How to Convert Website Leads into Clients by Phone, Chat, Text, and Email

Website conversions are one of the most basic types of lead follow-through, and yet they’re the ones that most often fall through the cracks or just don’t come to fruition as they could. So, what are companies doing wrong and what can you do to change the conversation?

It starts by having a conversation—your leads come from your website, but that doesn’t mean they have to stay there. In fact, it shouldn’t. If you’re going to make the most of your leads, you need to be able to communicate with them via multiple mediums—chat, phone, email, and even SMS text messaging. The difficult part is that some website leads try hard to stay out of contact in several ways. Users will provide false emails, wrong numbers, or other fictitious information just to gain access to what they need. 

Others might provide the right info, but not really be interested in further discussions at the present moment. How are you supposed to figure out which is what and who to focus your conversion efforts on? Moreover, how can you take those conversations to other channels to connect with people on a more personal level? 

At Smith.ai, our virtual receptionists will provide 24/7 support for lead intake via phone, live chat, email, and even SMS, giving you the solutions that you need without using your valuable in-house resources. We can help capture leads, screen clients, and book consultations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, acting as the face of your business and giving your leads the dedicated nurturing and attention that they deserve. 

Let’s talk more about how you can use our services, and your own staff, to convert more leads and create more meaningful (and profitable) conversations. 

The value of website leads

Website leads are an asset to any organization, and today they are more plentiful than ever before. Unfortunately, 79% of leads NEVER convert. That’s not a statistic that you can afford to live with. 

Add to that the fact that 68% of leads consulted with a company they didn’t end up hiring. Unqualified leads are a huge time suck, but they don’t have to be your burden any longer. 

Do you know your website’s conversion rate? This is the number of visitors that convert versus those who visit your site. For example, if you have 500 visitors and generate 5 leads, your conversion rate would be 1% (which is not great, of course, but this is just an oversimplified example). 

So, what’s the average conversion rate? And what’s a “good” conversion rate? You might be surprised that across all industries, the average website conversion rate is between 2 and 6 percent. 

You might feel like this is impossibly low but think about how much website traffic is generated daily. Millions of visitors come to websites across the Internet every single day. If every single one converted, you’d be overwhelmed and inundated and never able to survive. So, as long as you focus on efforts that get your conversion rates as close to that 6% mark as possible, you’ll be on the right track. 

Part of that comes in using the right strategies to find those leads, and the other part is the purpose of this guide: converting those leads, ideally through other channels that offer a more personalized connection. 

Tips and tools for success

No matter who’s doing the work, there are several ways that you can help bolster your lead conversion efforts and create better conversations with potential clients. The overarching theme, of course, is to rely on the resources that you have available, both in the form of software and tools and in the form of people who can help deliver the solutions that your business needs. The tips below can help improve your efforts exponentially and in several different areas. 

Create a solid lead generation and conversion strategy

Nothing in business works without a proper plan. Once you have decided that you need to improve your website lead conversions, you’ll need to sit down and come up with an effective strategy to do so. Several marketing tools can help drive leads to your website, but do you know about all the tools and tasks involved in the next step? 

Of course, that’s why you’re here. The receptionists at Smith.ai can be a helpful tool, but there’s more that you’ll need to incorporate—that's why it pays to sit down and come up with an effective strategy to get those website visitors on the phone or in contact via email. 

When you choose to work with a dedicated lead intake and conversion service like ours, you’ll enjoy the benefit of getting assistance in coming up with the best conversion tactics and client retention strategies, and more. 

Make it effortless

The biggest reason that website visitors don’t convert (aside from those who just find that your business isn’t what they need) is that it’s too complicated or there are too many form fields to fill out. 

How many times have you found yourself on a website going, “Really?!? Do they need all this information?” 

Or, perhaps you’ve simply just navigated away because it takes too much time and effort, and you’re just not that invested yet. 

Your leads often feel the same way. 

People don’t want to have to provide their life story and past 10 years of address history just to find out if you can help them. Make your intake and conversion steps easy for your clients and give them no reason whatsoever to say that it was “too much work”. 

Follow-up, and follow up again

There is something to be said for follow-up. Some leads don’t like it or see it as “pestering” if you don’t do it right. However, if done correctly, it can be an effortless process of reminding your leads that you’re still there, and you can help them if they decide that you provide something that they can use. 

