In this episode of Local Marketing Secrets, Dan Leibrandt interviews Aaron Weiche, co-founder of Leadferno, a SaaS platform that's changing the game for local businesses by turning more visitors into paying customers through text-based messaging. Aaron previously led Gather Up, growing the company so quickly it landed on the Inc. 5000 list before successfully exiting through acquisition. He's spoken at over 100 major industry conferences including MozCon Local, SMX Advanced, and Local U Advanced, and he's a trusted thought leader known for his practical results-focused approach to conversion optimization.

Dan and Aaron explore the fundamentals of conversion optimization, with Aaron explaining how conversion occurs at multiple stages in the funnel—from ad clicks to website conversions to closing sales. Aaron shares his philosophy that "the golden rule of business is how easy are you to work with," emphasizing that friction kills conversions. He identifies major mistakes businesses make: offering too few contact options, asking 18 questions on forms when prospects only want to ask 1-2 things, using weak calls to action, and failing to communicate their process clearly.

The conversation covers Aaron's groundbreaking research study of 225 contact forms across home services, professional services, and medical businesses. The results were shocking: average speed to lead was 17 hours and 49 minutes, only 15% sent auto-replies confirming receipt, 4% of forms were completely broken, 71% only used one communication channel for follow-up, and 65% made just one attempt to contact leads. Aaron explains how these failures create massive opportunities for businesses willing to improve their processes.

Aaron dives deep into why text messaging has become the dominant communication channel, citing research showing 37% of consumers prefer texting (compared to 30% for phone and 19.6% for email). The highest adopters are ages 35-54, not younger generations as commonly assumed, and this demographic represents the core target market for most home service businesses. Aaron explains that text messaging works because it's asynchronous, has low mental load, uses brevity naturally, and maintains a much cleaner signal-to-noise ratio than email inboxes cluttered with 20 years of spam and subscriptions.

Aaron Weiche, Founder of Leadferno:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronweiche/

Twitter: https://x.com/AaronWeiche

Leadferno: https://leadferno.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Local Marketing Secrets:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com  

Local Marketing Secrets Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LocalMarketingSecrets 

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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/local-marketing-secrets/id1741176782 

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0bb5254-5d6c-4940-8211-085157cc1239/local-marketing-secrets 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Aaron Weiche

02:58 Understanding the Conversion Funnel

06:02 Common Mistakes in Conversion Optimization

08:55 The Importance of Speed to Lead

15:11 Optimizing Contact Forms

17:56 Trends in Communication Preferences

25:28 The Shift to Text Messaging in Communication

30:39 Creating a Conversion Platform: The Vision Behind Leadferno

35:16 Understanding Leadferno: Features and Differentiation

40:20 The Role of Automation and AI in Customer Communication

#localmarketing #localbusiness #homeservicebusiness #homeservicemarketing