Category: SEO

(Part 2 of a 2-part series on getting the most from your online marketing strategy)

Building on our previous discussion about turning more inbound leads into jobs, this piece explores additional strategies for long-term success. We’ll delve into tools that keep your business top of mind and boost your revenue by getting the most from your leads and serving your customers well. You’ll see the benefits of reviving dormant contacts and turning them into scheduled jobs. Insights from our recent company spotlight with Sabrina’s Window Cleaning will further illustrate these concepts.

Before discussing the additional six tips for better lead management and higher close rates, let’s look at some key stats about email marketing, form fills, and automation in business operations: 

• Email marketing has an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. (Constant Contact)
• 97% of Americans check their email inbox at least once a day. (Storydoc)
•  Global email marketing revenue is expected to reach $17.9 billion by 2027 (Statista)

Long-Term Email Nurturing

We discussed the importance of responding to missed calls and setting up a campaign to nurture your leads. The next step is to determine how you will interact with leads that don’t convert after the first few days. Most contractors never reach back out once they have gotten a lead that didn’t progress into an appointment. And after the appointment is completed and a bid provided, most do not follow up again.

This matters because people are busy. They may have intentions of having work done on their home or commercial property, but then life gets in the way and plans are sidelined. By being proactive and creating an email nurturing program, your contact won’t have to start from scratch when they are ready to take action to complete their project. They won’t need to because they will remember your business and call you directly. For more details see this blog that our team recently published on the power of email nurturing.

How does email nurturing work? Emails would be created in a campaign and sent to your contact list in less frequent intervals than the short-term nurture campaigns. You can set them to send weekly, then biweekly and then monthly. Some businesses like to send emails around holidays from time to time and create a promotion that will entice people to finally pull the trigger. Others like to send a monthly newsletter about the latest techniques, trends and weather patterns that affect them.

If you don’t have time to create an email nurturing program on your own, there are several marketing companies that you can hire to handle it for you. Long-term email nurturing campaigns are a cost-effective way to maintain presence of mind. For best results, add a link to your calendar so that customers can book an appointment directly from an email or text.

Database Reactivation

If you have been collecting customer information as leads come in (name, email and phone number) and you have been in business for several years, you may be sitting on a gold mine of contacts. Database reactivation is a strategy that allows you to re-engage past contacts and convert them into paying customers. This is a single promotion that you send to all relevant contacts. Whether you keep your contacts in a notebook or a CRM, you can set up an email and texting campaign to reignite a desire to use your services, or at least to book a consultation.

Sabrina’s Window Cleaning hired 99 Calls to create and execute a database reactivation campaign for them. They started with a massive database and over 40,000 texts were sent. We first needed to clean the database up and remove recent customers and duplicate contacts. A campaign was created that was simple and visually appealing. With a healthy 1.89% open rate, they receive a positive response rate of .29%, which amounted to 147 positive responses. Their actual cost to reactivate each old lead was $3.40! Considering that the cost to generate 147 new leads ranges from $3,600 to $7,200, depending whether via organic lead generation or Google Ads PPC, the return on investment is astounding!

Database reactivation is an inexpensive means to capitalize on leads that you’ve received in the past and convert them into paying customers. Businesses often use this strategy two to three times annually to increase their conversions.

Managing Attrition with Compassion & Operational Awareness

Our interview with Frank, owner of Sabrina’s Window Cleaning in Florida, yielded valuable insights about the powerful tools discussed in these two articles helped to grow a local business into a multi-location powerhouse. Sabrina’s uses multiple channels for generating leads, including SEO, Google Ads PPC and Google LSA campaigns. Leads are captured via phone calls and highly converting forms. They have a system to handle missed calls, and regularly engage in reactivation campaigns.

There is one additional factor that has lead to Sabrina’s success. Frank emphasizes that building trust and goodwill with his customers is paramount to success. “A positive reputation is a valuable asset”, he states. He goes on to say that, “Honesty and referrals are key. Referrals are the best salespeople – they don’t call in sick and you don’t have to pay taxes on them.”

Frank exemplifies this philosophy through his client interactions. He shared a story of an elderly client who requested frequent window cleaning, primarily for companionship. In another instance, Frank’s team replaced smoke detector batteries for a client after noticing them disabled during a cleaning. These acts of kindness foster positive word-of-mouth marketing, 5-star reviews, and long-term customer relationships.

Employing as many of these six strategies for converting more of your leads will have a significant impact on your bottom line. Leads are expensive and increasing your close rate by responding quickly, staying top of mind, engaging with stale contacts and keeping your customers thrilled with your services will exponentially increase your bottom line.