The 10DLC regulation, introduced in 2021, has made setting up SMS messages for working with clients more complicated. Anyway, sending SMS messages and emails is considered one of the most effective ways to generate leads.
Lead generation is a process without which it is impossible to increase the number of active buyers on the site. The term “lead” means a person who not only visits the site but is ready to make a real order. To motivate each customer to take action, various marketing strategies can be used.
One of the professional recommendations is to use text messages. It finds enough effective and suits different types of business.
What are Leads and Why are They for an Online Store?
The concept of “lead” means a person who has visited the site and has already made one of the main actions. This could be filling out an online form, adding items to the shopping cart, or sending a quick chat message.
Attracting leads to the site is carried out through different marketing channels. The task of the site owners and the creators of the advertising campaign is to interest an ordinary person who has looked into the store and made him or her a lead.
To begin with, this is the restoration of the user’s contact data (for example, through the callback form). Other popular options for working with clients include creating online surveys, issuing discounts for fulfilling commitments, etc.
Types of Leads
Depending on how ready they are to perform targeted actions, leads are taken into several categories. Let’s consider each of them in the example of an online store selling clothes.
1. Cold
Such people want to receive information about a product or service. They are not about to make a purchase yet, but they are already preparing for it when they ask questions via quick chat or fill out a form asking for a callback. For example, they may visit the site after reading discount offers and become interested in specific things.
2. Warm
Such leads have information about the company and a general idea of what they need. Typically, clients in this category are subscribed to the company’s social media accounts or even receive newsletters from the site. In the case of a clothing store, they choose one of several dress models.
3. Hot
People who are fully prepared to place an order or make an advance payment. They simply go to the site, add a particular dress to their shopping cart, and pay for it.
There are also non-targeted leads. This is the name of people who went to the site and performed the target action by accident (for example, by mistake). Most often, those are people who find a company that does not provide the service they need fall into this category.
For example, a girl wants to buy a wedding dress at a discount and fills out an online questionnaire. However, the company does not sell wedding dresses but is engaged in casual wear.
How Does Lead Generation Work?
Lead generation in marketing refers to the process of collecting leads. The ultimate goal of this work is to convert as many buyers as possible into hot leads and increase the number of orders. The company can use both direct and indirect lead generation.
The direct process is related to attracting customers who are already ready to order the product (for example, girls are already looking for dresses on the Internet and are turning to different sites searching the suitable models).
Indirect lead generation requires more work and involves influencing people who are not yet interested in the things the seller has.
In this case, the seller must:
- conduct an active advertising campaign;
- attract popular people to disseminate information about products;
- talk about all the benefits of newly created goods.
Choosing the right strategy is necessary, taking into account the characteristics of the products, the volume of demand, and the behavior of competitors.
Popular Methods of Lead Generation
The most common way to work with potential buyers is to ask them to fill out an application form on the site.
Most often, customers are asked to perform one of three targeted actions:
- register in the online store;
- fill in the callback form;
- place an order for one or more of the products.
For the performance of the listed actions immediately or shortly (for example, within 24 hours), the user is given some kind of bonus. This may be an additional discount, the opportunity to get another product for free, the assignment of a special status in the loyalty system, and so on.
Additional Options
Except for the main lead generation channel, additional ones can be used by site owners. First, these are lead forms that will offer the user something interesting and at the same time unusual. The lead form can offer some kind of gift (an e-book, discount coupons, an additional service) for subscribing to the site’s news.
Another additional way to generate leads is to use a quick chat or bot that answers user questions. A chatbot is a complete tool for communicating with customers, which gives good results in increasing sales. It can be connected to social networks and other channels to order to communicate directly with users and organize a multichannel system to heat up sales.
Text messaging as a way to generate leads
Email marketing is considered one of the most versatile options for online marketing.
By sending emails, you can:
- talk about new products, promotions, or special offers;
- offer users entertainment content that will interest them;
- send a personal discount;
- clarify contact details;
- learn about the range of interests of the subscriber, and make an individual selection of products.
To start the process of lead generation, you need to place a form for subscribing to messages on the official website of the online store. It should be placed in a conspicuous place so that the questionnaire is accessible to everyone. At the same time, offering a subscription too intrusively (for example, in the form of a constantly appearing pop-up window) is not worth it: it has been proven that this situation only annoys customers and increases the number of those who unsubscribe to regular messages.
Related: Why A Spin-To-Win Wheel For Website Is A Beneficial Marketing Strategy For Increasing Leads
Other Options for Using Emails
In Internet marketing, the term “lead magnet” is used. It is the name of the gift given to the user for providing contact information. To present your lead magnet in a positive light, it is recommended to use a particularly attractive banner or pop-up that motivates customers to take targeted actions. It is a well-formed offer to subscribe to an email newsletter that is considered one of the most common options for lead magnets. However, this is not the only way to use text mailing to generate leads.
Other options include:
- adding social networking buttons to emails (motivates the client to subscribe to the account);
- sending an individual message requesting contact information;
- offering a personal discount in honor of a holiday or for performing a target action.
To make email marketing even more effective, it is worth making it automated. It will allow you to work with the address book and create bulk sends that will increase the reach of recipients. It will make the lead generation process even faster and lead to a rapid increase in sales.
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