Three clicks. That’s all Dorothy needed from her ruby slippers. By clicking her heels three times and repeating there’s no place like home, she’s out of technicolor and back in Kansas.
Home improvement prospects want the same experience. The ability to get the home of their dreams (one that makes them say, “There’s no place like home!”) should only be a few clicks away. But with the rise of sites like HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack, homeowners are being asked to provide information in multi-step forms.
You would think with more information, there would be higher lead quality, right? Not exactly. It turns out asking the homeowner for too much information off the bat isn’t the best idea.
Why is Three the Magic Number?
According to the “Three-Click Rule,” a user should be able to find exactly what their looking for on your website in three clicks or less. The rule has been around for decades, but it doesn’t work in every situation. In retail, for example, users are usually just browsing, so their path to purchase may take 100 clicks. It all depends on the intent of the prospect.
Because homeowners tend to know what they want, the Three-Click Rule is still relevant. A prospect may know that they want casement windows, or a marble bath wall. When they can access that information easily and efficiently, lead quality soars.
Why Are Multi-Step Forms So Popular, Then?
In theory, the multi-step form should allow home improvement companies to access more targeted leads, but that isn’t always the case. If the homeowner is on a mobile phone, they may become distracted. They may not even know the answers to some of the questions.
Yet, multi-step forms remain popular because they help the homeowner describe their project. They give shape to an idea. And while that is helpful, lead quality is considerably lower.
It’s the Homeowner’s Journey – Let Them Have It
The highest quality leads are homeowners who know what they want and are ready to buy. And in this situation, the homeowner isn’t going to want to rehash their ideas through a 15-page form. They want to schedule a quote in just a few clicks.
Let your website be a homeowner’s ruby slippers and they’ll discover that they had the power to change their home all along. All they had to do was call you!
