REALISE THE POTENTIAL OF SEO – OFF PAGE SUBMISSION

What’s the quickest and the easiest way to get better search engine rankings? That’s right, Off-page SEO. It’s a combination of various activities like directory submission, social bookmarking, article submission, blog posting and back links building. Google may deny it, but their ranking algorithm still relies heavily on the quantity and quality of referring domains. The more you have – the higher you climb.

The truth is, getting high rankings turn out to be a real headache, especially after yet another Google update.

Campaign Strategy & Launch

Upon understanding your category, buyers’ persona and website user experience journey, create an SEO campaign strategy with specific goals to achieve and start working. Write down these goals. Have a strategy for Off-site optimization.

Follow these 4 simple steps for making your off-page strategy effortless.

Step 1: Do a thorough keyword research. Use proprietary tools to arrive at a comprehensive list of targeted keywords.
You can use keyword research tools like – Google adwords: Keyword planner, Google correlate, Keyword In, SEMrush, Moz

Step 2: In order to rank higher on Google, navigation and user experience play the most crucial role. Ensure that the URL structure of your website is balanced and clear.

Step 3: What are the top 10 keywords for your business? Which competitor of yours is running behind those keywords? Do an in-depth study and plan your SERP journey accordingly. Focus your efforts on identifying the right niche and bring your site up the Google search in an affordable manner.

Step 4: Prepare a detailed backlinks building plan. The more quality backlinks your site has, the higher rankings in Google it receives.

Conversion Optimization

Optimize your Search Engine campaigns for both users and search engines. Conversion optimization is a strategy to increase how many visitors to your site actually convert into customers. Optimizing your site for conversion can dramatically improve everything from your bounce rate to your ROI. Whether this is through A/B testing on key landing pages, or improving your CTAs, the options are limitless.

Analytics & Dash boarding

The unavoidable part of your SEO journey. Never miss on analysing the results.

Track all the search data and resultant analytics on all major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, Ask, AOL and Baidu and analyse the results.

HOW WE IMPROVED SERP FOR 102 HIGH VOLUME SEARCH WORDS FOR AN E-COMMERCE FASHION HOUSE.

#E-Commerce, #SEO, #Digital Marketing

Indian consumer is evolving. With better disposable incomes and increasing awareness about fashion and lifestyle, she has plethora of choices from the hi-street brand stores to online sites. It’s a high stakes game and the stakes keep going up with big retail brands and corporate houses entering the fray. There is many an e-commerce player flaunting veritable and exclusive international brands like D&G, Alexander McQueen, Chiara Ferragni, Celine, Sophia Webster et al. Everything from party couture` to casual wear to shoes, jewelry, bags, accessories, gift ideas e.t.c is up for grabs. Of course the ticket size is Rs. 10,000 and upwards of a few lacs. There are deals, discounts and more deals.

We partner with one of the portals as their digital marketing partners . This portal has been around since last 3 years. We have been working on this brand for last 6 months. The brand did not rank well on any of the category relevant and high volume keyword worth the salt. Recently we struck gold. We brought 102 keywords with high search volume on page 1.

I share the recipe with you on how we went about this job. I am sure to have missed many of the tools and techniques that are being employed by the giants of e-Commerce. What are the new skills and practices to be learnt? Is there something to be forgotten? I would love to hear your comments and anecdotes as this will help scores of entrepreneurs and digital sales specialists to help grow traffic profitably. There could be strategies that may work for hot couture that may work for jewelry and vice versa.

