Using Websites for Real-time Communication

A visitor on your website is mesmerized by your web content and excitedly completes a lead form or phones your sales or support team. Filled with anticipation, they have the "I want it now" mindset which, from a sales perspective, is about as hot as it gets! So what tools and processes exist to take advantage of this key moment in the sales cycle? As it turns out, very few!

The ultimate goal for any sales team is to respond while the visitor is still on the website. Of course, this is where chat works well, both before and after web form submission. Text-based chat software can be independent, like ActivEngage, or can work from within your CRM, like Live Agent for Salesforce. The latter allows chat conversations to be easily tied to the CRM lead or contact record which adds valuable sales intelligence.

In general, chat is a very good idea however some companies consider it to be interruptive and complain that key members of the sales team get tied up with the low value and prank chats that inevitably occur. One remedy, particularly for support calls, is enabling chat only after form submission. This ensures the quality of the inquiry is higher as the prospect is already engaged.

Another challenge is maintaining excitement by using email. You cannot be sure if the recipient, or the recipient's server, has blocked your email response. You may be emailing nobody!

Another option that avoids chat, and emailing, is to engage prospects using web controls. For voice inquiries, the process goes like this:

1. Visitor phones your company using the published telephone number on your website 
2. A sales rep asks the visitor to type their name into a textbox in your website footer
3. The name and web session details are sent to the CRM where the sales rep can:
   • see the list of recently entered names
   • click the name of the caller which creates a new lead record
   • populate the lead record by asking the visitor for the required information
   • set a landing page so the visitor/caller is directed to specific content
   • expose documents, links, and chat in an expanding content block 
   • personalize the website so the visitor is shown specific content on future visits

This approach augments real-world conversations with a range of tools designed to close sales. 

A similar approach can be taken when a visitor completes a web form: 

1. Visitor submits a web form
2. The form details are pushed to a new CRM lead with a code that identifies the web session
3. The sales rep can then:
   • directly expose documents, links, and chat in an expanding content block
   • switch page content to personalize to the immediate and future needs of the visitor

This process lets the sales rep communicate with each hot prospect immediately, and in real time. The conversation is in real time so the relationship can be strengthened gradually and with purpose. Complex sales, like those requiring document exchanges, can be completed quickly and without annoying file size constraints. Visitors can choose to submit a form or do a voice call.

Because the connection is in real time, personalization can be "driven" by setting values in the prospect's CRM record. The current, and any future visits, to the website will result in a tailored experience.

Our niche expertise is developing this sort of functionality using Sitecore websites integrated to Salesforce CRM using S4S. To learn more about how to add value to your business in this way please contact us for more information.