| Dear
Kyra:
What you are experiencing is a common problem for
online marketers. And paradoxically, one of the keys to
have them become more forthcoming is to assure them that they
don't have to! Before we explore how you do this from a
practical standpoint, let's first review just who these reluctant
prospects are.
It is important to remember that your online
visitors are Internet Empowered Consumers™ (IEC™) who are very
different from the typical offline real estate prospect. In
particular:
-
They are in control - because of
their relative anonymity and any attempt to rest that control away
from them will be met with resistance;
-
They may not be ready to open up about who
they are - most online real estate consumers are in the
information gathering stage when they first visit your site and
want to initially remain anonymous;
-
They value their privacy - which
means they will respond favorably to explicit assurances that
their privacy will be protected.
There is a way to incorporate this understanding of the IEC™
into your forms so that you will see a big jump in the number of visitors who
willingly fill out your forms and do so with correct contact information.
Failure to do so is the reason why many real estate Web forms actually drive
visitors away.
The IEC™ Friendly Web Form...
If you incorporate the following into all of the forms on your Website, you
will see a big shift in the way visitors respond to them:
- Give Them Something Of Value - make sure it is very clear
what value the visitor will receive in exchange for completing the form;
- Assure Them Their Privacy Will Be Protected - use language
on the form that explicitly assures them that their privacy will be protected
and back this up with a link to your privacy policy;
- Only Ask For What You Really Need - don't insist on full
contact information if all you really need to deliver the value is their
e-mail address. Ironically, if you state this on the form (that most of
the information is optional) you will find that more people are actually
willing to fill it out and with correct information.
One of the more successful online marketers in the business is
Alice Held, and her site at
http://www.come2az.com is a very good example of an IEC™ friendly site.
With her permission, I've taken one of her earlier Web forms and modified it
slightly (using the principles above) to make it even more compelling —CLICK
HERE to view it now.
In particular notice that this form makes it clear that the only
field that needs to be completed is the e-mail address (necessary to deliver the
relocation package). This level of explicit reassurance will actually make
it more likely that visitors will voluntarily provide the rest of their contact
information.
There are cases where the visitor must complete all the
information within the form. VOWs (Virtual Office Websites) are a prime
example of requiring full information before allowing the visitor to view MLS
data. If this is the case, provide an explanation as to why their full
contact information is required and once again, reassure them that this
information will not be shared with anyone.
Also, if you don't already have a privacy policy on your site,
get one.
CLICK HERE for a free privacy policy template and assistance in creating
your site's privacy policy. The importance of this cannot be over stated.
I helped a major regional franchise instantly and dramatically increase the
numbers and quality of the leads generated by their Web forms by simply having
them post a link to their privacy policy on their forms.
It's Us, Not Them...
Regardless of where I travel around the world speaking to real
estate sales people, they all seem to have the same issues and
frustrations in working effectively with the Internet Empowered
Consumer™. The main reason for this is that most of our sales
training has focused on the traditional consumer who is someone you
can see, shake their hand, or hear the sound of their voice.
All these non-verbal cues are missing with the IEC™ which makes it
incumbent upon us as professionals to adjust to this special kind of
consumer, and not insist the other way around.
If you take the time to do this by applying the steps covered
here and meet the IEC™ on their terms, you will find they will be
attracted to you like a magnet —if only because so many others are
pushing them away.
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