The number one challenge in demand generation is persuading prospective buyers to give you their contact information. Without it, they remain anonymous visitors to your website, leaving sales without the ability to follow up and convert them to an opportunity.
And no matter how many visitors you drive to your website, if you can’t get beyond the typical 1% to 2% lead conversion rate, you are not likely to hit your demand generation goals. Worse yet, if the leads that actually do convert aren’t accepted by sales as qualified leads, then you still have failed.
So, what does it take to convince a qualified prospective buyer to give you their contact information? That is the critical question.
Breaking through the Resistance
Studies show that most prospective buyers are through most of their buying process before they are willing to engage with a vendor. We’ve all been there.
Imagine browsing a website and finding something interesting. What will it take to turn your casual interest into something stronger... something that incents you to forego your precious anonymity and provide your contact information? The secret is that it must be something you value and believe is worth the tradeoff.
The same is true for your prospects. And, to ensure that you only convert qualified leads, you must provide something that is intriguing enough to engage a legitimate potential buyer, and onerous enough to winnow out the window shoppers.
The Value of a Value Calculator
Consider engaging prospective customers with a value calculator. This interactive tool helps prospects assess the potential value your offering could have (in monetary terms) on their business. A true buyer will care about how you could impact their business and help it be more successful, whereas a tire-kicker probably cares more about the features or eye-candy.
Even better, if a qualified buyer uses a value calculator to estimate the economic impact on their business, they will likely want to see the customized report that the tool will provide. You now have solid interest from a solid prospect who is willing to divulge their contact information.
That is why a value calculator will typically convert upwards of 10% and sometimes over 20% of engaged visitors into leads. The converted leads from a value calculator are also typically qualified by sales at almost double the rate of leads from other marketing assets.
Conclusion
If you are serious about driving more qualified leads from your marketing efforts, you should consider adding a value calculator to your website and demand generation campaigns. A value calculator is one of the most effective ways to increase the conversion of web visitors to leads, and is a great qualification tool as well.
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Resources
Connect with Darrin Fleming on LinkedIn.
Join the Value Selling for B2B Marketing and Sales Leaders LinkedIn Group.
Visit the ROI Selling Resource Center.