Even if they don’t respond to the initial follow-up, you shouldn’t write them off. Just set the leads aside and then try following up again later or send a follow-up via SMS if they haven’t answered an email, for example. 

Don’t become a pest, but don’t bail on leads if they don’t respond to your initial contact. You’re not going to call it a bad day of fishing when you only cast your line once or twice and walked away, are you? Find the balance between tenacity and too much, and your lead conversions will improve immensely. 

Integrate a CRM

CRM software is a must for any modern business. If you’re not familiar, this stands for Customer Relationship Management software, and it’s going to serve as the nerve center of your business. 

When you integrate the right CRM platform, you’ll have a rich, centralized database of customer and lead information, including initial contact details, a log of all communications and contacts, and the history of every touchpoint in their journey thus far. That kind of insight is going to be invaluable to your conversion efforts, no matter which channels you’re using or where the leads come from. 

Allocate dedicate lead conversion and intake resources

You’ll also want to allocate the right resources for this effort. You can’t just add lead conversion to the to-do list of your sales team—their plates are already full. Take the time to find someone who can focus solely on lead capture, conversion, and intake and watch how much your numbers improve just from that alone. 

Then, consider how much more improvement you’ll see by adding other solutions and improving your efforts in other areas, such as the integration of a CRM discussed above, and of course the 24/7 lead solutions available from Smith.ai. 

Take notes from your competition 

The brands in your industry that are most successful in online conversions are ones you need to keep an eye on. Not just to make sure that you can keep up, but to take advantage of their successful efforts and take notes. We’re not reinventing the wheel, here. We’re just re-envisioning the way that companies do business. If someone out there is already doing it better, why not copy their methods for your own benefit?

Of course, you don’t want to do exactly what your competition is doing—just take notes on their main touchpoints and figure out how to incorporate those elements into your own strategy. 

For example, if you notice that one of your competitors does a great job of getting website traffic to contact them via social media chat instead, you might want to figure out how they’re doing it. They may be offering a discount, a premium feature, or even just a direct, clickable link or auto-navigation to the site from their website. 

You don’t have to do as they do, specifically, but you can consider adding this to your own strategy. This is just one example, but you get the idea. 

Give people options

Too often, people end up declining to go further with a company because the only contact option is via phone or email—and not either/or, but one or the other. If you are trying to get people to convert or even to go further to engage with your company in another medium, consider giving them as many options as possible:

• Phone (voice)
• SMS text messaging
• Facebook and social media 
• Email
• Live website chat

When people have choices, they feel more empowered. More importantly, they feel less pressured, which is going to make them much more likely to convert. 

Track your efforts

If you’ve enlisted the assistance of a dedicated CRM platform, you’ll be able to track and analyze your lead conversions and qualification efforts, even if you’re not the one doing the work. Even the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can integrate with your CRM and other software tools to keep your customer information current, provide lead tracking insights and reports, and so much more. 

When you know what’s not working, you’ll be able to switch gears and figure out what does work. Qualifying leads is a task in and of itself and getting people to convert these days can often seem like pulling teeth. When you aren’t sure what’s wrong, these reports and data can be a valuable resource. 

It can also help you plan for better lead conversion in the future, making it an essential tool. 

Let Smith.ai help you improve conversions with lead qualification, intake, and more

Ultimately, the best solution to lead generation success is to work with people who specialize in that transitional space between the website and creating a client for life. At Smith.ai, our entire business is in communication and customer service, with receptionists that can handle every aspect of lead generation and qualification, and so much more. 

Converting would-be clients from website visitors and convincing them to allow you to contact them via other channels is not always an easy task. These days, it’s all about customization and adding that personal connection, and allowing your visitors to control their journey by offering several different options. 

When you do all of these things, you’ll see your conversion rates improve immensely. Plus, when you do it with the assistance of a dedicated third-party team, you’ll be able to save your own staff and resources for the other day-to-day tasks that require your attention. It’s the best of both worlds, and it’s going to revolutionize the way you convert. 

If you’re ready to find out what we can do specifically for you, schedule a Live Chat consultation to discuss your needs and learn all about our lead intake, screening, and other solutions. Our dedicated team of experts knows how to deliver exceptional service and our 24/7 availability will allow you to give your customers the attention they need at their convenience. You can also reach us at (650) 727-6484 or hello@smith.ai.