Platform & Tools

You scored % on Platform & Tools. Not bad! You’ve done a good job with this category. However, we’re not quite done yet! You can use the information below to improve this section even more

Why Platforms & Tools Are Critical

Your website is the biggest asset you have in your marketing and sales toolbelt. It must be built on a platform that is secure, easy to scale, easy to edit, and not cobbled together with a million 3rd party plugins.

There are several platform options out there, so how do you know if you’re using the right one? First, you should take a look at what you need to monitor inside your marketing. The last thing you want to do is have to bounce from one software to the next just to see what’s going on… and hope that the data is correct and being carried over as it should. You want reporting to live in one place, with beautiful and easy-to-read dashboards. Those dashboards should show you what is happening with your metrics, but they should also allow you to predict what will happen next.

Next, you don’t want to de-value the security and integrity of your website by piecemealing it together with multiple plugins, widgets, and other 3rd party components. There’s nothing worse than when your platform automatically updates but your plugin is no longer compatible with that update, therefore the site breaks. And in many cases, those plugin developers are no longer around and you are left with no support. Also, those 3rd party plugins are creating vulnerabilities for security breaches and hacks. Ever had your website held hostage and redirected to a site selling adult novelties? I can assure you, it happens more than you might think, and these plugins are the #1 culprit of that breach.

You also want your platform to be extremely easy to use, with a built-in drag and drop editor (again, not a 3rd party plugin but native to the platform) so you don’t have to worry about relying on developers and coding to get things done. Wouldn’t it be nice to feel extremely confident in changing things on your website on your own? For some of you, you already can.

Lastly, your website platform and tools should be deeply integrated with your CRM. Even better, your platform should be your CRM, not just some integration or plugin. Your landing pages, forms, blogs, CTAs and more should be automatically tracked on the same platform your website is built on. As someone fills out a form, they should be added as a contact, automation triggered to nurture them, and you can sit back and watch while it all happens seamlessly.

How Platform & Tools Impact Your CRM

• Contact attribution reporting and tracking user behavior
• Reporting on overall website performance and drilling down into individual pages and features
• Ease of use, all in one solution reducing time and increasing clarity/transparency
• Cohesive system for the entire team, allows the website to be a sales tool, not an afterthought
• CMS and CRM are deeply intertwined, calendars are integrated, automation triggered

Positioning & Messaging

You scored % on Positioning & Messaging Not bad! You’ve done a good job with this category. However, we’re not quite done yet! You can use the information below to improve this section even more

Why Positioning & Messaging Is Critical

The #1 secret to a high-converting website is how you position yourself. You can have the most beautiful website in the world, but if it is not saying the right things it will never perform as well as even the most basic website that says the right thing. You have to make sure you are telling the right story to your audience so they know within 2 seconds that they are in the right place. Remember, your website is not about you. It is about your customers. Your website must talk about the problems you solve more than any other type of content you produce, even more than you talk about the features of your product or service. They are coming to you because they have a problem. So get on their level, acknowledge that problem, and help guide them to the right solution. “But what about SEO and traffic?” SEO and traffic are great. However, generating tons of traffic to a website that doesn’t convert will still give you the same results on the back end. Pouring fuel into a machine that won’t run is not going to help give you the results you need.

• Segmenting your lists based on the kinds of content they engage with
• Aligning your personas with the content on your website and the buyer’s journey
• Reporting on the performance of specific content types, topic clusters, and more in order to identify areas of focus and weakness
• Reviewing blogs and social sharing performance of pages to organic audiences

Design & Development

You scored % on Design & Development Not bad! You’ve done a good job with this category. However, we’re not quite done yet! You can use the information below to improve this section even more

Why Design & Development Is Critical

Design is often the most misunderstood component of a successful website. For some brands it becomes the absolute focus of the team, creating an unhealthy obsession that removes conversion and success from the discussion. For others it becomes a complete afterthought, making the website feel disjointed and piecemealed together by simply slapping some templates together and calling it a “website.”

