How to generate more sales enquiries from your website
Increasing website sales enquiries.
Good Internet marketing will attract potential customers to your website, however, all the time, money and effort spent getting them there will be wasted if you cannot keep them on your site and encourage them to contact you.
Sadly many businesses who have put a lot of effort into driving visitors to their website fail to convert visitors into customers by not doing enough to encourage them to generate a sales enquiry.
If you feel that you should be converting more website traffic into real sales enquiries then check out our top 10 Tips and follow up using the recommendations we have outlined.
Top 10 Tips to increase your sales enquiries.
- Make it easy for people to contact you.
- Create visitor trust.
- Repair broken links.
- Enable visitors to navigate to any page easily
- Simplify your forms.
- Ensure website content is relevant & persuasive.
- Have a clear call to action on your web pages.
- Create a positive first impression.
- Ensure your website displays correctly on mobile devices.
- Improve credibility
1. Making it easy for people to contact you.
Website visitors will feel more confident about doing business with you if they know how to contact you if they need to so you need to make this really easy.
Where to show your contact details.
Website Header.
You should include your phone number and/or your email address at the top of every page on your website.
To make it easier for visitors using mobile devices to contact you this information should automatically initiate a phone call or create an e-mail response when clicked.
Website Footer.
You should also include your Phone Number, E-mail address and your Main Contact address at the foot of every page.
Contact Page
Contact pages are a traditional part of websites and visitors expect to see them.
The “Contact” link should always always be the last link at the end of your navigation menu and contain the following items:
- Name, Address, contact phone numbers and e-mail address of your business.
- Hours of operation
- Any Social Media Links.
- Live Chat links. (if applicable)
If you provide services directly from your premises or encourage customers to visit you then you should also provide a map of how to find you.
Note** It is really important that all of the above details are correct so always check the accuracy of all contact details.
2. Creating visitor trust.
Website visitors want to know what happens to their information if they decide to give it to you. They are more likely to submit responses on a website if they feel it is safe to do so. They tend to look for this information when they’re close to deciding whether or not to make and enquiry/buy from you.
Here are some items that will build visitor trust so the more you have the better.
Privacy policy.
What will you do with my email address once I give it to you? Will you rent it, share it, sell it, spam people? Having a privacy policy on your website is also a legal requirement so make sure you have one.
Visible return and refund policies.
What happens if I’m not happy with your product or service? People want to know in advance before making a commitment.
Guarantees and warranties
Customers get peace of mind knowing that you’re will stand behind your products and services. Guarantees and warranties clarify how you will support a customer after making a sale. You will win more business if customers feel confident that you will look after them.
SSL Certificate
When a website has an SSL certificate properly installed on the server, a small green padlock icon is displayed to the left of a website URL in the browser and https will appear in green.
SSL certificates are used to secure data transfers, credit card transactions, logins and other personal information. They provide security to customers and make visitors more likely to stay on a website for longer periods of time. They also improve search engine rankings so make sure you use one.
3. Check and repair broken links
Broken links and pages that show an error message whenever a visitor clicks on them can damage your site’s user experience. This could also make your site appear less reliable and is likely to have a negative effect on your search engine rankings.
Check internal and external website links, missing pages and social networking links and fix any errors before your site visitors find them and decide to look elsewhere.
5. Simplify your forms
It is a fact that people don’t want to spend their time filling out long forms or giving away too much personal information. Many websites make the process of enquiring too tedious which results in the forms rarely being submitted.
Make your forms as short and simple as possible – only ask for essential information and try to limit them to 6 fields or less. Make it easy for your potential customer to enquire! When they make the critical first contact you can always follow up and find out any other details when you have a conversation with them.
Simple forms help visitors feel comfortable and enable them to take only a few moments to get in touch.
In a study conducted by Executive Marketing, they concluded that websites with on-page contact forms return twice as many enquiries as websites that direct enquiries to a general contact form.
Include a contact form on each page of your website.
6. Relevant & Persuasive Content
Content Relevance
When a visitor finds your web page from a search engine they expect to find information relevant to what they were searching for.
If they don’t they will simply return to the search engine and select another supplier. It is therefore critical that your content is relevant to what your visitors expect to find.
Persuasive Content
Is the content on your web pages well written, informative, easy to understand and (most importantly) persuasive?
- Are you communicating clearly why you are a better choice than your competitors?
- Are you giving potential customers a compelling reason to choose you?
- Are you telling rather than selling? Focus more on the benefits rather than what you can do.
7. Have a clear call to action
Many sites lack a clear ‘call to action’ for visitors. Your visitors need to know from the moment that they land on your website (whatever page that may be) that the one action you would like them to take, is to enquire so make it clear to your visitors that you want to hear from them.
Does EVERY page of your website have at least one call to action? Are your contact details clear and easy to access from EVERY page?
Ensure every page of your website contains a contact form, your phone number and e-mail address which when clicked initiates an action.
8. Create a positive first impression.
When a visitor arrives on your site it is because they are interested in buying your products or services. Within the first few seconds they will form an impression about your website
The marketing term for this is the “Blink Test” whereby a visitor lands on your website, judges it and decides if they want to stay or move elsewhere within the first 3 to 5 seconds.
There’s no thinking with this first impression. It’s visual, focused on aesthetics, and almost entirely emotional.
Here are some guidelines that you can follow to capture initial interest from a visitor.
- Use a headline that will attract attention and focuses on what the page offers.
- Put important information at or near the top of the page.
- Use high-quality images that align with your site’s message.
- Use images that relate to what you do,
9. Adapt for mobiles
More people now use mobiles rather than desktop computers to access the Internet so If your website isn’t accessible from mobile phones you’ll be losing a large chunk of potential traffic and therefore potential enquiries. For many businesses mobile traffic is becoming their biggest source of website visitors.
A responsive design (this automatically sizes your website to fit the devices screen) is essential for business websites these days.
Check out your website on google’s mobile friendly test
Click on the button below to test your website on Google
If it fails the above test you need to upgrade your website.
10. Improving credibility
People are more likely to buy from businesses they trust.
One of the most decisive factors behind your company gaining business through its website is the credibility it holds. A potential customer is much more likely to make a sales enquiry if they trust your website and the people behind it.
So how do you develop trust on a website?
Some of the factors that influence your website’s credibility.
- Testimonials & Reviews (especially independent testimonials)
- Lists of business clients and authorised logos.
- Case Studies.
- Trade association membership logos.
- Guarantees and warranties.
- Relevant policies such as terms and conditions, Privacy Policy etc.
- Address, telephone number & email address of your business.
- Info & photos of your team and your offices.
Try and include as many of the above as possible on your website.