  1. We removed the unnecessary pages for sold out items and the earlier sale pages. From a whopping 25000+ pages as indexed by Google, the number after trimming was reduced to a little above 5000.
  2. We worked on optimizing the images and text to reduce the page size from an average of 5 mb to 3.5mb currently. This reduced the page download time from 26 seconds to around 12 seconds now. Consequently the bounce rate has reduced from 45% to around 39% currently. We need to send the site on an AMP diet plan. Awaiting green signal from the client.
  3. An intuitive and simple site navigation structure was recommended. Women, Men, Kids e.t.c were made the primary tabs. Categories, products, Designers were brought under the primary tabs to ease the search.
  4. Next Up, we got down to changing the H1 tags. This is crucial for e-commerce. Based on the buyer’s persona research we came up with 2 category operative keywords – Designer and Luxury. All the searches (both short and long tail) include one or both keywords. Hence all the H1 tags were change. E.g Women was changed to Designer wear for women, Jackets was changed to Designer Jackets for Men and Designer Jackets from Women.
  5. Unwanted content like Sartorial Box, Curated, Visionaries e.t.c was let go. Instead relevant content around the core domain like fashion, lifestyle. Designer, brands, dresses & shoes e.t.c was developed and populated on the Home page. Keyword density of category specific keywords was increased.
  6. Filter by Price functionality was implemented keeping in mind the Indian buyers’ sensibility.
  7. Adding meta tags in such a voluminous site has been an arduous task. Our team changed meta tags to bring “buy online, “India” and category specific terms. Image alt tags and meta description had to be corrected simultaneously to declare page fitness.
  8. The search functionality on the home page of the site was earlier a pain rather than a convenience. It worked on exact match functionality and was case sensitive too. With great effort and multiple rounds of discussions, we have migrated to a phrase match search and also enabled a suggested category suggestion. There are still issues that we need to iron out.
  9. We collaborated with the client’s content team and changed the product description from an esoteric and technical explanation to meaningful, succinct and search friendly. E.g “Multicolour silk leopard print dress from XXXX” is a better description than “Steal the show in a leopard print sleeveless dress from the house of XXX. It’s pleating throughout and a fierce print, this dress is a must-have for your summer wardrobe. Wear it with your favorite heels and a chain bag for a sophisticated outcome. Fall wardrobe essentials you must have to complete your closet.These fall essentials will give your closet the refresher it needs. From two-tone floral dresses and rose prints, to stripes, boots, mules, metallics, colour red, glitter, plaid & buttons, robes. These trends have become essentials that are dominating our wardrobes, street style and runways!”
  10. Usual suspects like spelling errors, products appearing in multiple categories, server side errors e.t.c were minimized.
  11. We started our journey with a list of 1600 keywords being used by our client and the closed set 5 key competitors. We categorized them into domain (fashion) related, designer related, category related (shoes). We shortlisted these into 400 keywords and then further narrowed our scope to around 110 keywords currently. We convinced the client that sniper shooting is far better than the carpet bombing. A cross-functional team has been formed comprising of product manager, content manager, merchandiser, technology team and us. We exchange notes frequently and cohesively work to improve SERP for these 110 keywords. To illustrate the point, let say celine bags online is the keyword we want to push. The merchandising team has to ensure enough inventory of Celine bags. The content team has to work to develop content for Celine bags and include keyword prudently. The tech team has to ensure that that the information on the concerned pages is updated correctly and in time. This symbiotic working has been crucial to the success achieved in SERP.

Metric of Success

As usual, please input your feedback in the comments section.

BLeap Digital Marketing is a Digital Marketing Company based out of Chennai, India. We specialize in SEO, SEM, SMM, Content Marketing and Integrated Marketing services for established as well as emerging clients. More information about us on beta.bleap.in.

INDIAN B2B SALES LEADERS – 7 MINDSET HURDLES TO WORK ON IN SMART ERA

I have worked with B2B clients both during my employment days earlier and more recently as a digital entrepreneur. A lot has changed in the way business is conducted today. Leaders are hassled with the disruptive dis aggregation that e-Commerce and mobile technology has brought to the B2B businesses. While the old ways off selling seem to be no longer working, the newer ways are struggling to bring revenue (their PAKT).

Is there a way to survive this paradigm shift? What are the new skills and practices to be learnt? Is there something to be forgotten? I would love to hear your comments and examples of how to survive this onslaught especially for the SME businesses both in the Goods and the Services sector. There could be strategies that may work for one segment or domain. Each category can be seen as “Stand Alone”. I welcome all your experiences and comments on building a B2B Success Kit as a whole or a segment specific guide. However based on my experience, here are 7 mindsets that Sales & Marketing Leaders need to watch out for.

