I'd like to throw a question out there about a decrease in form fill leads we are receiving from our website.
We notice that all key performance indicators are up: visits, visitors, time on site, phone leads... but our form fill leads are down. We have not made any drastic changes to our website. Does anyone have any insight or experience they can share to explain this change?
Thanks in advance.
Bandre,
This connects to an old DR blog reply I made. It's an industry wide problem, it's a classic merchandising puzzle. Hang on..here we go.
Consider that the average car is owned 2,3,4 years before the owner replaces it. Lets say it's 3 years. Now, how long has the internet been an essential part of car shopping? Lets estimate that web shopping for a car hit critical mass in 2001. That's 9 years. So, the average car shopper has "web shopped" for approx. 3 cars.
Next: From the Shoppers Point of View.
Buying a car is all about shoppers gathering information to better position themselves in the buying process. Web shopping has to produce results for it to have shopping value. <--dwell on that comment for a bit. Part of your "why is our web forms volume down" answer is in these 2 simple observations.
Our web forms force the shopper to reveal their private info. From the shoppers point of view, Will the from produce rich enough info to REWARD the shopper so they willingly give up their private shopper status?
So... We have shoppers that at in their 3-4th buying cycle, they've already experienced the "submit a form get bombarded with calls". So they have "learned" to avoid using the forms. You need a better "hook" that will REWARD the shopper with an offer so strong that it outweighs risk of revealing their private info.
Summary:
Improve your forms and add new forms with a strong WIFM* message and your form use will rise.
HTH
Joe
*Whats In it For Me