Our Story: Automating Customer Acquisition with a Website

Six years ago, I was troubled.

I started a share house business and launched a website, but I wasn't getting any inquiries. It's a story anyone who's built a website would hear, and it's not like a newly launched business would suddenly be flooded with inquiries. Many people would think that. However, in my case, I already had successful experiences with similar businesses, and I was confident, so I hadn't expected to receive so few inquiries.

Nevertheless, I had already decided to start, and I had invested some money, so I couldn't just quit. Thinking that, I first reached out to a friend. It was a friend who had previously mentioned looking for a share house. So, I asked them to look at the website and then asked the following question.

"Hey, does this website leave an impression?"

Then he said.

"Hmm, it doesn't really leave much of an impression. It feels like just one of many."

I was a little shocked. Because I had conceived, pondered, and created that website through trial and error myself. I had fully expected a reaction like 'it leaves an impression'. At the same time, I was disheartened by my own shallowness. To be honest, I was quite shocked.

I had discussed it with my inner circle, exchanged opinions, and since it was praised there, I mistakenly thought it would surely succeed. However, when you talk within your inner circle, naturally, people are considerate or respond from a biased perspective. Furthermore, most of the people I talked to there had no experience living in a share house.

Improvement is the beginning of everything.

So, I started improving the website. I changed the catchphrase, the main visual image, and also slightly altered the content. Of course, this was after forming a hypothesis based on the feedback I received, thinking 'wouldn't it be better to change it this way?'. I couldn't afford to fail this time.

After making improvements, I showed it to a friend who said they wanted to live in a share house. They told me that while it was somewhat improved, it still wasn't enough. Based on that feedback, I then made further improvements while also listening to another friend who expressed a desire to live in a share house. And finally, on the third time I showed it, I received the feedback: 'It leaves an impression! I want to live there!'

However, this alone still didn't lead to much customer acquisition. Next, I started posting on social media and writing a blog. I thought that by regularly distributing article content, people would gradually come to know its merits.

I continued to post steadily and gradually gathered followers. However, even then, it didn't really lead to customer acquisition. Inquiries started coming in little by little, but it was still far from ideal.

Wondering why the response was poor, I thoroughly analyzed the data from the access analysis tool. How many people were visiting each page, and what exactly was hindering inquiries and keeping them low? After starting the analysis, I found the problems relatively quickly.

First, simply put, the number of accesses was still low. For example, if one person out of 100 makes an inquiry, at least 100 people must visit the site for an inquiry to come in. The inquiry rate for share houses is approximately 2 percent when advertising, and approximately 0.8 percent when reached via search. Given the still low number of accesses, it was actually a reasonable inquiry rate.

Certain results only come after trial and error.

What needed to be done was clear. First, increase the number of accesses. And then, improve the website to make it more appealing and easier to inquire, while gathering more information.

From then on, I focused on increasing article content and social media posts. Online activities, if you steadily create and distribute good content, will gradually increase access. Furthermore, I continued to improve the website, incorporating interviews with friends, acquaintances, and those who had inquired. I was able to create a clearer and more appealing approach than before.

One day, while continuing with trial and error, I re-analyzed the access data and inquiry data. Then, the numbers finally reached the desired state. Thus, we were finally able to create a state where 'even with minimal effort, the desired level of inquiries continued to come in'.

It was the best moment. I had finally found the pattern for how to succeed. With this, I could finally operate both my past investments and future businesses with peace of mind. And I could continue to invest more and more. It was as if a heavy, oppressive lead weight that had been pressing on my chest had suddenly melted away.

After achieving the ideal numbers for the share house website, handling inquiries became difficult. This was because I had to respond to nearly 200 inquiries in a year. Of course, I was also running a website creation business, so I handled them in my spare time, but it gradually became overwhelming. At first, I was happy, but as the busy period continued, I gradually became tired.

So, I recruited and hired someone through the website to handle inquiries and entrusted all procedures to them. Compared to the time when there were no inquiries at all, what a happy story this was! Thus, a business that generated regular income semi-automatically was completed. Having gained this experience, I vowed to pursue more efficient hypothesis testing and improvement methods. Six years have passed since then, and I have restarted the website creation business. To achieve the next, even bigger goal.

No professional can see the truth without the voice of the customer.

When I released the initial version of the website, I was quite confident. I thought I had created a clear and attractive website. However, when I listened to the actual users and customers, they felt resistance in places I hadn't expected, or they liked aspects that I thought had no particular appeal. Ultimately, no matter how much I deliberated within my inner circle, releasing it to the public and then improving it was the most effective way to achieve results.

A professional perspective is surprisingly unhelpful. While I know how to increase sales, the initial point of view is not much different from that of an ordinary person unless extensive research on the industry has been conducted.

Initially, I didn't quite understand, but websites that truly produce results are born through practice. You show them to real customers, listen to their genuine feedback, and refine them. That's why they produce results.

Professionals who achieve results with websites don't necessarily know the success formula for that website from the start. Rather, they are 'pros at hypothesis testing and improvement who can efficiently produce results,' understanding 'how to test, form hypotheses, and improve to achieve results.' They are individuals who know how to gather information, analyze data, and improve to achieve results, and they are experts at finding the optimal solution in that industry.

'We will definitely produce results and create a beautiful site. We are confident in achieving results from the very first attempt. We have the know-how on how to create a site that generates sales, so please leave it to us.'

If there were a web designer or director who said such things, it would be 99% a scam. In the end, you'd likely pay a large sum for a website that yields no results, fails to undergo hypothesis testing and improvement, and is ultimately abandoned. If such a case did occur, it would be mostly a fluke. It would just be luck.

A true professional is a 'pro of Test × Analysis × Hypothesis × Improvement'.

Most web designers who boast about results focus on research, testing, and improvement. They repeatedly examine data, listen to users for feedback, and iterate on improvements, resulting in websites that produce results. This trial and error is either done secretly before release or tested in practice after release. Cases where professionals discuss and form hypotheses only among themselves and succeed are extremely rare.

The share house case was an exemplary story of transforming a website into a customer acquisition system. By continuing trial and error and improvements, an ideal state was created. However, these results were only achievable in a short period because we had been doing website production for many years. We literally know efficient methods of trial and error. But if someone with no experience or not much marketing knowledge had done it, it would have taken more than double the time and cost.

If you want to achieve results with a website, establishing a system for continuous, steady improvement is the most 'certain' way. There's no need to pay a large sum for luck, hoping that results might appear. Website creation is not a lottery. However, most current website production companies are selling lottery tickets.

Most website production companies don't go that far and lack the know-how for hypothesis testing, improvement, and data analysis. That's why production companies like ours, with experience in trial and error in our own businesses, possessing marketing know-how, and willing to collaborate on hypothesis testing and improvement, are sought after.

If you are serious about 'making the most' of your website, we highly recommend partnering with someone like us who will engage in trial and error with you. We hope that all website production focuses not just on aesthetic appeal or initial speculation, but genuinely on users and customers.

If you're serious about the web, hire an excellent specialist team at a low cost.
Monthly website production × improvement service 'Digitra' isherefrom
https://webtan.quon.ink/index_2.php