Semalt Explains How To Convince The Client To Subscribe To SEO
Convince your customers - new and existing - to change their billing method and start operating based on the win-win model. Start a new chapter in the life of your SEO agency - be your client's business partner, not just an "SEO company". Start by creating an offer you believe in.
Selling services based on a subscription model is very beneficial, both for our client and for the SEO agency. It turns out that when conducting activities based on the subscription model, we are not blocked in any way from even the strangest and most creative ideas of obtaining traffic or a link. Everything just has to be within the budget and not break the contract.
The "subscription" model does not have to assume a fixed monthly amount
Settlements with a client can take many forms - starting from a fixed monthly budget, through settlements based on services rendered (different intensity in the following months), to settlements "for success". Most often, it is worth combining them.
However, how to convince a client that he/she has to pay for a "pig in a poke" when other SEO agencies provide our potential client with a guarantee of position, security, ensure that the promises contained in the contract are fulfilled immediately and they promise to do it for 99 $ per month? We will answer this question in a moment.
3 steps to convince the customer of the services of our company
1. Our belief in the effectiveness of the services
Before we start offering subscription services to all our clients, we must be convinced of their effectiveness. All items in our offer must be supported by knowledge and experience. This will allow you to verify whether a given service fits the client and to what extent it should be implemented.
If we believe in our products, we will convince every customer of them.
This begs the question: "How to start?". When we have no experience, it is worth verifying the acquired knowledge on:
- our own websites (it is difficult to believe a company that cannot provide the proposed services on its own website);
- websites of friendly customers (who need to be clearly told that we verify services and skills);
- non-profit websites that we promote for free;
- a new website created only for testing and learning.
It must be remembered that at every stage of the company's development, we will introduce new services or modify existing ones. It is worth having websites on which we can test new theses from the very beginning.
2. Case from the client's industry
The example is always the strongest argument in a conversation with a client. The ideal is one that:
- comes from our experience (we have provided these services from A to Z);
- relates to the client's industry.
When we do not have such examples (the industry condition is particularly difficult), and it is worth collecting cases made by competing companies. It is important to get to know all the specific information about the goals, performance and effects of the analyzed campaigns.
3. Attractive offer and individual approach
The first step is to prepare a good-quality offer. Remember that if the customer is to pay more, he / she will also have higher expectations. In addition to the conviction of the high level of our offer and vast knowledge, the form of its presentation is also important.
When communicating with large agencies and media houses, it often happens that we wait for an offer for many days, after which we get several dozen pages, of which, only one or two contain the prices and terms of the transaction. This is not a coincidence. These are the statistical expectations of policymakers - especially those with a larger wallet.
A good offer must include the following:
- the first page should always be directed to a specific client;
- contain a description of our company (specific information tailored to the size of the client);
- accurately describe the services and their features;
- define the terms of cooperation (prices, implementation dates, scope of activities, settlement method and validity period);
- elements showing that we have looked at the client's needs.
It is a big mistake to send the same offer to all customers.
And it's not because our clients can find out about it. It is important that the client feels that the offer is unique and takes into account his / her expectations and needs, that already at this stage of the talks, someone has devoted time to him/her and that he/she is important.
Difficult customer questions
There are a lot of difficult questions when talking about subscription billing. The most important of them are discussed below.
Why is position billing wrong?
When settling "per position", it turns out that at some point we will lose, because our actions - even focusing on specific keywords - will result in entries from other keywords, similar to those we link to. This can be frustrating, especially if the keyword was pricing and the customer ultimately didn't choose it.
The answer to such problems is the settlement in the form of a subscription. The client only receives information that we will try to increase sales on his / her website. Of course, it is possible to perform another conversion-based goal - for example, making a phone call or filling out a form.
Why is it better for me?
The customer will surely ask what the difference is between the service in which he/she knows what he/she pays for (for items) and the activities we will perform as part of the subscription.
- Our services will be safer (a company that only thinks about positions focuses on achieving your goal quickly, risking a sudden loss of visibility).
- Because the success of the website (sales) consists of many elements that are closely related and can be implemented by one company (UX, SEO, SXO, Content Marketing, e-PR, remarketing and others), many companies usually waste resources and cost more when delivering these services.
- The worst situation is when website promotion ends with SEO.
- During the subscription settlement, we are not blocked in any way from even the strangest and most creative ideas of obtaining traffic or a link.
- The client will be fully aware of what is happening, what is the reason for our actions and what the consequences will be.
We can also answer like this:
"We will carry out activities aimed at maximizing sales on your website. By building visibility in the search engine, we will also support other channels, such as direct traffic and referrals. Thanks to this, even after the end of cooperation, you will feel our actions."
If the customer is still not convinced, you can say:
"Dear customer, if our services do not meet your expectations, nothing prevents us from resigning from the monthly notice period, without any contractual penalties and additional conditions. The contract itself is concluded for an indefinite period. It just means that we have to do our best to show that we are really good."
The vast majority of clients feel safer when they hear that they can terminate the contract whenever they want.
When will I see the effects?
The client will surely ask how quickly he/she will see the first results. By running even a small content marketing campaign and implementing subsequent SEO corrections, the first effects can be seen after just 2-3 months.
The first clear increases, when we can actually say, "here are the effects", occur after about 4 to 6 months. Later, promotion consists in at least maintaining this effect, and most often in further increases.
The trick, however, is in proper communication with the client, which consists of:
- appropriate and broad reporting of activities (what we do, effects in the form of traffic, redirects, links, position, conversion, improvement of the bounce rate, time spent on the website and others);
- making the client aware of the components of the promotion of his / her website. The client needs to know why we are taking specific actions and what all the indicators mean.
Continuation of cooperation with the client
Subscription-based activities have three very important advantages:
- upselling;
- opportunity to develop;
- scalability.
Upselling
At the moment when the client notices that our actions bring him / her real money, and not only meaningless search engine positions in the google website positioning service, he/she will be happy to trust us even more, deciding on new services. A typical activity is adding the AdWords paid advertising service to SEO activities and, for example, running social media profiles. Thanks to this, we have full control over the obtained traffic and budget. So for this, you need powerful SEO tools to manage and maintain your customers. You can use the Dedicated SEO Dashboard, a complete all-in-one tool, which will support you well in managing clients with relevant and comprehensive SEO analysis. The DSD provides you with a detailed analysis of your client's website and its competitors. You can do a free trial here: demo.semalt.com
Development
Customer development through our activities can translate directly into our earnings. If we show the client that we will give him / her two dollars for every dollar put into our SEO agency, nothing will prevent him/her from giving us, for example, five instead of one dollar.
The more we try for the client and show him/her that we invest his / her money well, the more money he/she will invest in our company.
Scalability
Services based on Content Marketing and subscription billing are also worth attention because they can be scaled quite easily. You can come to a point where you only start outsourcing various services and focus on proper budget distribution and reporting on activities.
Undoubtedly, Content Marketing is one of such easy-to-scale activities, but also word-of-mouth marketing or other methods of obtaining links.