Blog

Application Leads 22nd June 2010

When we talk about converting clients to business on financial services websites that deal in insurance or mortgages there are two routes to the same goal. The goal being sign up the client and collect payment.

The advantage of an application is fairly obvious in that the client has really hit the buy button. There may have to be a rejection or refund if eligibility is an issue but the decision about whether to go ahead has already been made.

In the case of leads or enquiries the decision hasn’t been made and the sale is still to be made. Of course it is as you might imagine easier to get an enquiry than a purchase especially if a client has no history with your business and in most circumstances sites will get many times more enquiries than applications.

So what do you do? The simple answer is you build a site that allows clients to enquire and buy – you give them the choice. That way if someone doesn’t need persuading or a library of information to pore over, you can sign them up right there and then. If they are hesitant or they must get more information before they can act or don’t have all the details necessary, they can express interest and then it is over to the site owner to chase and sign them up.

To provide this choice of enquiry or application we thought it was important to obtain contact details at an early stage in the process of providing a quote. That way anyone using the quote tools could be contacted as a potential buyer even if they drop out of the form. Often dropping out of the form doesn’t mean the visitor to the site doesn’t want or need you product. It could be they just ran out of time or got distracted.

So that takes care of the enquiry side of things. In terms of application, once someone has generated a quote they can then apply either on the quote page of the system or from the email sent to them. A good system offers the client enough information to make an informed choice about which product to go for based on more than simply cost. This will be essential if you want online applicants for your business.

If you wish to comment on the above or discuss please use the contact us page of our website.