How to Manage Internet Leads 

An Internet lead refers to an instance in which a potential customer digitally expresses interest in your business. An Internet lead is generated when an Internet user visits your business’s website and submits information via a Web form or email to express their interest in your business’s products or services and request to be contacted by your business. 

Gaining and managing Internet leads is an important part of any successful digital marketing campaign. However, leads on their own don’t help your business much. The key step in the process is to convert Internet leads into tangible sales that actually increase the profits of your business. That requires effective management of the Internet leads that are generated for your business. 

If you’re interested in improving your digital marketing strategies, why wait? The sooner you start honing your digital marketing campaign for your business, the sooner you will be able to reap the rewards of your efforts. Keep reading to learn 5 effective ways to manage your Internet leads to increase your conversion rate and boost profits for your business. 

1. Follow Up with Every Lead 

One of the most important Internet lead management strategies is also one of the simplest. It is crucial to follow up with every lead your business receives. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand what a potential customer is asking or if you don’t think the lead will amount to an eventual sale. 

It’s still imperative to respond to every single Internet lead your business generates in order to show potential customers you care about them and what they have to say. Establishing a reputation of quick and consistent communication is key to attracting more Internet leads and transforming the leads your business does receive into tangible sales and profits. 

2. Respond in a Timely Manner 

Following up with customers in a timely manner is critical to transforming the Internet leads to tangible sales and profits. Potential customers who generate Internet leads for your business only remain interested in a finite amount of time. 

That means that you only have a certain amount of time to follow up with customers who generate Internet leads for your business before those potential customers lose interest and become less likely to actually follow through with buying the product or service you’re offering. 

At one point in time, it was recommended that businesses respond to all Internet leads within 24 hours or one business day. Now, however, the ideal lead response time is measured in minutes, not days or even hours. Aim to respond to the majority of the Internet leads that are generated for your business within 15 minutes. 

Customers greatly value fast response times, but many businesses don’t follow through with quick responses. Consistently following up with Internet leads within the same hour in which they were received will set you apart from other businesses and help you transform more leads into sales. 

3. Plan for After-Hours 

If the ideal response time to follow up with an Internet lead is 15 minutes, what are you supposed to do after hours when you’re not working and are unable to personally follow up with leads your business receives? It is important to plan for how to handle Internet leads that are generated for your business at any time of day or night so that your potential customers are not left hanging if they submit a request for information outside of normal business hours.

Installing an AI chat feature on your business’s website is an excellent way to show potential customers your business is there to address their questions and concerns at all times. AI chat features can be equipped to handle responding to frequently asked questions about your business’s products and services. If unable to address a certain request with a pre-programmed response, an AI chat feature can at the very least offer potential customers more information about when exactly a team member from your business will be able to get back to them personally. 

Getting an instant response—even if it’s automated—makes potential customers less likely to lose interest in your business before you are able to issue them a personal response. 

4. Make it Personal 

Personalizing your responses to Internet leads sets your business apart from other similar businesses to which potential customers might also be reaching out. 

Always address your potential customers by name when responding to leads. Avoid sending out pre-programmed templates. Instead, personalize each response you send. 

Writing a new, personalized response to each customer helps your responses avoid sounding stock-like and makes your business sound like it has a human voice. This in turn makes it easier for customers to relate to and trust your business. 

5. Offer Multiple Options 

When you respond to Internet leads, don’t just respond to a potential customer’s initial question and leave it at that. Include more information on other options and deals your business has to offer as well. This strategy offers potential customers more buying options and thereby makes them more likely to make a purchase even if it’s not the purchase they were initially considering when they first reached out to your business. 

Just make sure that the extra information you include in your lead responses is at least somewhat relevant to the potential customer’s initial request for information. Otherwise, your response runs the risk of coming off like an unfounded sales pitch. 

Managing Internet leads requires a lot of time and effort. However, effectively managing the Internet leads your business generates can also pay off in big ways and help you increase your profits and reach your business goals more quickly and easily. 

While it might take some work on the front end, improving your Internet lead management strategies using the tips in this post is almost guaranteed to be worth it in the long run for your business. Contact us if you’d like more information on how to manage your internet leads.