel graphic that is representative of a 4 month period for an Eden client, Southern Energy Management. The funnel is broken into three sections/rungs. The top rung is monthly website visitors, those visitors filter down through the second band, monthly visitor conversion percentage, then down to the third/bottom rung with is conversions per month. Southern Energy Management was able to use Eden’s SEO and Offers features to effectively maximize their online sales funnel potential. As a result, Southern Energy Management increased their on-site conversion percentage by 419%.
We asked Heather Pownall, Director of Business Operations at SEM, how Eden’s Offers Feature has optimized their conversion percentage and as a result, increased their leads significantly. Here’s her response:
“We now know exactly what messaging works best at convincing our online visitors to fill out our lead forms. Thanks to Offers, our we marketing program is now performing better than ever!”
For a more in-depth description on how this process worked for SEM, check out their Offers case study.
With only 59 days until the holidays, the time to get your marketing site up and running is wearing thin! If you want to see the same results that SEM has seen, you need to get started right away building a content schedule, creating/optimizing at least one page of content a week. You should also add some intriguing offers to provide additional incentive for your visitors to convert and implementing them on your pages.
Sign up for a free 15 day trial of Eden today and get started generating leads immediately!
With the holidays just a few weeks away, it is extremely important to make sure you’re not only getting traffic to your marketing site, but that the traffic is optimized. This means that your website visitors are genuinely interested in your product and/or service. A higher level of interest leads to a higher likelihood of converting visitors into a leads/customers!
If you look at the graphic on the right (click for expanded view), you’ll see a sales funnel graphic that is representative of a 4 month period for an Eden client, The Healing Arts & Massage School. The funnel is broken into three sections/bands. The top band is monthly website visitors, those visitors filter down through the second band, monthly visitor conversion percentage, then down to the third/bottom band which is conversions per month. Healing Arts was able to use Eden’s SEO optimization features to effectively maximize their online sales funnel potential. As a result, Healing Arts increased their targeted traffic by 412% and their online conversions by 400%.
We asked Keith Bouchard, CEO of Healing Arts & Massage School, where they get their leads and how they’ve been able to increase traffic/enrollments on their website. Here’s his response:
“Google searches are our primary source of leads from marketing. I add and optimize 3-5 new pages to the website each week. Enrollments are way up and have more than tripled or quadrupled in the last three months.”
Do you want to see these types of results on your site? The opportunity to get started preparing your Eden site for the holiday traffic boom is now. All you need to do is set a content schedule where you can create/optimize at least one page of content a week, then think of some intriguing offers to provide additional incentive to your visitors to convert and implement them on your pages. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to increase your qualified traffic and revenues!
Don’t have an Eden site yet? Sign up for a free 15-day trial today!
So your Eden site is getting at least one new lead a day. That’s great. You’re used to logging into Eden twice a day to check your Forms module to see who wants to get in touch with you. Cool. You’re typically converting at least 1 new lead to a customer a week. Awesome.
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