According to MarketingSherpaʼs 2011 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report, generating high-quality leads is still the #1 challenge faced by B2B marketers. If you work for a B2B organization, much of your marketing probably aims to drive high-quality leads to landing pages for your products or services. However, once leads arrive at these pages, how many of them are turning into customers?
Since the report also stated that 69% of B2B marketers plan to increase their budgets for website design, management and optimization, I wanted to address how you can put your budget to good use and increase the conversion rates of your websiteʼs key pages.
1. Provide leads with multiple options and valuable content
One of the biggest mistakes B2B marketers make on their landing pages is to only give visitors one option – contact a sales representative to learn more. By doing this, you may drive away people who are interested in your offer but aren’t ready to speak with a sales representative at this point. You need to provide these early- or mid-stage leads with other options and a way to get on your list, so you can continue sending them information.
To do this, you should offer your leads valuable content that helps them understand their challenges – such as white papers, videos or other educational materials. You can also offer case studies, online demos, comparison charts and other materials that make it easier for your leads to make an informed purchasing decision.
2. Donʼt overwhelm your leads with too much information
Lots of B2B technology marketers love to discuss all of their productsʼ cool features. However, loading your pages with too much technical content up front can scare off leads who want to get a quick overview of how your product can help them solve a business challenge – as opposed to a technical challenge.
One way you can work around this problem is to break your product pages into sections. The first section can contain the high-level business benefits that would appeal to business owners and non-technical decision makers. Then, leads can click links or download spec sheets to learn more about the productʼs features. This allows you to give both your technical and non-technical leads all the information they need.
3. Understand your different audiences
In addition to creating content for technical and non-technical decision makers, you may also need to speak to different audiences. For example, are you selling a customer relationship management tool that both marketing and sales teams will use? If so, your product pages should contain content that addresses the needs and concerns of both marketing and sales. You may need to add tabs to your page for each separate audience. You can also create custom brochures, white papers, case studies and demo videos that leads can access through your product pages.
Also, always remember to check your analytics and see how your B2B landing pages are performing. This will let you know if you are engaging your visitors and getting them to take the next step or if you need to make changes to your website.
What About You?
How do you improve the conversion rates on your landing pages? Feel free to share your thoughts and comments below.