How We Helped IA Path Get a 207% Increase in Traffic and 10X Their Leads

“If I wasn’t sending emails, doing social media, or talking to people on the phone, leads and sales would dry up. The organic traffic and email automation system that DCP set up for me has taken me off the lead generation hamster wheel. Now I sell more and work less.”

Chris Stanley

Founder and CEO, IA Path

The Client:

Chris Stanley has 12 years of experience as an auto damage appraiser and independent adjuster. Over the years, he noticed a severe lack of information and resources online for people interested in starting an independent adjusting business.

In 2016, Chris founded IA Path as a training and mentorship program, offering online and live programs to guide people through the process of becoming successful independent adjusters.

The Challenge:

As a solopreneur, Chris already had a grasp over all areas of his business, including content creation, marketing, and sales. His promotion strategies yielded him results, but they were time-consuming and labor-intensive.

At the time, Chris was manually promoting his content and services, which meant he couldn’t step away from the business. His ability to grow hit a wall — he was limited by the number of hours he spent talking to leads.

“I noticed that if I wasn’t replying to emails, if I wasn’t doing social media or talking to people on the phone, leads (and therefore sales) would dry up.

Ultimately, my goal is to have a business that I can step away from for 30 days at a time and it will still grow.”

IA Path had an email list, but it wasn’t growing. People weren’t finding IA Path at the right time, when they needed reliable information and advice. 

“Although we were still getting new ones, the email list was going stagnant. There was a breakdown with new emails coming in, which is the very beginning of the sales funnel.“

The challenge was sustainability. Chris was doing everything and didn’t have time to learn and develop a more hands-off strategy.

“I’m probably smart enough to do my own SEO, if I put my head to it. But I had to manage everything else about my business. It was a hustle day in and day out. 

Learning one more thing, then spending months on trial and error to find what works and what doesn’t just wasn’t going to happen. I needed somebody to take the reins and just do the work.”

This is where DCP hopped on board. 

The Solution:

DCP accepted the challenge and got to work on a custom SEO and content strategy for IA Path, so Chris could step back from the everyday hustle and focus on other core areas of his business. 

Because Chris was doing so much work to get leads and close sales, an email marketing funnel would be a big area of focus.

DCP started with a detailed SEO analysis to establish the baseline performance of the website and find opportunities for growth. 

Then, the team executed a unique content creation strategy in parallel with a new lead generation tactic to increase traffic, leads, conversions, and attack all problems at once. 

Here is the detailed process of what DCP executed for Chris and IA Path.

1. Analysed the search market for independent insurance adjusting and identified the real problems IA Path’s audience was experiencing.

“As self-proclaimed experts, we get so far into our heads that we forget the problems that our customers are actually having. Having a team to come back and indicate the real problems customers are having is immensely valuable. 

As a creator, you think: “How do we really know these are the problems customers are experiencing?”. But they really are, because there’s 2000 people every month looking for information on this exact topic. So why don’t you write about it and answer their questions? It was a mind-blowing revelation.”

2. Fixed onsite SEO issues quickly and moved on to a unique content production strategy, with Chris as lead writer and subject matter expert.

Instead of doing everything himself, as he had in the past, all Chris had to do was contribute his industry expertise. He didn’t even have to decide what to write about.

“The team was an extension of IA Path, but honestly, I felt like I was an extension of them. They already had the system to create great content.

One person would do the research and create the outlines. Another person would edit my draft and make sure the quality is top-notch. A third member did all the front-end stuff, set up WordPress, and made sure the page is 100% perfect. All I had to bring to the table was my thoughts and expertise accumulated over the years.”

“The fact is, before DCP, I had no system for SEO or article writing other than waking up with an idea, typing it out, and publishing it to WordPress.

It was very smooth in comparison, to have it brought in through the project management system. Even just skimming across the task put the article in my brain and when it came time to actually write it, I had already done it mentally.”

3. DCP created a new email sequence that automatically took visitors through the marketing funnel, generating quality leads from IA Path’s rapidly growing organic search traffic.

DCP knew that capturing leads early in their buying journey would be key to the hands-off growth Chris was after. 

With our content strategy in full swing, he was now reaching the right audience at the right time.

“DCP helped us not only get the traffic, but set up an email opt-in and a sequence that translated into a 10X increase in our leads. At six months, that’s beyond impressive.“

4. Finally, DCP delivered detailed reports that tracked IA Path’s performance and growth each month. 

At the same time, Chris could keep tabs on new content moving through various stages of production in real time, before it was published on his blog. 

Through a streamlined content management system, he could be as active as he chose (or had time for) in contributing to and approving articles.

The Results:

10X increase in leads in six months.

IA Path was accumulating well over 200 subscribers per month in July 2020, versus around 20 in December 2019. 

“I was hoping for maybe half. But to see 200, and potentially 300, emails coming in a month was mind-blowing. I think you even asked me at one point “How many a day would you like to see?” And I replied: “Well, 10 would be great, but I just don’t know if there’s that many people interested in my industry.”

207.3% increase in traffic year over year. IA Path received 3,064 sessions in July 2019. There were 9,417 sessions in July 2020. This is just six months into working with DCP.

Shrunk sales cycles 12 times. The conversion process was accelerated through targeted content that helped customers with valuable information and built trust. 

“Typically, the cycle from the time someone first encounters my company to selling was about a year. That has come down as short as a week, with the average probably around a month. 

Because of the content we’ve produced, customers are already well aware of our company. They have engaged with helpful articles on the website before we first speak, so it makes the sales process that much quicker and easier.”

More than 4X increase in revenue in six months. IA Path accumulated $8,500 in revenue in December 2019. The company received more than $36,000 from sales in July 2020. 

“It paid off and then some. I can’t thank DCP enough. My sales skyrocketed and my business became sustainable without me hustling all day every day to keep things going.”