If you own a tree care business, you should look at your website.
How does someone contact you when they have tree work?
Do you have a button showing a phone number that new customers can press?
Do you have effective lead capture forms and landing pages relevant to the individual services you offer?
If you’re like many tree service businesses, you may be missing out on leads.
Often, forms are too complicated, require too much information, or simply don’t work.
In this article, I’ll provide actionable advice on improving your tree service website lead forms.
The Role of Lead Forms in Your Tree Service Business
Your website should make it easy for potential clients to do business with you.
Lead forms can help with this or cause visitors to leave and go elsewhere.
Lead forms directly affect the conversion rates of visitors to your website.
Well-structured lead forms increase quality leads and allow potential customers to easily get in touch with you.
You work hard at digital marketing, local SEO, social media marketing, and Google Ads, so why lose prospects when they want to contact you?
My experience suggests that lead forms that ask a lot from a visitor don’t work effectively and are bad at generating leads.
Simplified, contextual lead forms have the opposite effect, increasing conversion rates.
When building lead capture forms, it is important to consider how much friction you create or remove from a visitor.
Good vs Bad Lead Capture Forms
The following lead capture form could be better.
It is a lead form from a real arborist’s website.
There are three main problems here.
First, the form asks for too much information about someone who has just come across the website.
Second, at the top of the form, visitors are informed that the arborist will respond in 5 – 10 days. At least that’s how it reads.
Third, the form takes a visitor away from the tree business website and onto the CRM website. It can create confusion, lack of trust and a bad user experience.
We live in the modern age where we expect to quickly hear back from a business.
We don’t have the time or inclination to wait long to get help.
The form asks for much information that could come further down the sales process.
Would a new visitor to your website be inclined to fill in this form to get your help? Probably not.
Let’s look at a good lead capture form.
This form captures only the essential information needed for a tree care company to reach back to a lead.
It has a clear call to action and is contextual to the service page on the website it appears on.
The headline and subheading are also more meaningful to someone visiting a service page about tree removal.
It keeps the visitor on the tree service company website.
The Essential Elements of a High-Performing Lead Form
Only collect basic details
Collect only the information you need in a lead form. Contact information such as an email address, phone number, and name.
Ask for additional information or service needs, but keep extras to a minimum.
The form above appears on a tree removal service page, so we know the service needed when the form is submitted. We don’t need to ask.
Target audience
Customize lead capture forms to suit homeowners looking for specific services.
If you offer tree trimming, tree removal, or tree pruning services, create forms specific to the audience for those services.
Have a clear call to action (CTA)
Ensure the CTA on a lead capture form – the button or text – matches the service offering or service area and has a specific desired customer action.
Getting a tree removal quote is pretty specific.
Optimize forms and service pages for user experience and SEO
Prioritize web design that improves form completion rates and user experience.
Make sure the service page is optimized for search engines and human visitors. Search Engine Optimization can help you get your service pages in front of potential visitors.
Make sure the form has real-time validation of fields to enhance customer satisfaction by ensuring accurate data entry (e.g. validating phone numbers).
Customize lead forms for your tree service
Tailor forms for specific services: tree trimming, tree pruning, stump grinding and tree removal, for example.
Some forms may need to capture specific information, while others may not.
New clients may be looking for specific tree services. Customizing lead forms is a great way to connect closely with visitors’ desires.
Track and measure success
Implement a way of monitoring form submissions and analyzing conversion rates.
Setting up events in Google Analytics or using a tool such as HotJar allows you to calculate conversion rates vs the number of website visitors.
With this data, it is possible to see the effect of changing or updating forms and service pages.
Measuring allows you to explore how lead forms impact the overall return on investment of marketing campaigns you run.
Conclusion
Effective lead capture forms are an essential part of a tree service website.
However, lead capture forms are only a small part of the puzzle.
You must also implement a marketing plan, be relentless in your online marketing, and continuously review and improve user experience based on measured data.
Gone are the days of word-of-mouth business. Leverage your website to reach new customers where they are looking for your services.
Lead capture forms are only helpful if visitors to your website find them.
Therefore, it’s crucial that tree company owners consider the broader marketing picture.
It’s simple: no traffic to your website means no lead capture forms being filled in.
Bad lead capture forms mean low conversion rates when visitors find your forms but don’t fill them in.
Optimizing your website, tree service pages, lead capture forms, and online presence—such as being found in Google search results—will generate more tree service jobs.
It’s that simple! Download a copy of my free e-book to learn more about digital marketing.
