Eliminate Risk Upfront and Bump Your Lead Conversion Rate
Seven risk reversal tactics to increase B2B lead generation and the quality of your prospect list you can steal.
Even in B2B lead generation, you can “reverse” the perceived risk of completing a form. Risk reversal tactics are an important part of conversion rate optimization.
There are lots of reasons that someone wouldn’t fill out your lead form, even if your white paper, podcast or webinar are free.
- “I’m going to get a sales call”
- “I’m going to get a bunch of spam”
- “I may not be able to join the Webinar”
- “They’re asking for too much information”
- “I don’t really know this company”
Well, even in business-to-business lead generation, you can “reverse” the perceived risk of completing a form.
“Hey, you. Yes, you. Come here. You wanna white paper? Well, I have a deal for you. All you gotta do is give me your contact info. Hey, you got nothin’ to worry about. I’ll take real good care of the information. Honest.”
I’ve been studying the landing page techniques of what I call “The Bad Boys of Conversion.” These marketers, often called “affiliate marketers” or “infopreneurs” get high conversion rates for everything from get-rich-quick systems to health supplements.
My goal is to understand how the well-tested tactics they use could be applied to more conservative business sites.
One of the most important techniques used by these marketers is “risk reversal.” Money-back guarantees are perhaps the most common form of risk reversal. Are these tactics useful for business-to-business lead generation?
Absolutely, but a different kind of risk reversal is in order.
Risk Reversal Tactics do work on Business professionals
Business professionals respond to the same incentives that consumers do. However, consumers are risking their money, while businesspeople may be risking their reputation, and their decisions could affect their jobs. This makes business prospects more risk averse.
Thus, using risk reversal strategies becomes even more important in a B2B transaction.
You can significantly increase both your conversion rates and the quality of your prospect list by using some of these risk reversal tactics on your lead generation pages.
7 Risk Reversal Tactics For B2B Lead Generation
Remove the risk up front
Make your white paper, webinar, or video free. Before you say, “Lead generation content is always free,” keep in mind that your prospect is “paying” for the content with their contact information. To them, it isn’t exactly free, and the decision to give you their contact information is similar to the decision to spend money.
Here are some ways to remove risk up front.
1.Don’t ask for contact information.
If you have a piece of content that really nails your value and generates qualified calls give the content away. There is no risk to the prospect, and broader readership can be expected.
Removing risky fields can also lower the “cost.” Fields that increase the cost of lead generation content include address, phone and many qualifying fields. Do you need their address? Do you need to know their marketing budget, really? These risky fields can decrease your conversion rates.
Ask for only the information that you need to qualify and contact them, and eliminate all the rest.
2.Make your forms optional
This allows the prospect to select the level of risk they are willing to accept.
Completed forms will indicate better qualified prospects, prospects that already have a level of trust with your brand. Partially completed forms, less so. Empty form submissions indicate prospects that you may not want to waste time on anyway.
3.Emphasize respect of privacy
On your landing page, best place to put risk reversal is near the submit button (but it shouldn’t ever say “submit”).
The simple phrase, “We respect your privacy” communicates two things: first, that you have a privacy policy, and second, that privacy is important, and you’re not likely to abuse this information, or give it to inbox-clogging spammers.
It is common to make the word “privacy” a link to your privacy policy, but that may not be wise. In his excellent book “Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google website Optimizer”, Bryan Eisenberg recommends testing this. The link takes an interested visitor away from the landing page, and this may decrease conversion rates.
4.Ask for opt-in, not opt-out
If you’re asking a prospect to sign up for email communication, you should explicitly ask for permission. You may feel that this is implied when someone provides their information to you, but any uncertainty increases risk.
Tell the prospect can they can expect and let them opt-in by checking a box. This is an opportunity to sell your email communication.
“Check this box for occasional tips and best practices by email on widget use.”
or
“Subscribe to “Widget News,” the authoritative email newsletter on widgets and their application.”
Allow opt-out at any time. Let prospects who are signing up for email communication know that you will be offering opportunities to opt-out of the email with each communication.
“You can unsubscribe at any time.”
You can use any specifics from your privacy policy, such as “we do not tolerate spam,” and “Your information is digitally encrypted.”
5.Spell it out
Transparency is a great risk reverser. Tell them on the page what will happen when they click the “Get your report” button.
“You will be taken to a page that contains a link to the report. You will also receive an email asking you to confirm your email address. We don’t tolerate spam. Based on your input, a respectful sales person may call, and this is your opportunity to ask any questions about widget use in your organization.”
This risk reversal tactic will lower your conversion rates, but should result in a better-qualified list.
You should also tell them what they won’t get. “No one will call” is a common risk reversal phrase. Of course, this limits what you can do with your house list, and you should be sure to adhere to any limitations you promise.
6.Add risk and then remove it
On the scales of a decision you have risk balanced against value. If your landing page does a good job of building the value of your offer, you will find prospects more willing to take risk, and complete the form.
One great way to communicate value is by setting a price. Consider charging for your content. Then offer a money-back guarantee to reverse risk. No questions asked.
Does this sound like raising the prices in a store just so the owner can run a sale? Yes it does. But our goal is to communicate value—not to boost our profit.
This strategy will reduce conversion rates, but it will deliver highly-qualified prospects.
For example, charging for a product trial—a common lead generation offer—will often ultimately deliver more paying customers than a free trial, even though it reduces the number of people who try the product. Since we’re not really trying to make money on the offer, we won’t be concerned about those who request a refund just to get free content. We should all have content worth stealing.
7.Always deliver on your promises
These risk reversal tactics have two edges. If you fail to deliver on your risk reversal promises, you are damaging your brand and losing potential customers.
You must be able to support your risk reversal claims. You must enforce your privacy policy internally. Don’t email prospects if they opt-out, and don’t let a salesperson call someone on your list if you promised you wouldn’t.
Above all, deliver the content that they “bought” with their contact info and their attention.
I use a unique email address for every site I provide personal information. When I get spam, I check the address to which the email was sent, and that tells me who’s been stealing my contact information. With services such as OtherInBox, more professionals are using this technique. It’s more and more likely that you will get caught, and your brand will suffer.
You don’t want to join the “bad boy” marketers, do you?
In general, you can reverse risk by
- Telling prospect how you will treat their data
- Telling prospects what to expect if they complete the form
This article was first published in my Search Engine Land column.
Expertise: conversion rate optimization, AB testing, marketing strategy, digital marketing, analytics, landing page design, computer programming, entrepreneurship
Speaking: IBM, Inbound, LeadsCon, Content Marketing World, Affiliate Summit, and more
Books and Training: Your Conversion Creation Equation, Video CRO, Marketing Videos that Convert, CRO Best Practices
As Seen On: ClickZ, Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, Conversion Sciences Blog, Intended Consequences podcast
Education: Texas A&M University, BS Computer Science and Management
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Hi BRIAN,
Thank you for this well-written and comprehensive article.
I agree with your points. While designing a landing page one should convey the value of they offer, reduce the risk that prospects feel they are taking by subscribing or buying from them, leverage their sense of urgency, eliminate any distractions and make it as easy as possible for users to convert.