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If someone visited your website over a dozen times without filling out a form, what would your first thought be? You’d likely assume your site was ineffective.
What if I told you, though, that one company returned to our site 24 times (yes, 24!) without downloading anything from our site or taking any other on-site conversion action, and still turned into a good client? Sounds unbelievable, right? So, how did we get them to convert?
Using IP detection software, we noticed that this company kept returning to our website, so we got curious. Using behavioral intelligence software, we were able to see exactly what the company was interested in and what engaged them the most. This helped us understand how best to conduct outreach, follow up and engage with them.
Ultimately, they signed on as a new client because our engagement helped clarify that we were an excellent fit. If we’d only looked at Google Analytics, we never would have known how to turn this prospect into a client. Luckily, the days where only traffic and traditional on-site “conversions” reveal if our marketing is effective are long gone. Now, we have behavioral intelligence, and it’s nothing less than a game-changer. You can think of it like digital body language.
Understanding Digital Body Language
Imagine this: you’re at an industry conference happy hour and networking with another attendee. While you’re talking, you take note of their body language. They lean in and pay extra close attention when you’re talking about conversion optimization techniques, but their eyes glaze over when you talk about PR.
These observations help you guide the conversation so they stay engaged and you both leave with a quality connection. Simply paying attention to body language enables you to make the entire experience positive and worthwhile.
Now, you can apply this to your site visitors. That’s where behavioral intelligence comes in. If you’re relying on Google Analytics, you may get a good idea of traffic and bounce rates, but you’re missing out on the body language your visitors are displaying.
You may know that 1,000 users landed on a certain page yesterday. You may even know where they came from. But without understanding digital body language, you’re essentially playing a guessing game when it comes to the experience they have on the page, and on your site overall.
Where To Start
Popular behavioral intelligence software tools include Mouseflow, FullStory, Decibel, Inspectlet and Hotjar. When considering which behavioral intelligence software is right for your own business, consider the functionality and types of insights you’re looking for.
While all these software packages offer some form of heat mapping, session recordings and form analysis, there are variances between the tools. Mouseflow and Hotjar offer cross-page funnel analysis and on-site surveys, for example. FullStory offers custom data imports, and FullStory and Inspectlet offer JavaScript error logging. Inspectlet also offers A/B testing of pages. Determine your priorities and what you’re looking to get out of a behavioral intelligence tool prior to making a purchase.
Our agency uses MouseFlow and Hotjar, but I believe all the tools mentioned above are useful. If you want to give multiple software packages a test drive, the good news is that most offer a free pricing tier (with limitations).
Leveraging Behavioral Intelligence
Behavioral intelligence enables you to observe the digital body language of your site visitors and to correspondingly achieve the following:
• Update your website to deliver a better experience
• Conduct more effective initial outreach to new prospects
• Guide the conversation throughout the buyer funnel
On a macro level, if you notice that the majority of site visitors are not displaying the digital behavior you want on your site, you can use the intelligence to direct a redesign of those pages. For example, if visitors are not noticing important CTAs, then either move them or make them more prominent. If they are not scrolling down the page, replace the messaging at the top of the page, or add visual cues for scrolling further.
If you pair your implementation of behavioral intelligence software with IP detection software, you’re able to start a new conversation with someone likely to be interested in your offerings once you notice them demonstrating engagement on your site. Even without a form submission or other typical on-site conversion event, if you notice that they are consuming at least three pages of content, or if you see that they are scrolling down to the bottom of the pages they visit, or if you see that they are spending a good deal of time on your product or service pages engaging with the content, then reach out.
Start by asking if they have any questions. It’s all about timing — you just want to be helpful at this stage. Don’t try to sell them anything. Not everyone will respond to you, but for those who do, you already know that they are legitimately interested.
In the example at the beginning of this article, we used behavioral intelligence to guide the conversation over several months through the buyer funnel. If we noticed that they were interested in lead generation during one site visit, we focused our conversations on those topics. If they were reading various neuromarketing posts, we pivoted the conversation and engaged with them accordingly.
When you’re engaged in discussions with a prospect, seeing what they are actually interested in (and seeing the types of content where they bounce instantaneously from the page) helps you to bring up topics that would be of most interest to them at any point in the funnel.
Summary
If you’re looking for “the new black” in marketing, look no further than behavioral intelligence. You’ll be able to leapfrog your current web analytics data in uncovering deeper audience insights and will be able to customize your website for higher performance and a better user experience.