1. Is it B2B or B2C?

This is a big question mark. B2B businesses typically offer 5 value propositions.

  • Technical knowledge [know-how]
  • Source of supply or manufacturing
  • Customised specs
  • Cost benefit
  • SLA’s (credit period, supply TAT, MOQ etc.)

Let’s see what’s popping on your client’s mobile screen. As per Alexa, there are 12 sub-categories online for finding industrial products/supplies. Agents, Associations, Consulting Companies, Directories, Diversified sites, Industrial Product Finders, Machinery & Equipment, Mined Minerals, Stones & Ores, Luxury & Specialty, Resources, Services etc.

Your customer can find the spec, quantity, and delivery schedule of his choice online at a lower price, than what you can offer him. It’s available on their CEO’s mobile. It’s intuitive and effortless (well almost). Your customers are now your consumers. Accept it.

2. Your Website needs a welcome mat

Your customer has a choice. It’s not defined by you. It’s neither bound by geography nor by a spec. Alibaba, Diytrade, MadeinChina, Grainger, Tradeindia, Exportersindia etc are offering plethora of choice. “Jo dikhta hai wo bikta hai” is the new rule. GST has further lowered the exit barrier for your clients. Bit coin payments are catching up fast albeit not being legal currently. It’s time to revisit your business’ self image. Well, as a suggestion look at Chinese or German businesses. How are you visible to your existing customers and to your potential customers? Make a new website if you haven’t. Add content, diagrams, pictures, videos, specs, comparison, benefits, your philosophy, your clients, testimonials etc. Minimum of 40 pages would be a good benchmark to start with.

3. Jo dikhta hai wo bikta hai

Why should you invest your time and energy in writing content and sharing your trade secrets online? Even if you don’t share, your neighbor will most likely do. Content is the magnet to attract relevant audience to your business. The time is ripe for video content in India now. With everybody having a smart phone and improved video ready data connectivity it’s imperative that your website should have video content.

4. Is Digital Marketing advisable for B2B?

Yes! Your business needs digital marketing thinking now than ever before. Your website needs domain focused content and SEO. You need to engage with your potential customers. And your potential customers can be in Orissa or Tuticorin or in Abuja (Nigeria). You must reach out to them through directory listings, article submission, blog, white paper, e-Book etc. You must send e-mailers to all the visitors of your stall in the last industrial trade fair. You should reach out to them through re-marketing. Groom a talent in-house to do basic execution. Outsource strategic thinking and creative to an experienced Digital Marketing Firm. Spend most of your marketing effort on mobile.

5. Digital Marketing brings non-serious leads.

Appointing a Sales Person from within the industry brings measurable results in terms of top line sales. You are conditioned to seeing fewer prospects and higher conversions. Digital Marketing on the other hand works on bringing more prospects and fewer conversions (1 to 10%). I recently met the CEO and Founder of a Walkie-Talkie business. While discussing about the right metrics for judging the efficacy of digital marketing campaigns, he felt that the conversion from the digital leads was way too low and his sales team had been reduced to a call centre answering all kinds of non-serious queries. I asked him so how did he solve this problem. His answer stunned me. His digital marketing team simply removed the phone number. That’s an expensive mistake. You pay for generating online enquiries and then make yourself inaccessible because it generates junk. My suggestion to him would be to hire a young low cost tele-calling resource and put him on the job to answer the calls. If you expect to get 25 to 30% conversions from digital marketing, please challenge this expectation.

6. Backlinks is past. Not really!

True. Backlinks is past but quality backlinks is the present. Google searches have become very intuitive and accurate. Directory submissions help in building backlinks. Please identify relevant high quality industry specific platforms (portals/directories/media) and submit an article with clear title, relevant product image and a crisp description (including specs, benefits, comparison and application advice, certification etc.). Please keep a small budget for paid submissions. Free submissions won’t take us any further.

If you or your top brass has spoken at an industry interaction or presented a paper, please use the pictures, videos, certifications, awards etc to build quality backlinks. Use in-house resource or outsourced experts for this activity and be outcome oriented.

