The Internet changed the way people shop. Over the past several years, though, the way businesses use the Internet to market themselves and their products has also changed. While traditional marketing is still around, in the form of pop-up and sidebar ads, businesses have been turning to inbound marketing to increase their sales. However, if you aren’t seeing the results you want from your inbound marketing efforts, you might want to go down this checklist to be sure you’ve hit all the high notes.
Inbound Marketing Tips: 5 Ways to Increase Your Inbound Sales
#1: Properly Placed Calls to Action
A call to action is when you tell your audience to do something. And, ideally, you want to put a single, strong call to action in a highly visible place. If your company runs a gardening blog, for example, then you should put a single call to action toward the end of the piece. Tell your readers to follow you on social media, or to stop by your store to check out the prices you have. You can even sweeten the deal with a coupon code available only to those who read said blog entry. The more calls to action you use, though, the less potent each one becomes. That’s why you’re better off with one strong one.
#2: The Fewest Number of Clicks is Ideal
Say, for example, someone is watching a video your company produced. In the video you use a particular product to get the job done. At the end of the video you put a call to action, giving your viewers a link to go buy said product. You’ve done the hard work of getting viewers interested, and putting the link in front of them, but when the viewer clicks, they have to go through seven more screens, and create an account, in order to actually buy the product you’re trying to sell them.
The fewer number of clicks, the better. If you can eliminate the need to create an account with your site, and you can handle an entire order on a single page, do that. Every time a customer has to click to a new screen, that’s another chance for them to re-think the purchase.
#3: Focus on Your Relationship
People like to help out those they know, and have a relationship with. If someone needed to buy a new pair of shoes, and they knew that two stores sold the shoes they wanted at the exact same price, but one store had a friend of theirs who would get commission if they shopped there, then that’s where people are more likely to go. Your goal, with inbound marketing, is to form that bond with your audience. Once you have a relationship, and a rapport, then people are more likely to buy from you, because they know you. You’re not just any Internet dealer… you’re their Internet dealer.
#4: Use The Data You’re Collecting
Any website worth its salt has metrics set up to collect data on customer experiences. You know how many hits you have in a day, and you probably have factors like average visit time, which pages received the most views, and your bounce-back rate. If you have all that information, you need to see what it corresponds to when it comes to your marketing strategy. For example, did you increase traffic by switching to a new format? Did you make more sales from a video channel, or from your blog?
#5: Listen to Your Feedback
Metrics are fine and dandy, but they require interpretation. Customer feedback is a little more straightforward. If a lot of customers tell you they hate a given feature, then you should probably think about nixing it. Keep track of the number of people who like something, versus the number of people who don’t like something, and act accordingly.
To learn more about how to increase your inbound marketing sales, give us a call or send us a note today at Small Dog Creative 661-702-1310!
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