Improving Conversion Rate

[aclsound]

For the purpose of this post I am defining conversion rate as how many people have called, emailed, or filled out my online form divided by how many people actually put a deposit down.

When I was a much smaller DJ company getting most of my leads from referrals of past clients, my conversion rate was almost a 100%. Now my company has grown, and I am getting a lot more leads from people coming across my website(Thanks to a whole year of studying SEO). With the majority of my leads coming from the internet my conversion rate has went down. After trial and error I was able to get my conversion rate much higher, but it will never go back to 100% but that's okay as I am now getting many many more leads. I created this post to share some techniques to turn page views into bookings!

• Make sure your website has your contact information plastered everywhere! It really surprises me how many websites have their contact information in tiny print. The easier they can find the contact information, the more likely they will contact you.
• Have an online inquire form. Again this makes it easier for them to contact you.
• Call them A.S.A.P. after they fill out your form/send you an email/leave you a voice mail. This technique was the MOST effective method of upping my conversion rate, if you call them immediately you are on their mind, you also know they are not busy, and in the mood to talk about their event. My online form sends me a text message as soon as someone fills it out, this allows me to call them a minute after they filled out my form.
• Practice your telephone skills. Let them do most of the talking, ask them specific questions. Have an outline of how you want the conversation to go. Read up on how to sell a service via telephone.
• Schedule an in-person meeting with them at the end of the phone call. Once you get them face to face, they are much more likely to actually book you.

You will never get a 100% conversion rate, and the most frustrating part is most of the time you will never know why they didn't book you. They may have been found a bottom feeder willing to do it for half your price, or maybe they legitimately found a better deal, or maybe they called off the event, or maybe you just gave them a very bad vibe on the phone. Most of the time you won't know why they didn't book you, but always look back and objectionably analyze what you could have done better.

If you have any questions please ask! And if you have any tips on how you improve your conversion rate please share!

[sse]

Great post....BUT

Your thinking is a little flawed on conversion rate.

You hinted at it, but didn't take it the extra mile it deserves.

After trial and error I was able to get my conversion rate much higher, but it will never go back to 100% but that's okay as I am now getting many many more leads.

Say you only can do Saturday Gigs, which is 52 possible gigs a year.
52 people contact you book 47.
YOU GOT 90% CONVERSION!!!!!!

So now I do only Saturday Gigs, and I get 500 people contacting me, but I can only book 47 for what ever reason
My conversion rate is WAY LOWER, only 9%...I must SUCK

Yeah it is obvious, but I hope you see the BIG picture.

There has to be a balance between inquires and bookings.

And the final thought is ......
If you are turning away a lot of gigs because your a fully booked, you need to RAISE your prices.


So look at what % of all possible gig dates you are getting booked, not conversion rates, and if you are turning away a lot if gigs, raise your prices!!!!

[prof_fate]

For wedding photography I was told that your booking rate should be about 80% of your meetings. The goal of the website was to make the phone ring and the call's purpose is to get them in front of you.

If your 'closing rate' you could say, was 90%, then raise your prices. If it was say, 70% then you need to identify why - could be price, value (what do you get for that price), your breath - anything really. The worst and I"m not sure if this applies as much to DJs as photographers, is you need to be sure your marketing is targeting the right group.

If you want $1500 gigs then you need to market to the folks that can pay that. If you keep getting calls for action at the local VFW and they choke on your price you marketing is hitting the wrong group.

And on the phone you need to qualify the lead- there is no purpose to meeting with people that can't afford you, that want a date you have booked, etc.

[sse]

• Make sure your website has your contact information plastered everywhere! It really surprises me how many websites have their contact information in tiny print. The easier they can find the contact information, the more likely they will contact you.
• Have an online inquire form. Again this makes it easier for them to contact you.

A BIG +1 on these 2 points.

I see just about every day some sort of advertising, and there is NO contact info, or the contact info is vague.....

On TV, I see local commercials that only give a street address and not the city they are in, do they really expect me to figure out what city they are in out of the 5 or so I can choose from. Guess they don't want my business too much.

On vehicle advertising, I see so many logos, logos, logos. But what the F*$K do you do and give me a phone number or address or something, not just your Fing logo. Your can have the coolest ass logo in the world, doesn't mean shit if no one can contact you.

Saw a billboard add recently, it said "FRANK IS BACK!" and gave a phone number, nothing else.
Did I call the number???? Nope. What a waste of $$$$$


AND REALLY, as the op said, no contact info on your website?????
Don't just supply a phone # or email address, give you LOCATION too.

I can Google "wedding DJ" and it will bring up DJs thousands of miles from me. Do you as a DJ want your time wasted on the off chance the off chance someone my pay your mileage to drive 800 miles to do a gig. PUT AT LEAST WHAT CITY/AREAS your work.

AGAIN...CONTACT INFO includes ALL of the following....PH#, Email address, physical address, website url


Now to web forms, YES YES YES!!!!
I probably book 60% of my gigs from my web form.
It's easy to do.
It's easy for a client to do.
So why not do it??????