7 Surefire Ways to Convert More Leads

We get it, you want to do more with fewer resources or with your existing resources. And the best way to do that is to convert more leads.

Leads are the people who have already shown you that they are interested in your teen programs. Perhaps they attended a school fair and stopped by your table or they reached out via phone, email or an online form.

But now what should you do with those leads? You respond to their inquiry as quickly as you can but then they just seem to disappear without another peep. And it leaves you wondering what you could’ve done differently.

The good news is, some tried and true lead conversion tips can guide your teen programs to greater success. Here's what you need to know about improving your lead-to-conversion ratios.

7 Invincible Lead Conversion Tips

Ready to start closing more leads? Follow these invincible lead conversion tips to improve your close rate.

1. Ask the Right Form Questions 

Website lead forms are a great way to learn about interested students. But if you aren’t asking the right questions or you’re asking too many questions, you might see fewer leads and you won’t know enough about the prospect to market to them effectively.

The right form questions can help put the prospect in the right lead nurture series and notify the right staff person to follow up. That way, the inquiry doesn't bounce around to a few staff members before finally resting with the right person who can answer their questions and provide them with the necessary information.

When designing a form, always start with the basics of first name, last name, email and maybe phone number depending on how you operate your organization.

Then ask yourself what information will be valuable. Perhaps their anticipated high school graduation year or what level of college they've completed so far. If you offer various programs, include a drop-down selector to have the student self-select what program most interests them and include an option for "I'm not sure yet" so students don't get frustrated and abandon the form. You might also want to know if the person completing the form is a parent or a student.

If there are any qualifiers for students to attend your program, you might ask those here too so that you know the quality of the lead before you spend staff time following up. Those who don’t qualify might get an email explaining why with some FAQs to guide them.

2. Automate Immediate Responses

Automated responses have become commonplace. Even if you redirect a website visitor to a thank you page saying you've received their message, it's valuable to follow up with an automated email or text message.

That way, the prospect knows you’re working through their inquiry, and you can set expectations for when they can expect a response. In that response, you might include relevant information to help the student find answers to common questions or learn the next step to enrolling in your programs or getting started with your organization.

Sending a notice of receipt is a nice touch. You can even make the response look like it’s coming from one of your counselors or admissions workers to personalize it and start building a relationship. 

3. Build a Lead Nurturing Series

After that initial automated response to a form fill, consider how you might continue to follow up with information. This is known as a lead nurturing series.

Generally, a lead nurturing series includes 3-5 emails with a few days or even a week between each send. As the series goes along, you should provide more detailed information about your product or service to entice the reader into a response.

You might start with an email that provides an overview of your teen programs. Try not to pull copy directly from what’s on your website or brochures. Do your best to summarize the benefits of the program using visuals and minimal words.

Then in your second email, you might highlight a student who has completed your program and what they are doing now. Make sure to highlight how your program made a difference for that student.

The third email might offer information about what’s required to enroll or include a blog article that tells students more in-depth information.

The last few emails should be the call to action to get in touch with a counselor for questions or enroll in the program. Be sure to still provide value in this email with some form of helpful content, but ultimately, you want a strong, bold call to action to convert the lead.

4. Make Follow-up Look Personal

You know those automated emails and lead nurturing series we’ve been talking about? They are far more powerful coming from a member of your team than they are coming from an info@ourteenprogramnamehere.com.

The more personal your communication is, the more likely the prospect will be to ask further questions and inquire more. Using a specific person’s name can increase email open rates by up to 35 percent. It’s the most important aspect of your email, above the subject line and any special offers you might be extending.

Knowing that, take some time to review the most logical staff member to have these emails come from. You can set different from names based on the program you’re following up about. Or you can make the email responses go to a general email inbox without letting the prospect know that’s what’s happening. There are plenty of ways to still share the workload of responding to inquiries while personalizing the appearance of your interactions. 

5. Reduce Enrollment Friction or Eliminate Unnecessary Paperwork

Perhaps there is nothing wrong with how you’re responding to leads. The problem might instead be with your enrollment process.

Paper forms are certainly not something generation Z or generation alpha are used to. Digitizing enrollment will make for less work for you and can help students enroll quickly using autofill on their devices.

Keep in mind that today's parents of teenagers are likely quite comfortable and used to digital tools as well. While they might not be true digital natives, they likely had technology in their homes by ages 10-15, leading to familiarity and deep knowledge of how to navigate these tools.

You also need to evaluate what information you truly need to best serve the student. Don’t ask unnecessary questions or questions that you could ask throughout the program to get to know the student further.

If a student or parent looks at the required forms or paperwork to enroll and feels overwhelmed, they might miss the deadline or decide it simply isn’t worth it. You can A/B test various enrollment forms to see what works best by leading users to different landing pages in your automated response emails. Then you’ll see statistics on form abandonment to make an informed decision about which best serves your organization.

6. Offer Flexible Options

When was the last time you evaluated your programs? Are they perhaps too rigid and keeping you from converting the largest volume of leads possible?

Flexibility in your programs could help you close more leads as the prospect is more likely to look at the program and think “that’s designed for someone like me.”

Perhaps the timeframes for your program don’t suit every teen’s needs. Or maybe it moves too quickly for them to take full advantage of the material. 

A good way to learn about gaps or areas of opportunity for your programs is to survey students after they complete your program. You might also send surveys to students who never enrolled to ask why they chose a different teen program or what about your program did not serve their needs.

7. Learn Why Teens Choose Your Program and Highlight that Effectively

Connected to the last point about knowing what your programs might be lacking and finding a way to make them more flexible is knowing what makes teens choose your program.

Understanding this can help you better highlight your key consumer benefit to bring in more interested parties and convert them using relevant information.

You’ll also know what your strong suits are compared with your competitors, which will help you make your programs stand out. 

Improving Lead Quality

Ultimately, your lead conversion rate might be low because you're generating low-quality leads or individuals who don't fit your target audience for your programs. Or perhaps you're not generating enough leads in general.

If either of those situations applies to you, contact TeenLife Media. We work with all types of teen programs to help them connect with their target audience in meaningful ways to improve lead quality, thereby increasing the chances of lead conversion.