Attention is arguably one of the hardest things to capture in any context. Whether out to eat with friends, or marketing your business online, distractions are everywhere and life tends to move very quickly. One Microsoft study puts attention spans around 8 seconds on average. That means anytime we have someone’s attention, keeping it requires a lot of effort.
In the world of business and marketing, the concept of “speed to lead” is really a reaction to this idea that people’s attention spans are short and it is critical that we move quickly in order to keep the interest and attention of our leads. One of the most recognizable examples of this is in the real estate space. Some real estate listing sites offer notification tools and lead capture mechanisms that, once completed, result in a phone call almost immediately. One study shows that:
A 1-minute response time can lead to a +390% increase in conversions.
Whether you’re a small business, a multilocation brand or an ecommerce business, the faster you respond to questions, form fills, phone calls, etc., the more likely you are to improve your bottom line. It sounds really simple, but given the many media channels and methods for communication, it is easy to miss some of these leads. Here are a few tactics for improving your response times on any new leads.
Chat or Messaging Notifications
Many businesses regardless of size utilize some form of chat or online messaging tool to communicate with both prospects and internal teams. From Slack to Skype, Drift to Intercom, there are a ton of ways we communicate online. One of the best things you can do is create notifications within these channels when a new lead or prospect is captured online. Whether it is a Google Ads lead form submission or a website form fill, creating a notification journey for any new lead is critical in making sure leads are followed up with as quickly as possible.
How you do this will depend on the tech you’re using. However, it is likely there is an integration, or tool that will make setting up this notification easier. There are also ways to set conditional logic as well in order to route these notifications to the appropriate people. Again, it will depend on your tools, but it is likely there’s a set up that will work for you.
Email Notifications
Email continues to be a primary method of communication for many. For those of you who watch your email like a hawk, sending email notifications is another way to make sure you don’t miss out on any leads. The problem with some email notification systems is related to issues with deliverability. When sending email, your domain’s authentication and reputation will have a big impact on this and setting this up correctly is the difference between a new project signed and a lead you never even knew came through.
Text Message Notifications
For many of us, our phones are almost always within reach and this is especially true if you’re a business owner. While you might be active on chat and email, text messaging is another great way to stay on top of your leads. After all, these third-party tools require notification customization and setup, while your phone has text messaging built into it and you are unlikely to miss it. In some cases you can customize your notification to include the leads data/info so you can click to call directly from the message. There’s a lot you can do here but this is definitely another great way to keep in front of your leads.
CRM Tech
For many organizations that work through a high volume of leads or that have a large number of team members, a customer relationship management (CRM) software can be extremely helpful. Most of these tools offer robust notification methods and systems to help you keep up with your leads. Some tech offers “auto dialing” where leads are called through an automated system and are transferred to a person only if the lead answers the phone. Otherwise, the tech cycles through other phone numbers in a list. These kinds of tools require some thought and care in how they are set up in order to prevent annoying your leads, however, there is a lot of capabilities to explore when it comes to quickly and effectively working your leads.
Notification Routing
Depending on the tools and platforms you’re using for getting lead notifications, routing these to the appropriate people can be the difference between an extremely relevant sales discussion and a total waste of time. If your organization has multiple departments that offer unique products or services within each, then routing your leads to the appropriate team becomes critical. You wouldn’t necessarily route a support request to your sales team. So whatever tools you’re using, having login built into your notification setup will help make sure your leads and customer feedback is routed appropriately.
Custom Software
Every business is different. The truth is while many extremely helpful technologies exist to help with speed to lead and lead notifications, in some cases your ideal set up isn’t found within some pre-packaged technologies. In some cases you’ll need to stitch a few tools together or maybe you need to have a completely custom software built in order to operate as efficiently as possible. The benefit of custom software for lead notifications is you’ll get exactly what you want and can do pretty much anything in this regard. The down side is cost, but if it makes your more profitable and improves your conversions, then you’ll make the cost back in no time.
Conclusion
People rely on computers and phones and the apps and tools on them to do their jobs. Regardless of industry, the Internet helps people make purchase decisions. Whether looking for a construction contractor for a major build or looking for more info on a new payroll software, people rely on the internet to research these decisions. The challenge is that these people have short attention spans, and if you’ve done well enough to capture a new lead, you don’t want to waste it by not following up quickly. This is why having a notification system that includes many channels and types of notifications can be the difference of growing your business and staying still.