Reviews from customers, suppliers and employees are important. Please chase testimonials and reviews from customers.

7. My Industry will never change

This is a collective mindset and therefore even more difficult to tackle. The industry associations need to transform their thinking from a static event/meeting based engagement with the constituent members into a real time platform like a mobile app. Industry journals, events, seminars, Govt. interactions need to go digital and mobile. This will open up new vistas of collaboration and co-working amongst the members and enhance the effectiveness of the associations. This will make “#Make in India for the world” a reality in its true sense.

This list is just a trigger to get more ideas on how our B2B businesses can become growth businesses ready to roar not just in the Indian market but across the world. We would love to hear your reactions and comments. Amen

BIGG BOSS TAMIL – SOCIAL LISTENING RESEARCH

This social media research done by Bleap Research Team aims to answer various questions pertaining to the controversial and hugely popular Reality TV show Bigg Boss – Tamil currently on air on Star Vijay TV.

  1. How does audience feel about this program? Do they think it’s any other entertainment show or do they view as responsible for spoiling Tamil culture?.
  2. Which protagonists of this show are popular and for what reasons? Oviya? Gayathri? Arav? Sakhthi? Other Contestants? Kamal Hasan?.
  3. Whats the audience mood and feeling about who should win the show?.
  4. What can be the possible social impact of Bigg Boss on conservative Tamil culture? Is it lasting?.

Research Methodology

  1. We used social listening tools to shortlist various social media channels and pages which have substantial Social chatter on Bigg Boss and its contestants. We found over 100 such pages/ handles where the conversation was significant, active and regular.
  2. We did primary research in terms of analysing the comments on social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. We poured over 600 individual comments on a random basis to create conversation clusters.
  3. We also spoke to a few regular viewers of this show using a discussion guide. This validated our findings and also helped in checking if the conversation clusters identified in the social research comprehensively covered all the viewpoints.
  4. The research team then sat down for a day long discussion to analyse the mood of each comment and decipher the key message. This was a qualitative phase and was great fun.
  5. All comments were put into 11 Mood Buckets.
  6. Various media reports and stories were also used to develop our own understanding.

01. Key Findings

Q1. Where is the maximum social chatter happening about Bigg Boss?

Facebook is the winner hands down. There are over 100 FB pages talking about Bigg Boss and its protagonists. It is estimated that 5.3 lac people are engaged on FB in talking about Ovia and BiggBoss.

  • The maximum number of likes (1.38 lacs) is onwww.facebook.com/BigBossVijayTv/.
  • The best engagement rate (156%) is onwww.facebook/biggbossparidhabangalThis site has a veritable collection of memes on Bigg Boss. An average of 89 posts is done daily on this page.
  • Maximum shares and comments are on a pagewww.facebook.com/iamoviyaaverage of 10,111 shares per post from Oviya after her elimination from the show last week.
  • This is distantly followed by Twitter. With 1852 likes and 35.3k followers on @BigBossNewz is the leading twitter handle.

02. Who is the hero of Bigg Boss ?

Ovia is the hero of Bigg Boss. More than 53% of engagement on Social Media channels has Ovia being the sole subject or the main subject. Ovia has created maximum number of stories on the news feed of people’s FB accounts. We estimate that appx. 5.3 lac people are engaged on FB in talking about Ovia. The mood of the conversations for Ovia is largely positive. Emotions like Love, Sympathy towards her and hate against Ovia’s competitors are largely seen. Many people believe she is the ideal woman – sister, lover, and wife. Both men and women love her equally. Her popularity has transcended from her reel life persona to real life adulation and craze for her. It will be appropriate to sum her popularity as “Bigg Boss = Ovia”.

Also No Ovia = No Bigg Boss. People are pretty sad and annoyed due to her elimination last weekend. Many of them have vowed not to watch Bigg Boss ever again. Oviaarmy and many other pages are trolling her opponents, Kamal Hasan and the Bigg Boss producers to bring her back as a wild card entry. It is expected that the viewership of Bigg Boss will come down in the coming days. There is an opportunity for Vijay TV to increase the viewership to an all-time high by scripting her re-entry. If the producers are reading this article, they will be running to grab this opportunity and create history.

