2 Ways to Optimize Your Submission Form
As a business owner, we must always be trying to remove all obstacles a person might have before buying a service. The less friction in the customer’s journey the better. Some people prefer to email businesses over calling them. Your business should cater to these people. However, the best way is through a submission form rather than emailing your email address.
Lets find out why submission forms are preferred.
1. Save Yourself Time
Depending on what stage of your pressure washing business you are in, you might still be answering the phone yourself. Who knows how much precious time you spend answering the phone in a day? Ironically, some people would prefer to email or message you instead of calling. If you care about utilizing your time more efficiently and also improving the customer experience then you will include submission forms on your site.
Receiving an inquiry from a submission form is preferred over someone emailing your business email because you can set up all the fields that you need to get them an estimate. Often when I receive an email from a customer who is NOT using my submission form, they will tell me what they want to be cleaned but will not include their address. This requires a follow-up email asking for their address and then waiting for a reply. Hint: sometimes that reply might come 3 days later.
Avoid wasting time by including these form fields:
Name
Phone
Address
Email
What do you want to be cleaned?
This is short, simple, and normally enough information to get the person an estimate. If you foresee a possible issue or need clarification then you can simply email them or call before sending an estimate. It should be noted that there is a trade-off between having fewer form fields and lower-quality leads. If you only have 3-5 form fields then you will get more people submitting their information, however, you willlikely end up with a higher percentage of low-quality leads. Tirekickers aren’t known for filing out 5-10 form fields.
As a business owner, it is your job to find the right balance in this situation.
In your follow-up message
If you offer a service package then having a check box indicating the different service packages will also be a great addition.
HELPFUL TIP: Have a filter set up on your email provider so that anytime you receive an automated submission form, the email gets sent to a specific folder so that your email inbox is better organized.
BONUS HELPFUL TIP: Integrate your submission form directly into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software so that anytime you get a lead it is automatically added to your database for further emailing and conversion tracking.
2. Format to Mobile Devices
61% of all internet traffic is mobile traffic. People are much more likely to surf the web via their cell phone. Make sure that your submission form looks good on mobile devices and has 100% functionality. Give your customers the option to experience customer service on their terms and watch as the number of leads you get each month increases.