Business-to-Business Internet Marketing, Fourth Edition - Lifecycle ...

Generating and Qualifying Leads with Your Web Site 55
The WRF is an excellent way to capture responses electronically.
Including a Web URL typically helps increase overall response to a
direct marketing campaign. If the target audience is composed of
technical professionals or individuals who frequent the Web, they
may in fact prefer the Web response path to more traditional response
methods. Individuals who “live” on their networks and use
the Web extensively for research and information are far more likely
to respond over the Web than they are to return a reply card or make
a phone call.
Finally, there is growing evidence that individuals who respond via
WRFs are highly qualified prospects. I have been involved in numerous
direct marketing campaigns in which the respondents using WRFs were
more highly qualified than those returning reply cards.
There is some logic to this if you consider the fact that a Web respondent
has to “work harder” to respond. Finding the URL may be
easy, but typing in all the requested information and answering questions
on a computer screen takes some time and effort. There is no easy
way around this. WRFs can be simplified by using drop-down menus
for multiple choices (to indicate your state, for example) or radio buttons
and check boxes, but individuals still need to type certain basic
contact information, which can be tedious. Doing so suggests that the
prospect wants to obtain the offer or get more information and is willing
to do a little bit of work to get it. In today’s high-pressure, compressed-time
business environment, that is an important indication of a
prospect’s interest.
Despite the WRF’s advantages as a response mechanism, it is not
entirely foolproof. As mentioned earlier, even if you use a special URL,
potential prospects could go to your regular Web site instead. That is
why, if you are doing a promotion that features a special URL, you
might want to mention that promotion and have a link to a version of
the WRF on your Web site home page for prospects who show up there
instead of coming to the special URL.
Another potential problem is the interactive form itself. Be sure it
is constructed properly (most forms use CGI or JavaScript) and that
you test it with several different computers and browsers. It is also a
good idea to try it out on several different people to see if the form is
easy to understand and easy to use. You need to assure that the respondent
can easily send the WRF—and that you receive the information
you need.