There are comments rationalizing her exit. They talk about her mental ill-health and also Bigg Boos team being partial to her. This seems to be more of a placation rather than hate for her. A few negative comments about her being kiddish, throwing herself upon Arav and also her being a keralite are the main discussion points.

03. Who is the villain of Bigg Boss

Well there are 2 contenders. Gayathri is the front runner as villain. Hate for her is strong and cuts across all social chatter. She is very popular and is often seen as Ovia’s enemy no.1. She is grabbed almost 12 % of the chatter and the mood is largely negative. A few comments also hail her for being straight in your face attitude.

Sakthi is the 2nd contender as a villain. All the comments are negative about him.

04. Are there any other contenders

Unfortunately No. Rest of the participants are insignificant and inconsequential. The only comments about them are to vote for their eviction.

05. How do people see Arav

Arav doesn’t have a personality of his own. Or if he has one, people don’t identify with him. Onscreen romance with Ovia and breakup are the only highpoints of his social presence. He is largely a non-entity.

06. What do people think of Kamal Hasan

Well there are fans talking about a great job. But the numbers are fewer and get drowned in the Ovia mania. Then there are allegations about him favouring or being tough with certain contestants. Gauging by the social comments he is seen as popular but biased.

07. What do people think of Bigg Boss

Bigg Boss is seen as a paisa vasool entertainment program going by the comments used in our research. Viewers clearly know that it is a scripted show and all the drama in the Bigg Boss House is pre-scripted. It is noteworthy to mention that there are a few comments (statistically insignificant) about Bigg Boss ruining the tamil culture and the program should be stopped. Further deep dive into the comments and seeing them in the context of the happenings in the Bigg Boss house, we are of the opinion that they have been in reference to particular characters saying specifically controversial statements. There is no mood in the social scape that this program should be banned. On the contrary high levels of social engagements connote that people seem to be indulging themselves in the spicy drama being unfolded every week.

08. What can be the possible social impact of Bigg Boss on conservative Tamil culture? Is it lasting?

Bigg Boss is clearly an outlier on Tamil TV. It is brash, in your face and irreverent. It has shocked audiences like never before. The emotional strength of comments on the social media is a testimony to this. The program has jumped out of the TV screens and has become a favourite topic of social conversation. The trend is seen from metros like Chennai, Kochi and Hyderabad to even B and C class towns in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere. Its become a part of the social fabric for the time being. There are 2 trends emerging.

  1. Social Generalizations – Based on certain happenings on the show, there have been lots of comments which generalize, criticize those behaviours in our society. Some of them are philosophical preaching while others are outright generalizations.
  2. Abusive Outbursts – There has been an unusual increase in the abusive quotient on the comments. Some of them are character specific while others are about the program or the presenter per say. Comments are emotional, violent and abusive in varying doses.

Here are a few comments.

Tansi Ram Kamal sir its it very obvious that you too are obsessed with oviya…not surprised because she is young pretty and sexy. You are hurt with oviya’s exit. Please be fair to all ….you are bias! You are vengeful .. your eyes are showing are showing it all. No doubt you are also a nadigar tilagam but please be fair to all.

Caroline Manuel Everyone in this world doing sin… So many lies everyday so many people talking and also so many people talking bad words on others and so many people talks literally about others is everyday happening… So take it easy was a game show.. In Big boss everyone knows there camera is rolling… Like god also watching everyone in heaven.. So according to their sin god will punish them.. So don’t judge others and first think about yourself… Pls I love everyone in big boss… Julie she realise her fault like anything so stop talking about others.. All are human beings and pls forgive others… Gayathiri also realise her fault so don’t judge others

