Why having your very own UFO could be the best lead generator ever.
Not having a compelling offer to entice people to join up to an email list on a website has to be the single most missed opportunity there is for any business when it comes to capturing and converting leads.
Many businesses have an email sign up form on there site but are still missing out on hundreds of leads by not creating a compelling offer to entice their website visitors to join up to their opt-in and surprisingly still many websites have no email sign up at all!
This is total madness when we consider how much people actually spend on their website, not to mention the amount they spend to get people to actually visit it.
Start taking the long view
The fact is the majority of people who visit your website are going to leave without buying anything. This very often doesn't mean that they aren't interested in your product but that they are simply not ready to make the final purchase. Maybe they are waiting for some time in the future when they can afford it, perhaps they are planning to buy a gift sometime in the future or they may want to shop around for prices. One of the biggest reasons is that they have not heard of your business before and therefore do trust enough to make the purchase.
So assuming that they are interested in the product or service you are selling and they are going to buy this product from you or someone else in the near future then you really want to improve your chances of making them buy from you. To make this happen then you need to convince them to hand over their contact details so that you can continue to stay in contact with them long after they have left your website and convince them that you are the best choice when it comes to making that purchase. Statistics also suggest that a prospect needs to have had some sort of contact with a brand seven times before they finally buy from them.
The most effective way of doing this is though email, email is still the single most effective method of converting prospects into customers. When someone signs up to your email list they actively giving you permission to contact them and are also saying they are interested in what you have to say.
Taking the long view means youa re not after an immediate sale and this is definitely the way to go. As long as you accept this and start investing in future relationships with your prospects then you are going to win. This is the long view.
So what have UFO's got to do with emails and creating leads for your business? Well in order to get your website visitor to hand over their email address you need to capture them with a an Unbelievable FREE Offer (UFO). When your visitor arrives on your website you have approximately 3 seconds to interest them and capture their contact details before they disappear into the ether and the only way you are going to do this is by offering them something of incredible value. I don't know about you but I buy from people I like and trust , who have shown me that they 'get' me and have gone out of their way to woo me with something that I consider really valuable.
The great thing about UFO's is they not only help to capture leads but they also leave your prospect feeling incredibly happy and more likely to buy from you. Offering a UFO is not only going to make you stand out from your competitors but your prospect is also more likely to remember you and start to build a relationship with you and when they do decide to make that purchase they are very likely to make it with you.
What do your prospects want?
So how are you going to find that one thing that your customers are going to want so much that they are going to hand over their email address to you and to do this you are going to need to get into the hearts and minds of your customers and to do this you will need to answer the following questions:
Who exactly are your ideal customers.
What are their needs and desires?
What are the common problems that your ideal customers have that need solving?
What could be stopping them from making that buying decision?
A good idea here is to ask some of your existing customers these question too, this will make your findings far more real and accurate. Once you have the answers to these questions then you can start thinking about what your UFO is going to be. You need to choose something that is that is going to offer that solution to their common problem, that is going to be really valuable to your ideal customer and show them that you really care and resonate with them. Next you need to consider how your audience will want to receive your offer, maybe an ebook, a report, a video course or some kind of coupon or money off offer. If you are looking for ideas for free offers then check this blog post.
Whatever you choose you need to deliver excellence here if you want to impress your prospects and gain credibility and their trust. If it's really good then they are more likely to want to stay in contact and open any subsequent emails that you send. However don't let trying to find the ultimate offer stop you from getting started. Find and create the best possible offer you can at this time and then if something better springs to mind later then you can always change it. The sooner you can get your email offer up the quicker you can start generating leads and converting your prospects into customers.
How to promote your UFO?
Once you have chosen and created your UFO then you will need to promote it. On your website you need to make your offer visually compelling with a strong headline which will entice them. You need to position it on your website ( on as many pages as possible) and it needs to be in a prominent position that stands out, either at the top or you can use an email pop ups. Email pop ups can be hugely effective for UFO's.
Social media is a great place to promote your free offer. With Facebook and Google+ you can use the cover photo to promote yor UFO and ask your visitor to click the image for futher details. You can add teh destination URL for your offer on the description area of your cover photo. You can also pin your offer image to the top of your Facebook business page and your Twitter account with the destination URL of your offer for your new followers and fans to see. You can also tempt your social media followers to visit your website by posting your latest blog post.
What better way to advertise your campoign than with either a Facebook Advetising campaign or an Adwords campaign. And with Facebook advertsing you can litterally drill down to your exact target customer. You can either target fans from other fan pages.
Sign up with an email service provider
If you have not already done so then you will need to sign up with an email service provider. There are numerous providers including aweber, constant contact, madmimi and mailchimp that offers you free use for up to about 2000 contacts. They will provide with email templates, Sign up forms, autoresponders and easy to follow instructions and tutorials on how to get you started.
Next you need to set up your campaign. This is a whole new subject in itself. Watch out for that specific blog post coming soon.
Have you got a UFO on your site already? If so, can you see the difference it has made. If not, are you going to create one? I'd love to hear your ideas and opinions so please feel to leave a comment in the comments section below.
