COLUMNS • SALES & MARKETING
What to do with your website traffic Paul Watkins reveals how advisers can harness their website data to their advantage and gain insights into their business. BY PAUL WATKINS
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ike most website owners, you no doubt check your analytics regularly to see how much traffic you are getting, which pages they go to, and how long they stay on the site. By way of example, say you are getting 1,000 website visitors a month, but only 20 phone calls and 20 web forms filled in. And of those 40 contacts (representing 4% of visitors to the site), only five (0.5%) become clients. You also read that the average time they spend on your website is just 90 seconds. Hardly enough time to even register who you are or read a single sentence of text. Is there room for improvement? Yep, there sure is! First, understand that it is not quantity, but the quality of enquiries that matter the most. A hundred good visitors to the site are far better than a thousand tyrekickers. So don’t obsess over the visitor numbers, it’s how many enquiries you get that matters the most. As we live our lives nearly entirely online now, your website is critical to new business. If most of your enquiries lead nowhere, it is because they didn’t appreciate that what you offer is relevant to them. Here are a few things you can do to improve the quality of leads generated by your website:
Who do you want? “Everyone” is not a target; it’s a non-market. We live our lives as individuals and want an individual solution. If I visit your website, I need to see stuff that is important to ME! I don’t care about anyone else; it's only me that matters. We are in the “me-generation” remember, and we expect providers to know that. Therefore, start by writing down the buyer profiles of your three best types of client. For example, one buyer profile could be residential property investors, so you might define them as ambitious couples aged 40 to 55, with a household income of $150,000+ and living in your defined geographic area. Another might be first home buying couples, aged 25 to 35, a household income of $100,000+ and perhaps one school-aged child. Be as specific as this. Few do this exercise, as they are afraid of missing others who may have contacted them. But the “others” are not buyers; they are the dreamers who you can’t help, and who waste your time. You can analyse the demographics of your current website visitors and determine if they match your desired ones. Next is to make your website messages crystal clear and relevant. People go through a four-stage decision process:
‘Start by writing down the buyer profiles of your three best types of client.’
01 I have a problem that needs solving. 02 How can you help me to solve it? 03 Let me see more to make sure you are the best option for me. 04 Now, I’m ready to make a decision.