  • Oviya is ok ! Ammma this is worst than Mahabharata saguni
  • Its all karma…each and everyone of you will get back what u did to oviya.. All corner and torture her because they scared oviya will be the winner because she always got highest vote Now they will fight among them to win the title.good luck..
  • Kamal is a coward didn’t ask important question to gay3….Kamal you too. . Gay3 is the root cause for all problems..very bad…we close watching BB from now.
  • I can’t believe is this India Tamil Nadu culture ?? Irritating Julie actions and actings . Oh can’t believe is this how girls in Tamil Nadu??
  • A fake person is someone who is not genuine and will do whatever it takes to make themselves look good. They will take credit for other’s work or down play the good of others to illuminate oneself.
  • Fake people take part in hypocrisy, lies, and will turn on friendship the moment it no longer is a benefit for 5them. They will change their personality to fit into a certain group.
  • Being so judgmental but have we clean our own laundry? Suddenly everyone behaves like never tell lies, never backstab before, never being rude neither being fake even once in their own life. Be practical and think for our own good sake. We should Learn lessons from the show not creating more problems in life. This my personal point of view, you may agree or disagree. Have a good day everyone.

True to Tamil cultural symbolism we idolise heroes and make them demi Gods. There should be Ovia Fan Club and Ovia kovil. The rest are to be hated intensely. All the comments portray characters and situations either in black or white. There is no scope for grey.

PTAT(People Talking About This) is an important Facebook metric. PTAT is a trailing seven-day Facebook metric that measures how many people are “talking” (creating stories) about your page. Stories are items that display in News Feed. Actions that create stories in News Feed include: Liking a page, posting on the page wall, engaging on a post, tagging or mentioning a page, page check-ins, and other page interactions. The PTAT metric has been valuable because it aggregates individual metrics to give you a big picture view of how many users are creating stories that display in others’ News Feed.

This research is published by BLeap Digital Research Team. For more information please visit bleap.in

SNAPCHAT OPENS UP TO MARKETERS TO DEFINE CUSOMER EXPERIENCE –LINKS, WINKS & SNAP

So why is Snapchat so important? It is the youngest kid on the social media block. Its got the youngest audience ever. 72% of its audience comes from 12 to 24 years youth. If you’re looking for a solid way to promote your brand on Snapchat, an on-demand Geofilter is a great option. Geofilters are special overlays for Snapchat users that reflect the geographic location they are in. We can purchase a custom Geofilter for an event, location, or promotion being planned. The cost of a custom Geofilter depends on factors like the size of the area you want your Geofilter to be active in (which can range from 20,000 sq. ft. up to 5 million sq. ft.), as well as the duration of the Geofilter to be active. Many of the brands have started doing Snapisodes to promote the content in the form of videos, testimonials e.t.c to seed the right brand messages. Offer coupons and Event invites receive instant response on Snapchat.

The hottest and the hippest platform for the youth – Snapchat became advertiser and marketer friendly. Till recently, the only way you could add a link to Snapchat would be to type it as a text and have a follower take a screenshot of it. Even then, it won’t be clickable

This was Snap chat’s way of ensuring its users would stay engaged scrolling through photos and videos within the platform.

Khul ja sim sim. Snapchat has finally opened its doors to direct response marketing. As the platform has matured and the team has started to focus on revenue instead of just growth and engagement, Snapchat has started allowing users to add links. This doesn’t just open new ways to share content; it offers brands a new measurable way to promote products and services.

Snapchat hasn’t updated its terms of service, so technically users still aren’t supposed to use the app for commercial purposes without direct consent. It’s not clear if Snapchat will actually crack down on brands for using links to make money though.

But it’s clear the app is headed in the direction of making social advertising more widely accessible for all users. So we put together a quick step-by-step guide on how to add links to Snapchat:

HOW TO ADD LINKS TO SNAPCHAT

  • Make sure you have the most updated version of Snapchat. In order to send and receive links, you need to have the most updated version of Snapchat. So download the latest version from the playstore or itunes.
  • Take your snap. The paperclip doesn’t show up until after you take a photo or record a video, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t add a link right away.
  • Look for the paperclip on the right-hand-side toolbar.
  • Tap on the paperclip and a new screen with a field for a URL will pop up. Type in the URL you’d like to link to.
  • A preview will load. Look for the “Attach to Snap” button at the bottom of the screen and click it.
  • Click the send arrow and your link will appear when the snap is sent to your friends.
  • To open a link in a snap you receive, simply swipe up. You’ll see an arrow with a CTA at the bottom of the snap.

