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They Never Test Your Website
We've all heard the saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." That's a good way to describe digital marketing.
Your SEO, GEO, and PPC campaigns are designed to bring potential customers to your website. Once they arrive, it's your website's job to convince them to take the next step.
Unfortunately, I've seen many companies spend thousands of dollars on marketing while paying very little attention to the website itself.
Ask yourself these questions:
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Is there a clear call to action on every important page?
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Are your prices competitive and easy to find? If you don't show pricing, many customers will simply leave and continue searching.
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Are your products or services displayed professionally with good photos and detailed descriptions?
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Does your website load quickly?
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Is it easy for visitors to find what they're looking for?
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Is your website mobile friendly?
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How quickly do you respond to leads? If you don't respond promptly, your customer is probably already talking to one of your competitors.
Test Your Website
One thing I've learned over the years is never assume your website is working the way you think it is. Test it.
Have someone outside your company go through your website as if they were a customer.
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Fill out lead forms.
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Request information.
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Click every button and link.
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Test the site on different phones, tablets, and computers.
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Measure how long it takes pages to load.
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Make sure every form is delivered to the correct person.
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Verify that confirmation emails are sent.
Then test what happens after the lead is submitted. Mystery shop your own business.
Call your dealership or business and see how the phone is answered. Send an email through your website and measure how long it takes to receive a response. Evaluate the quality of the response just as a customer would.
If you have a Business Development Center (BDC) or sales team, mystery shop them regularly by both phone and email. Don't tell them when you're doing it. The goal is to experience exactly what your customers experience.
Many businesses spend thousands of dollars generating leads but never test whether those leads are actually being handled properly. A slow response, poor communication, or a missed email can cost more sales than any SEO or PPC problem.
Think of your website as your best salesperson. It works 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every visitor forms an opinion of your business within seconds. If your website loads slowly, is difficult to navigate, or fails to build trust, you're spending money to send customers somewhere they don't want to stay.
A good digital marketing company shouldn't just talk about getting more traffic. They should also point out problems with your website that could be hurting your conversion rate.
The goal isn't simply to get more people to your website.
The goal is to turn more of those visitors into customers.