Most of the websites I’m asked to look at aren’t broken. They load, they look nice and the photos are lovely. They just don’t bring in many enquiries. And when we dig into why, it’s rarely a big technical problem. It’s that nobody ever sat down and planned lead generation for the website. The site was built to look good, not to get people to put their hand up.
I lead the website builds at Delivered Social, from the first design chat through to launch and the aftercare that follows. Here are the simple, unglamorous fixes I come back to again and again. None of them need a new site. Most of them you can do this month.
How does lead generation for your website start?
Before you touch a single button, decide what a lead actually is for this business. Is it a phone call? A quote request? A booking? A download in exchange for an email address? Pick the main one and make it the hero of the site.
When a homepage offers “Call us”, “Email us”, “Book a demo”, “Follow us on Instagram”, “Sign up to our newsletter” and “Read our blog” all at once, visitors freeze. Too many choices and they pick none. You can still have secondary options, but one action should be bigger, brighter and repeated more than the rest.
Then say it plainly. “Get a free quote” beats “Submit”. “Book your consultation” beats “Learn more”. A button should tell people exactly what happens when they press it.
Make it easy to get in touch from every page
People don’t always arrive on your homepage. They land on a blog post from Google, a service page from an ad, or a random page someone shared. If the only route to contact you is a small “Contact” link in the menu, you’re making them work for it.
- Put the main button in the header. It follows people round the whole site without anyone having to think about it.
- Make phone numbers tappable. On mobile, a number someone has to copy and paste is a number they won’t ring. A proper click-to-call link fixes that in seconds.
- End every service page with a next step. Someone who has read to the bottom is interested. Don’t leave them at a dead end.
- Add a nudge to your blog posts. A short box at the end that links the topic to what you sell. “Need a hand with this? Book a free call.”
Shorter forms win more often than not
I’ve lost count of the contact forms I’ve seen asking for a name, surname, job title, company, company size, budget, address, postcode, how you heard about us and a long message, all marked as required. Every extra box is another reason to give up.
Ask yourself what you genuinely need to reply. Usually that’s a name, an email or phone number, and a short message. You can gather the rest on the first call. If you really need extra detail to qualify a lead, make those fields optional or use simple drop-downs so it feels quick.
Every box on your form is a question. Ask too many and people stop answering.
Two more form basics that get missed. First, the thank-you message. Tell people what happens next and roughly when they’ll hear back. Second, test the thing. Fill it in yourself every few months and check the email actually lands. You would be surprised how many forms quietly stop working after an update and nobody notices for weeks.
Why do people need a reason to trust you first?
Nobody fills in a form for a business they’re unsure about. Your website has a few seconds to answer the silent questions in a visitor’s head: are these people real, are they any good, and have they helped someone like me?
The answers are simple to add. Genuine reviews from real customers, with names where you have permission. A few examples of your work, ideally with a sentence on the problem you solved. Photos of the actual team rather than stock smiles. Any accreditations or memberships that matter in your industry. Put some of this close to your main button, so the reassurance sits right where the decision happens.
Your words matter here too. If your homepage talks about “innovative, client-focused solutions”, it says nothing. Tell people what you do, who it’s for and where you work, in plain English. If you want help finding that voice, our piece on why your brand voice should be a document is a good place to start.
Offer something for people who aren’t ready yet
Plenty of visitors are interested but not ready to talk. They’re researching, comparing or getting sign-off from someone else. If your only option is “contact us”, they’ll leave and you’ll never know they were there.
Give them a smaller step. A useful checklist, a price guide, a short email series or an invite to a free session. Something genuinely helpful, in exchange for an email address. Keep it relevant to what you sell so the people who sign up are likely future customers, not just freebie hunters. And be clear about what they’re signing up to, so you stay on the right side of the rules around marketing emails.
Measure enquiries, then keep tweaking
Here’s the bit most people skip. If you don’t know how many enquiries your site brings in each month, and from which pages, you’re guessing. Set up tracking so you can see form submissions and button clicks, not just visits. Then you can tell whether a change actually helped.
Change one thing at a time. New button wording one month, a shorter form the next. Give each change a few weeks and compare. Small, steady improvements add up, and they’re far cheaper than a full rebuild.
And don’t forget the human side. The fastest way to waste a good lead is to reply three days later. Agree who picks up website enquiries and how quickly. A brilliant form is no use if the emails sit in an inbox nobody checks.
Your website doesn’t need to be clever to bring in work. It needs to be clear, easy to use and trustworthy, with an obvious next step on every page. Get those right and the enquiries tend to follow.
