When I first started blogging, back in 2008 I was over the moon excited every single time someone filled out my contact form.
I'd take my time crafting the perfect response, making sure each person who contacted me left with that warm, fuzzy feeling.
In those early days, it was often these exact people who became my customers and clients.
That was great until I started getting a lot of traffic. One contact a week, turned into one a day and then sometimes several a day.
If you've ever had a website get popular you know what I'm talking about, and if not, I hope it's a problem you get to experience very soon 🙂
In any case, contact forms started to pile up… my responses took longer, and people started to fall through the cracks…
Really awesome people, who were very interested in my business. It was a missed opportunity to build a meaningful relationship with someone who may have needed me at that moment.
What's even worse… studies show that waiting even 30 minutes to make contact decreases the odds of qualifying a lead by 21 times. Even when I was at my best my replies were hours after the fact.
That delay only meant one thing: lost profit.
Here's where today's time-saving, profit-getting tip comes in:
Automate your contact form.
Whenever someone completes the form, have your software fire off a pre-written email right away.
Something as simple as:
“Hey Jane, thanks so much for contacting me! I wanted to let you know that I got your note and will be in touch shortly 🙂 Talk to you in a bit… “
Your potential client will be glad their message didn't disappear into a black hole of nothingness, and it gives you time to write a thoughtful response without leaving good people feeling neglected.
Don't wait to implement this strategy… it's super easy one-time work that will save you more time and earn you more profit, the more popular your website gets 🙂
Dawn