HOW CAN ADVERTISERS BENEFIT – ONE SNAP AT A TIME

The really exciting news here is that brands get a bit more control back. Even though (like Facebook), the links will bring users to an in-app browser, marketers can choose where their followers go after seeing a snap. They can drive users back to the home page of their website, to a specific product page, or to a demo page. And you know that when one social media channel rolls out an update like this, it’s not unlikely that others will follow soon (Instagram- are you listening?)

The more links we get on more platforms, the more we can see. Because every swipe, tap, and click is a link that tells the greater narrative of where your customers are engaging, when they’re engaging, and why. Each link helps you understand your audience better and helps you gain control of your customer experience.

SNAP IT

5 HACKS TO GET LEADS FROM GOOGLE CLICK TO CALL FUNCTIONALITY

Recently we ran an experiment for an e-Commerce client of ours to understand the efficacy of C2C leads provided by Google.

Problem Statement: Client Call Centre perpetually complained that they were not receiving enough Call leads. Although the Form Leads ran through the same Adwords campaign produced more conversions. The client runs a car servicing consumer services business. It is interesting to note that we had advised the client against not using the C2C feature as it is difficult to trace the leads and hold accountability for the performance.

Experiment: We changed the mobile number in the backend for a period of 4 days. We became the defacto Call Centre for the client handling Google leads.

Experience: The experience was a learning. And it was hard indeed. Calls came in at 10.55 PM in the night and 6.26 am in the morning. A total of 25 calls were received during the 96 hours or so.

Results:

Calls never matured: 28%

Calls not relevant: 24%

Relevant Calls: 48%

#5HacksforleadsfromGoogleC2CFunctionality#

Insights:

1. Show Hunger – When a customer call you at 7.47 AM on a Friday, she wants you to pick up the call immediately. She’s stranded in the middle of the road with a broken car. She needs help and needs it NOW. She chose us over our competition because the search words chosen by us to promote our business happens to match with the search terms typed by her on the google task bar. Typical process journey of leads sitting in the CRM bucket and being handled from 9AM to 7PM by the Call Centre Executive does not work for C2C leads. So pick your calls 16X7. Realign your call centre work on Sundays and Holidays. Instead of one shift help desk, run it in 2 shifts.

2. Deliver on Specific Promise – Calls are far more specific vis a vis form leads. Customers ask for specific solutions to their specific problems. They have called us most probably after they have not found the solution closeby. Now this could be a bit challenging as we may not be servicing in a particular locality or may not have a particular size or colour in our inventory. Study this pattern and go for a combination of the following 2 actions.

3. Spot the opportunity and Go for it – If many customers are calling for Breakdown service repeatedly. Here is an opportunity in the offing. Go back to drawing board and tie-up with a service provider. Create a product process around it and you may create a Billion $ business. Amazon is continuously creating profitable business by studying searches which don’t match with what they offer.

4. Realign your Keywords – If the Call leads are way too far from your actual offerings or current SLA’s, better realign the keywords. E.g – If you don’t sell Sandals for Girls below 12 years, there is no point in bidding for keywords related to kids. Probably you need to specify that you sell sandals for women.

5. Set your Expectations – As this experiment teaches us the bitter reality of the Indian market. There are many smart alecs (friendly sales people) who use these Calls to do spam calling to sell their products, services or their candidature for job or even for a dealership. Now this is a necessary evil and cannot be avoided. So brace yourself for 60% efficiency.

Its our view that this feature is a great boon for getting profitable leads for small/medium owner driven niche’ service businesses like Private Ambulance service, Tutors, Pet spas, plumbing services, Electricians e.t.c

For large businesses which are process driven this could be great and cheap listening tool to explore new related business ideas as seen through their customers’ eyes.

Happy to hear your comments or feedback about running C2C campaigns and better hacks if any to improve success rates.