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2006-11-13 - Close More Leads, Period.

By: Lindsay Mure

Many lead generators have call centers ready to close leads and make sales. But what if that person never became a lead? According to an Internet Retailer report, 75% of online shopping carts and lead forms are abandoned by consumers. Wouldn’t it be great if you could lure those consumers back and close them?

There are new “abandonment” technologies which will enable online advertisers to contact and close leads that didn’t get the chance to become “full leads”. Two of the most intriguing abandonment technologies are owned by ThinkPartnership (AMEX: THK): SecondBite and TeleCPA.

SecondBite, used by major retailers like Zales, sends a follow up email to consumers who abandon shopping carts after they enter their email address. The email can be customized based on the client’s requests, and always includes a link back to the exact spot where the consumer abandoned. In addition these emails can include coupons or discounts to further encourage return to the shopping cart. So does it work? SecondBite’s clients see a 3 – 6% increase in monthly sales from their service. At first I thought this technology MUST be expensive… but its not! There are no set up fees and clients pay ONLY when abandoned customers convert through SecondBite’s efforts – kind of like an affiliate.

So you may be asking yourself, “well what if they didn’t fill in their email address before they abandoned?” What if they started to buy flowers online and put in their phone # only? Those questions lead us to our second solution: TeleCPA.

TeleCPA was initially developed as an in-house program to support ThinkPartnership’s internally generated product marketing campaigns, and is now responsible for recovering related revenue at an annualized rate of more than $4 million. After adding multi-tenant capability and offering this program to a limited group of existing marketing partners, the company demonstrated this could be a valuable service for all internet merchants and marketers.

So how does TeleCPA work? It is similar to SecondBite, but over the phone. If a lead is generated OR a shopping cart is abandoned, TeleCPA’s call center will phone those consumers and “close” them over the phone. The call centers are in Manila, Philippians but the callers speak English well. Before a new CPA campaign is launched the call center employees are rigorously trained for 1 week or more. Full or partial leads can be sent to TeleCPA as a batch or in real-time. Leads as old as 6 months can be called and convert into sales.

“TeleCPA is a natural extension for any Internet marketing campaign,” notes Brady Whittingham, senior vice president of business development for Think Partnership, “and adds important capabilities to our growing suite of revenue recovery products and services. TeleCPA reflects our commitment to develop innovative ways for online merchants to leverage their customer databases and create additional revenue streams. By providing it on a turn-key, pay-for-performance basis, there is virtually no risk to merchants.” Does TeleCPA work? They tout their 5 – 15% close rate, and promise to prove it if given the right opportunity.

Our industry is evolving, and with evolution comes new methods of closing business. Don’t get left out in the cold! A little research and a lot of questions can go a long way. Good luck closing more business!

By: Lindsay Mure, Editor-in-Chief for TheCoregInsider.com

© 2007 The Coreg Insider