The future of Digital and Inbound Marketing is looking bright, but a commonly asked question that many companies ask is, “How do we create a clear and painless process that will create leads out of the visitors to our website?” This is even a question that the Digital Solutions team asks on an ongoing basis, and we have come up with a solid framework that any company can adopt.
The general formula takes shape in 5 major steps:

  1. Clear C2A (Call to Action) – A specific step that you want a visitor to your site to take.
  2. Landing Page – This is where the person will end up once they have clicked on your C2A.
  3. A Clean Form – Collecting information is important, but only the appropriate information.
  4. Saying Thank You – A page that shows up after they have completed the form that thanks them.
  5. A Confirmation Email – Sending an automated confirmation email makes it easy for your lead to reference your offer whenever they want.

Another part of the process that is necessary to generate valuable leads is a way to manage and organize all of the information! We here at Digital Solutions use our Insights tool, but regardless of what you use, USE SOMETHING!

So let’s dive in!

1) C2A = CALL TO ACTION

When you get down to it, a C2A is presenting information or participation that a visitor on your site would like to be a part of. This can take shape through something like a survey, the downloading of an e-book, signing up for a newsletter, getting a specific promo code, etc. These C2As will be specific to your company because you are the one that has the power to create them.

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When creating a C2A you want to make sure to:

  • Make things clear so that the visitor knows what they are getting.
  • Use an action word like “Download” or “Sign Up” to provoke action.
  • Make sure that anyone seeing a page that includes a C2A that they know exactly where it is. Using contrasting colors and a button that they actually click is beneficial.
  • Place the C2A in the right place on the page so that they don’t have to scroll way down the page to get to it.
  • Match your offer on your C2A to your landing page to avoid confusion. Use the same styling, wording, design, and symbols.

C2As should be on just about every page of your site, especially your home page. Another important step is to test your C2As to make sure that you create as smooth a process as possible.

2) LANDING PAGES

After the visitor clicks on the C2A they should be led to a landing page that is specific to the action that they are taking.

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  • Again, clarity is key when creating a landing page. The primary objective in the creation process is to make this step as easy and effortless as possible while you gather the appropriate information.
  • Use images! They are prettier than plain text.
  • Present the information simply
  • Use things like bullet points to communicate information

3) FORM

Every landing page should have a form that the visitor fills out in exchange for the information or access that you are granting them. This is where you gather your lead’s information. You should also only collect the appropriate amount of information.

  • If you are giving away something like access to an infographic it may be appropriate to only gather their name and email, but if it is something more substantial like a whitepaper or access to a webinar you can gather more information.
  • If you are finding that your site is gathering too many leads, your forms can be a good place to make changes. Adding more fields can help you manage the number of leads, but if this is really a problem that you are running into then you must be doing something right!

4) THANK YOU PAGE

This page is generally pretty simple (we like simple). You should thank the visitor for acting upon the C2A and then give them the appropriate step to continue forward. This make be telling them to “Click Download” or provide them with the opportunity to share the C2A.

The worst thing that you can do is skip this process and send them back to a random page in your site, making your visitor think, “Did it work?” Make it clear, and make it simple.

Also, use this chance to present them with another C2A! This should be in line with the next sequential step in your marketing/sales process.

5) CONFIRMATION EMAIL

You can, again, express your gratitude toward the person, or you may have the C2A set up in a way that you email them the promised information (ebook, whitepaper, webinar info, etc.)

  • Be personal! People know that it is automated, but include their name to make it feel a little less automated.
  • Make sure you hold up your end of the bargain to include an promised info.
  • Present the next C2A
  • Give them the option to share it with friends through email or social media

Finally, you will want to make sure that you have a plan! You can’t improve upon what you don’t measure, so you will want to have a plan to follow through with all of these new leads that you are going to generate through your rocking process!

And that’s it! Now you are ready to create awesome C2As! If you have any further questions, or you want assistance in setting up your C2As, landing pages, forms, email campaigns or whatever it is, we can help!