It seems all too obvious that the single most important thing you can do with a lead is follow up. Someone has expressed interest in your company, your product, or service and wants more information, or perhaps a quote, that they can’t get without reaching out to you.
The problem is, busy marketers can be slow to follow up — or worse, not pursue some leads at all. At Biocompare, we want to make sure our customers are maximizing the sales opportunities that are delivered via the leads generated through our product directory.
As we noted last month, the scientists, researchers, and others who visit Biocompare.com tell us they are serious buyers, whether they are exploring product options or ready to make a purchase. The Biocompare website attracts 1.9 million scientists annually and generates hundreds of leads for life science manufacturers and suppliers who list their products and services on the site.
Biocompare website visitors engage with a wide variety of content on products and services for everything from antibodies to assay kits, mass specs to microscopes, biomolecules to peptide services. They are able to search our comprehensive product directory, that contains more than 6 million products and services from over 400 suppliers, using Biocompare’s specialized search tools, and to compare specifications, product details and pricing.
In addition to a comprehensive product directory, the site features extensive resources focused on helping scientists decide on the right product or service for their research. Available content includes information-rich articles on the latest technological advances, buying guides, product usage tips visitor-generated product reviews and citations, educational videos and webinars, and industry news. The variety of content can both raise awareness and motivate a purchase, depending on the prospects’ readiness.
Biocompare’s main objective is to connect buyers with sellers while helping scientists and researchers investigate and find the best tools, technologies, and techniques to improve their science. Our content and platform are designed to help researchers make the all-important decision of what to purchase.
To maximize your marketing investment in Biocompare, it is important to understand how Biocompare leads are generated and shared with you, so that you can act quickly to follow-up to increase the likelihood that the leads we deliver convert to sales.
How Biocompare Leads are Generated
Biocompare is a trusted resource built by scientists for scientists looking to make purchase recommendations and decisions. When you receive a lead from Biocompare, you know the prospect has:
* purposely visited the Biocompare website or has been directed there by a web search, or a Biocompare email or e-newsletter
* engaged with our comprehensive product directory to narrow down their selection of which supplier(s) they wish to engage with
* clicked on the “Get a Quote” or “Request More Information” button on a product detail page and completed a form that provides us with their contact information and their readiness to purchase timeframe
* been processed and qualified to ensure accuracy and relevancy by a Biocompare team member
Once a prospect has indicated interest in a vendor’s product or service, Biocompare takes that information and passes it along to the respective vendor in an Excel spreadsheet. Biocompare encourages delivery of all leads on a daily basis, and will customize both delivery frequency and formatting for individual vendors. This enables easy export into the marketers’ CRM systems. We’re happy to work with our listing partners to customize reporting that works best for them. We are now, also offering an API that directly uploads leads into widely-used CRMs, saving the time to email and download the Excel spreadsheet.
Top 5 Ways to Improve your Lead Follow Up
Biocompare’s goal is to help our directory listing partners ensure that the leads they receive from us convert to sales. Here’s some helpful tips that we suggest you review with your Biocompare customer success representative:
1) Report Destination – we want to make sure the leads we generate for you are being delivered to the right person. Please be sure your lead distribution email address(es) are up to date.
2) Frequency & Timing – we can deliver leads in the timeframe that best suits your lead follow-up workflow. We suggest you review how often and what time of day is best for you to receive your lead report and let us know if any changes are to be made.
3) Report File & Type – we offer the flexibility to ensure you receive the leads in the format that is best suited to your workflow. Please let us know if you are interested in taking advantage of our API that can import leads directly into widely-used CRM systems.
4) Report Data Mapping - do you have a need for the data we collect on our lead forms to match your field nomenclature? We can help rearrange the data that is collected on the lead form to speed up processing on your end.
5) Geographic Considerations – are you unable to receive leads from a certain region? Do you have to pass region-specific leads off to a distributor? Let us know your requirements as we are happy to accommodate special requests.
Timeliness of Responding Can Make or Break A Sale
Results from Biocompare’s Lead Follow-up studies, which we conduct on a regular basis to determine whether or not a product was purchased from the lead that was generated, reveal that companies who follow-up with Biocompare “Request A Quote” leads generated from our product directory in a timely fashion were more likely to have that lead convert to a sale. The data below shows that those companies that followed-up in a timely manner had a 75% increase in lead conversion to a sale vs those who did not. (see Figure 1).
Thus, we can’t stress enough the importance of following-up with a Biocompare directory lead in a timely fashion (within 48 hours), as not doing so can result in lost revenue!
Figure 1
Comparing purchase rates of contacted vs. non-contacted Biocompare Marketplace-generated “Request A Quote” Leads
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Purchase Rate
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Potential Purchase Rate
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Contacted by Company
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20%
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30%
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Not Contacted by Company
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5%
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12%
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Purchase Rate = those who indicated in the survey that they purchased the product associated with the lead
Potential Purchase Rate = the sum of the purchase rate and those who indicated that were planning to purchase the product associated with the lead
It’s Up to You
When you receive a lead from Biocompare, you can be sure it deserves your highest attention. Responding quickly helps with your lead nurturing planning, and gives you the opportunity to customize and complete your marketing message for specific prospects. Just by virtue of visiting Biocompare, these prospects are indicating they are serious shoppers in need of information to finalize their purchase decisions.
Our customers are a vital ingredient of our visitors’ experience on Biocompare; therefore, Biocompare does occasionally survey our users to find out if they have been successful and satisfied in searching for products and services on our site. That is why we encourage our vendors to follow-up with leads on a very timely basis, provide comprehensive product listings, and encourage their customers to write a product review on Biocompare. Serving scientists by enabling them to be more productive and to make the best purchasing decisions is our primary mission and it cannot be completed without your support, for which we are grateful. We strive to provide you with the resources and guidance to make the most out of your Biocompare investment. We look forward to continuing to serve the life science research community together, as we take great pride in serving those who embark on a noble mission – to cure disease, improve quality of life, and make the world a better place.