What is meant by a “Webcentric Customer Lifecycle”?
Below I’d like to share with you an interesting exchange I had with Reed Overfelt, COO of a “very cool” Online Creative Agency (MuralVentures.com). Thought it provides incredible insight…
Q. MarketingLAUNCH.com: Do you believe – or not believe – in web forms (i.e. complete form for white paper, pre-recorded demo, etc…)? Sounds like you are against this method of lead capture. Since marketing campaigns’ success are mostly based on how many qualified leads produced… how do you address that? Or do you feel ROI on campaigns should strictly be focused on FREE trials, orders, etc… Lot’s of debate on this – would love an “expert opinion”.
A. MuralVentures.com: Excellent question! The key challenges with white papers and pre-recorded demos is your customers don’t trust them. The reality is USER generated content has fundamentally replaced company created content.
A recent Universal McCann study found that only 14% of Users trust company created content, whereas 78% trust recommendations made by other consumers.
So, what’s a marketer to do!?
Our job is to drive qualified leads to the sales teams.
- You have to ensure your target customers can find you -using personas (defining target customers), custom URLs, and highly targeted landing pages.
- You have to ensure you answer their burning questions in 12 words or less.
- You have to give them the info they need to self-qualify; that you have a potential source/solution for solving their burning problem (i.e. super, super, super high quality, interactive demos supported by user generated feedback!)
- You have to ensure when they are ready to raise their hand (i.e. buy!), they can do so immediately (i.e. click-2-chat or click-2-call > 24 hrs a day or at min. 6AM to 9PM in all 4 US time zones).
These are the Search, Find, Qualify, Try (i.e. demo), and Buy steps of the MuralVentures WebCentric Customer Lifecycle.
Getting a customer to this final step – particularly click-2-chat - is the #1 priority for a good online marketing campaign.
We did some research for Microsoft, 80% of their most qualified leads for their ERP and CRM business (i.e. complex product sale) now originate from Click to Chat! Over 60% of these leads closed within 90 days. 60%! That is HUGE!
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We’d like to hear from you. Share your thoughts on this idea!
