TotaliNet Raises Conversion Rates by Prequalifying Business Sales Leads Online

CHALLENGE
TotaliNet, a division of Ensurge.com, specializes search engine optimization services for small businesses with Web sites. The company's aggressive blast email campaigns promoting a free site evaluation produced decent initial results -- a 4% click through rate -- but dismal sales conversion rates. To solve the problem, TotaliNet hired Third Level Data, an interactive agency specializing in qualified sales lead generation campaigns. Third Level Data's CEO Jennifer Howard shared her campaign notes with us.

CAMPAIGN
Third Level Data held extensive meetings with TotaliNet's marketing department to learn about the product and figure out what was keeping conversion rates so low. They discovered that TotaliNet had two distinct problems:

1. A high percentage of names on typical opt-in small biz email lists are people who don't actually have their own domains. For example, many entrepreneur's Web sites are subdomains of larger companies such as "remax.com/bettysmith" or "amway.com/texas/rep1555". So, although these small biz people were on lists indicating a high interest in improving their Web site marketing, they didn't have the power to alter their sites substantially -- or use TotaliNet's services.

2. Soft offers with a strong "free, free, free" message often attract a high percentage of tire kickers who have no intention of purchasing.

Third Level Data decided to attack the first problem by doing a complex sort on opt-in email addresses to determine whether they owned their own domain or were using a third party's. Only names that met the criteria were mailed.

To eliminate tirekickers, the email campaign's subject lines focused on product benefits, rather than the free offer. For example, "Stop losing traffic". Plus, Third Level Data took the additional step of sending all traffic generated by the campaign to a special online form. This form asked a series of questions designed to prequalify respondents for TotaliNet's services. It asked for key data points such as how long the entrepreneur had been in business and whether they were personally in charge of optimizing their Web site for search engines.

Howard notes, "If you have a compelling offer or a good incentive, people will tell you anything you'd like to know. But, they have to feel like they are giving it to a credible trusted source and getting something valuable in return."

RESULTS
The campaign had 4% clickthrough rate, which is unusually high given the fact that the word "free" wasn't in the subject line and the fact that small business owners are inundated with commercial email offers. Of these click- throughs, a full 12% completed the form and qualified as perfectly targeted sales leads for TotaliNet to follow up on.

Best of all, under the terms of their agreement with Third Level Data, TotaliNet only paid for the qualified sales leads they received. So the program was far lower in risk for them than if they had done another blast email campaign on their own. Shawn M. Thomas, VP of TotaliNet's parent company Ensurge.com says the program was a, "cost-effective answer to our email marketing needs. ... We have been able to consistently reach our target market, and more importantly, produce buyers for our services."

One last fascinating fact -- Third Level Data tested two different calls for urgency in the email campaign. The first gave a 30 day time limit; the second a limit to the number of responses that would be accepted (i.e. "Hurry! Only the first 200 will be accepted!") Howard says, "The time limitation worked better as the # of people promotion was a big burst and very low residual traffic."