The Role of User Experience (UX) in Your Lead Generation Strategy

Companies are always looking for ways to increase their conversion rate. Unfortunately, though, the vast majority resort to tactics and strategies that are not effective. In fact, some things that marketers think will improve their conversion rate actually hurt it.

The "information age" has created a more informed customer. Influencers and decision makers have more information at their fingertips than ever before. It's important to publish information to answer customer questions, but your lead generation strategy should include improving the customer experience.

Studies have shown that listening to customer feedback can increase conversion rates by up to 250 percent.

Check Out The Ultimate Guide to B2B Lead Generation

Customer experience, or User Experience (UX), is often overlooked. It should be a primary concern for companies that are looking to get more leads from their website. Considering your prospect's mobile experience, focusing your efforts on writing in clear and conversational language, getting to the point and eliminating distractions give your website visitors a better experience.

What will mobile visitors be able to read?

In today's fast-paced business environments, people are often multitasking between desktop and mobile platforms, and up to 25 percent of people visit your website on a mobile device. Optimizing the mobile experience to capture this large and growing segment of your target audience is very important.

Pro tip: Many website designers think "mobile first." At the very least, it's important to consider the experience of visiting your website on a smartphone.

• Can people easily read the words on the screen?
• Are the links big enough that they are easy to touch?
• Will people be able to navigate from page to page?
• Are your large images slowing down their browsing experience?

Writing in Clear and Conversational Language

The more simplified the language and format, the easier it will be for your website visitor to process and understand the information. For highly intelligent writers like those in highly-technical B2B industries, this can be difficult, because they feel as if they are dumbing things down.

Pro tip: Remember that you're not writing for your peers (unless you are selling to your competitors!). For example, a manufacturing company may feel the need to write highly technical documents. But if the target audience is a plant maintenance technician, the highly-technical document may not resonate.

Get to the Good Stuff First

While it is a common practice to use a "buildup" style of writing in which things increase in value and excitement as the article progresses, research shows that users are more engaged when the "good stuff" is introduced upfront.

The fact is that only about half of people will get to this point in this blog post. People skim headlines and read the first bit, then move on.

Pro tip: Get your message across quickly using an "inverted pyramid" style of copywriting -- just like a journalist.

Eliminate Distractions

Fancy animations, slide-ins and pop-ups are immensely distracting, and they can be so irritating that some people will leave your website at the first sight of one. Others will find it difficult to decipher what they are reading. These distractions can absolutely destroy the coherent impact of the article.

Pro tip: Marketing and sales departments often try to stuff as much information on a page as possible. Use whitespace to give your web pages "breathing room" so they are less intimidating. Evaluate each web page and every element that isn't relevant to the topic and focus of the page.

Remember that a good lead generation strategy includes creating a good user experience. Improving the experience your customer has with your company online will lead to improved lead generation. Think about your target audience when designing your website, because improving the user experience is the best way to improve conversion rate.