In reality, the real purpose of design in a website is to lift up the content and help further accentuate the experience the customer has. It is a critical piece of the website; however, it also is never secondary to the content and flow of the website’s functionality. They are married together in a beautiful balance of art, functionality, and storytelling built around the idea of helping people solve problems.

A successful website is a perfect combination and collaboration of content and design - the “UX” or the user experience that your customer has. These websites need to take into account functionality and interactivity in the core elements of the site (like calculators, quizzes, chatbots, appropriate animations, and so on), which are critical components to creating leads and opportunities.

A successful design must help showcase the brand in a modern way. It should be built in a way that the tools are easy for your customers to engage with. And lastly, it should be viewed as an asset and a tool that your sales team can use on calls and as reference pieces

How Design & Development Impact Your CRM

• Enhancing user experience and impression of the brand, increasing time on page and overall engagement
• Capturing leads through landing pages and forms, CTAs, and well-planned website pages
• Tracking high performing pages and campaigns to identify what pages deliver the best leads
• Monitoring what pages and features your prospects engage with prior to booking call
• Delivering content dynamically through HubDB that your prospects want to engage with, like additional resources, guides, checklists, webinars, etc.
• Delivering calendars for direct booking after (or in lieu of) form submission
• Utilizing integrations to enhance user experience, sync data back to CRM
• Documenting conversational interactions via live chat or chatbots

Nurturing & Automation

You scored % on Nurturing & Automation Not bad! You’ve done a good job with this category. However, we’re not quite done yet! You can use the information below to improve this section even more

Why Nurturing & Automation Is Critical

Have you ever filled out a form on someone’s website and never gotten a response? How does that make you feel? After someone converts on your website, it is your responsibility to that individual, and to your company, to make sure you are providing value immediately to that prospect.

This can take many forms, but at the very least you should be triggering a follow-up email series after a prospect fills out a form on your website. If it’s to download some kind of checklist or a free guide, you need to deliver the experience to them on the back end that they are seeking… PLUS you should be over-servicing them beyond their expectations.

Email nurturing is an art form in itself, but it starts with your website. You piqued their interest and got them curious when they filled that form out initially. Now your attention should turn to help them in that journey with you to start building trust and moving closer to a commitment with you.

Also, we already addressed that your website is the biggest tool in your sales process, right? Here is where the rubber hits the road and you start focusing on automation inside the CRM. For example, when someone fills out a demo request form, you should be triggering automation that delivers a salesperson’s calendar to them on their next screen. The contact should be assigned to that rep. A deal should be created in the pipeline populated with that contact’s information. Forecasts should be influenced, and tasks should be created for the salesperson to follow up immediately.

These are very critical components to improving the website’s effectiveness… And that is just scratching the surface.

How Nurturing & Automation Impact Your CRM

• Deal creation after form submission
• Assigning contacts to owner
• Lead scoring based on engagement and activity
• Updating reports with deal creation such as forecast models, activity, etc.
• Warming up audience through email follow up and getting them back to the site
• Amending website experience based on lifecycle stages (SMART content)
• Task assigning and automation for sales reps
• Notifications to sales rep of prospect activity, such as returning to the website

Traffic & SEO

You scored % on Traffic & SEO Not bad! You’ve done a good job with this category. However, we’re not quite done yet! You can use the information below to improve this section even more

Why Traffic & SEO Is Not What You Think It Is

SEO is a critical component of any website strategy. Without a plan in place to generate traffic, your website could end up being a total waste of time and money, and ultimately could prevent you from generating revenue that otherwise would be yours.

However, most people consider SEO to be the most important aspect of the website. They’ll spend thousands on SEO retainers and pay companies to do constant updates and tweaks. Why? Because they are told this is the best way to generate leads. Better SEO means more traffic, which means more leads, right? Unfortunately, that’s not really the case.

