On August 13, 2008, we launched the first version of the ExpertHub Performance-Driven Directory platform. In subsequent posts, we’ll describe in detail some of the features that make the ExpertHub solution unique for both consumers and professionals. However, before we do that, it makes sense to outline the strengths and weaknesses of both online directories and lead generation and describe how the ExpertHub solution brings together the best of both worlds.
Online Directories: Strengths and Shortcomings
In our first post, we mentioned how online directories have been around since the beginning of the Internet. The strength of a directory lies in its simplicity: a web user is looking for a professional of a particular type that serves their local area (i.e. plastic surgeons in san francisco) and finds an online directory that answers that question by providing a list. Generally speaking, the directory links to the professional’s website and in many cases users can contact the professional via email. Two types of directories are prevalent: those that provide free listings that closely resemble the Yellow Pages and those that charge for placement and offer limited choice for the consumer. In both cases, the majority of the information about the professional resides on their own website, leaving the consumer with the task of visiting multiple sites and trying to determine who is best suited to meet their needs. Unfortunately, many professionals do not have the resources to build and maintain robust sites, leaving the user with many unanswered questions.
From a professional’s standpoint, the directories provide highly qualified traffic to their site, but few have the analytics or lead capture technology to adequately determine the return on their marketing investment. With the proliferation of online directories in the past few years, most professionals that we talk to either do not know whether they have realized a solid ROI or are convinced they were ripped off. In either event, they rarely have the time to invest in building a robust web presence that allows them to answer an interested consumer’s specific question the way that they can when they are talking to the consumer over the phone or in their office.
Lead Generation: Strengths and Shortcomings
Lead generation took off after the dot-com bust as a simple way of allowing businesses (mostly financial services and online education businesses) to advertise online and obtain something of value for every dollar they spent: a qualified lead. The strength of lead generation advertising lies in its ability to measure performance. Almost every business has a sense what a paying customer is worth to them and lead generation delivers something that banner ads and paid clicks cannot: the profile data of a consumer that has filled out a form and answered important qualifying questions.
However, there are two economic tradeoffs to this form of performance-based advertising. First, the publisher (the website that captures the consumer’s data) only gets paid when the form is completed, so this becomes the emphasis of the user experience (as opposed to comparing professionals and gathering more information). This process leaves the consumer without a say in who he wishes to be connected with (or forces the user to try another website) and marginalizes the business by preventing them from distinguishing themselves in the eyes of the consumer until they are already pitted against their competition to win the user’s business. Secondly, the lead generation advertiser suffers from an inability to build their brand or their reputation. The moment they stop paying for each lead, business dries up. Worse for the professional, as there is more competition for leads, prices go up, making them beholden to the lead source.
The ExpertHub Solution
Our Performance-Driven Directory platform bridges the gap between online directories and online lead generation. If you spend some time going through lawfirms.com, plasticsurgeons.com or one of the other ExpertHub sites, you’ll notice some key differences from our competition. Our focus is in on connecting web users with professionals through a 4 step “free consultation” process. In this process, the web user answers questions that qualify their needs, selects providers that meet those needs (with the option of reading that professionals online profile as they evaluate their choices) and collects their contact information to share with professionals they’ve selected.
The goal of this process (which we are constantly optimizing and tweaking) is to start by addressing the first concern of every professional we talk to: is this going to result in increased business? By focusing on delivering leads, this is a question that will be very easy to answer. However, most lead generation alternatives can answer that question. Our second goal is to help professionals build their reputation through managing their online profile. By building their profile through simple actions (like adding a photo and bio) and through more advanced features (like adding an article in your area of expertise), the overall cost per lead for each professional goes down – something that lead generation fails to accomplish. Best of all, web users will find it easier to gather information and choose the right professional for them.
We’ll describe these features in more detail in subsequent posts and share some very interesting data that we’ve captured about user behavior in just our first week.