Making the Leap

Occasionally, I send secret shopping inquiries through my clients’ contact forms and see how they respond. Not only does this tell me if their forms are working correctly, but tells me how my clients respond to interested queries.

One of the biggest reasons I secret shop my clients is I want to make sure my clients aren’t losing out on valuable business because of the way they respond. Sometimes I will get complaints about lack of lead generation. One of the first thing I will do is secret shop them.

What I look for is:
1. How soon they respond to my inquiry
2. If they answer my questions
3. If they provide additional information that I did not ask for, but is helpful to know
4. If they link back to their website
5. If they provide their contact information in the email, including a phone number

Recently I secret shopped a client who said he was not getting any conversions from his web leads. He said he gets leads, but none of them ever respond back after he contacts them.

I secret shopped him, sending him some basic information on why I was contacting him under a different email address. This was his response:

“Thank you for your inquiry. I would be happy to discuss your specific question. However, we would need a phone number to contact you.”

Really??? You need a phone number to contact me? Though you just contacted me by email to tell me…you can’t contact me…?

While there’s no doubt that many of us like to communicate with clients by phone, you should remember that not all people feel that way. In fact, if your phone number is prominent on your site, you should assume that the person who contacted you by email would like to be contacted by email.

Not only that, but this reply is so general, it might as well be an auto-response. It may well be, in the view of a prospective client, who is at least hoping for some reference to the question he or she took the time to type into your form.

How do you make that switch from an email conversation to a phone one? My recommendation: Answer the question briefly, but helpfully, including that not every client’s case is the same and that, for a more accurate answer, you would like to meet with them or speak with them on the phone. Include all those little details listed above, especially your phone number, and encourage the person to contact you again.

Don’t lose prospective clients. If you are not answering your email leads personally, secret shop yourself and make sure whoever is answering them is doing a good job. Web marketing can be one of the most cost-effective ways to generate business. Make sure you are cashing in.