SEO is extremely important - but it’s not even a factor until you know your website machine is working appropriately and converting calls and demos regularly with your existing lead list. If you have a few thousand leads in your CRM, and you’re hoping to close just a few customers every month or quarter, spending all that time and money on SEO is not your best investment. You need to be focused on the earlier categories mentioned above, like re-engaging and automating your contacts.

“So when is SEO the focus?”

Once you know you’re converting leads at the rate you want, then you turn up the volume on getting the right kind of traffic to your website. This is when you focus on a heavy SEO strategy, in tandem with ads and other traffic-generating sources. If you know your “machine” books 10 calls for every 500 people that enter, then you simply need to determine how many calls you need. You need 40 calls? Well, you need to get your traffic to that funnel up to 2,000 per month.

SEO is an absolutely amazing component to help your website grow. However, you have to do it with the right strategy in mind, which should be helping your prospects answer questions and find information that they truly need

How Traffic & SEO Impact Your CRM

• Calculating deal flow and volume. If I know 500 visits to this area of the site give me 10 calls booked… and I need 40 calls each month to hit my closing percentage and quota… then I need 2,000 visitors to reach that content
• Tracking blog and pillar content that delivers the highest quality of leads and fastest to close
• Utilizing new content from the team for re-engaging and warming up cold leads
• Improving site performance with online SEO checkers to enhance overall reach
• Allowing content to be seen and shared by reputable sources and tracking those referrals, which in turn lends credibility and makes the rep’s job easier

Conversion Rate Optimization

You scored % on Conversion Rate Optimization Not bad! You’ve done a good job with this category. However, we’re not quite done yet! You can use the information below to improve this section even more

Why Conversion Rate Optimization Is Critical

Websites that are performing properly are converting leads at all stages of the buyer’s journey. That means you’re converting leads at high enough volume to keep your sales calendar full and your pipeline extremely healthy.

One thing that is a guaranteed certainty for your business is that nothing will stay the same for a long period of time. Change is inevitable. Most companies understand that from a sales perspective. Most companies understand that from a product or service perspective. But they don’t often change their website and digital marketing perspective, even when the going gets tough.

Your website is your best tool for generating sales, regardless of what industry you are in. So don’t treat it like it’s an object that gets addressed once every few years.

Studies have shown time and time again that constant improvement efforts on your website has a direct correlation to increased sales.

But what does this mean exactly?

Well, imagine you are able to track what pages and areas of your website are performing (or not performing) well. You have two choices: A) leave it alone and just say “oh well.” or B) DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

If you have a page on your website that should be converting really well but it simply isn't… wouldn’t it be natural to run tests to make that perform better? YES! If you know a page is converting at less than 1%, but you see it gets 2,000 site visits each month, that should be a red flag that you need to do something about it. If you set a goal of getting that page to convert at just 2%, you’d be looking at 40 new leads coming into your CRM… For simply just running tests to improve that page’s performance.

We typically think of CRO in 4 primary categories:

• Items that boost conversion (A/B tests, copy changes, user paths, value props, etc.)
• Items that improve the user experience (layout, navigation, design, etc.)
• Items that create a personalized experience (SMART content, decision points, CTAs, etc.)
• Items that encourage better engagement (tools, calculators, chatbots, directories, etc.)

How Conversion Rate Optimization Impacts Your CRM

• CRO increases the volume of leads, filling pipeline much faster with better fit leads
• A sales person simply updating the CRM can actually change the website experience for the contacts they are working (SMART content, etc.)
• By updating the CRM, different automation is triggered to bring contacts back to the website
• Tools are created as resources for the sales team and give reasons for engaging with a more interactive approach (Pricing bots, calculators, etc.)
• Every interaction with the website increases lead score
• As sales tracks FAQs and feedback in the sales process, they document in the CRM which feeds content requests and ideas to the marketing team