With 97% of our society beginning their search for local products or services online, your website is the first interaction a potential customer will have with your company. Once they see your website you have a few seconds to capture their attention, tell them they’re in the right place, let them know why they should buy from you and effectively direct them to the next place in the site without them thinking about it.
Think of your website as your best salesperson. How would your best salesperson greet a new potential customer? They’re probably dressed appropriately, greet a potential customer with a firm handshake and most importantly, make the customer feel comfortable. You expect this person to match the quality of your organization and create a good first impression. When a potential customer lands at your website for the first time, they should feel comfortable and get a sense of your brand standards. Your lead generation website is the face of your business and you have 3-5 seconds to capture attention. Once you have their attention you have 10-15 seconds to trigger an action. Make it clean, easy to navigate and make them comfortable.
1. Establish an emotional reason for them to purchase.
Pain, gain and fear are the three main reasons people purchase a product or service. Decide why your customers buy from you and make them feel that emotion as soon as they hit your website. Consider the buying behavior when designing your website to connect with them quickly
2. Engage quickly.
Use strong images or graphics on your homepage or landing page to capture attention. Use this space for calls to action and unique value propositions. By getting your customer to click around, the higher potential they’ll stick around and ultimately initiate contact.
3. Tell them what you do.
Probably the most obvious and most overlooked. Many businesses assume that if you hit their website you know what business they’re in. Always error on the side of assuming the visitor knows nothing about your business. Your website should clearly explain what you do, who you do it for, and why you do it.
4. Use eye-path best practices.
Naturally our eyes see the upper left corner first, move across the top of the page to the right corner, down the side and back up to the middle. Have your logo, phone number, social channels and unique value proposition in this path is essential for a lead generation website design. This is about putting those specific elements where people expect to find them. We are trained to look in the upper-right corner for contact information and the upper-left corner for a logo.
5. Build trust.
Incorporating credibility factors and risk reversals help you build trust with your visitors. Awards, accreditations, affiliations, certificates are all examples of good credibility factors to include in your lead generation website. Eliminate any buyer hesitation by prominently displaying risk reversals. Anything you would do to satisfy an unhappy customer is perfect for a risk reversal. Do you offer money back? Free service next visit? Whatever the case, make it easy to find on your website.