Question – What’s the key to increasing enquiries from your website?
Answer: Get out of your own ego, and get
into the ego of your prospects!
If your web site is disappointing you with the numbers of enquiries and sales it’s generating, you’re not alone. Unfortunately the majority of business owners have exactly the same experience.
Nowadays, a web site is arguably more important than any other promotional platform for your company, and has the potential to play a critical role in building your business. It should have a major positive impact on the productivity of your sales process.
A good site can increase your sales dramatically. A bad site will turn prospects right into the open arms of your competitors.
The good news is that it is relatively easy for you to make the changes necessary to see big differences in the performance of your web site.
In today’s blog post, I explain the single most important factor to keep in mind as you assess and improve your web site. I’ll also reveal how you can overcome one of the biggest challenges to getting more enquiries i.e. how to keep visitors on your site once they arrive.
What is the mindset of your typical visitor
and how are they thinking when
they first arrive at your site?
One of the first things to keep at the front of your mind when developing your web site strategy is that web browsers are impatient!
FACT – Over 90% of business users of the net are looking for information. They are doing their homework and searching for answers and potential partners and suppliers.
Think about it. After you have gone to the trouble of logging onto the web, typing in a company’s web address, (or going to a search engine and typing in your search phrase) waiting for it to load, and then searching the site’s pages, you want to be rewarded with plenty of helpful information that takes you closer to your desired result or outcome.
If the home page you find doesn’t immediately demonstrate that the site is likely to contain the information you’re looking for — especially the answers to your questions — it will kill any chances of you making an enquiry or ever convincing you to make a purchase, because you will have hit the back button!
How to encourage browsers to stay on your site…
The key is to get out of your own ego, and get into the ego of the prospects who are visiting your site. Put yourself in their shoes. Get into their mind-set.
They’re not interested in you, or your Company, and they’re certainly not going to suddenly make an enquiry just because your site looks the part!
So the principle of first attracting, then creating interest, arousing desire, and finally persuading a person to enquire about or purchase your product or service on the Net is…….
To give them what they want – useful benefit-led information and answers to their typical questions, so they can do their homework and find out what the benefits of your product /service would be to them.
The first thing a visitor to your site should therefore see when they arrive on your home page is a benefit-oriented headline.
I am bewildered by the number of web sites whose home page either proudly displays the name of the company, or begins with the words “Welcome to the ABC home page.”
Company or product names tell a customer nothing other than what he or she already knows.
You have only seconds to persuade a person to remain on your site and start exploring it further. A compelling headline – rather than your company or product name – will increase your visitor retention by up to 21 times.
Let me give you some examples………..
• If I was a computer retailer specialising in laptop brands, and my web site greeted you with the words:
“Get mobile and get ahead with a powerful Pentium laptop”
…I’ve provided you with no useful information. I will serve you better — and significantly increase my chances of keeping you on my site — and having you buy — by stating a compelling benefit:
“The largest selection of Pentium Laptops in the UK, backed by specialist laptop experts – so you get just the model you need”
That’s dramatically more useful, informative, and persuasive, isn’t it? Apply the same technique to products or services you promote on your web site.
Here’s some more examples…..
• Don’t feature your new under-floor heating system with the product name “XL120 Staywarm” – replace the product name with a succinct benefit:
“Breakthrough heating system works under tiles, wood and concrete screeds.
So simple to install it needs no specialist trades
– so you’ll save hundreds of pounds!!
• What about items which customers are searching for—like a particular CD, Hi Fi, exercise machine, car? Well the same applies.
If you are interested in buying the new John Williams CD, instead of my site simply stating “New John Williams CD”—which will only guarantee sales by hardcore John Williams fans—I will generate more sales by creating a benefit headline, like:
“New John Williams album: glorious, beautiful…
his most accomplished playing ever… 10-day FREE trial!”
You can see how a headline like this will not only compel hardcore fans but also convince far more browsers to buy.
• At the other end of the scale, if you were interested in the new Mercedes S-Class, a powerful headline like:
Official—the extraordinary new Mercedes S-Class:
“Most advanced car in the world.”
– is more likely to draw you into my site to discover more about the car. As long as you are targeted, my chances of then selling you an S-Class are considerably heightened.
95% of businesses on the net make this mistake…
Go to one hundred different web sites and you’ll be confronted with ninety-five home pages plastered with — guess what? — The company’s name. Then, lot’s of information all about them.
Only 5% of web sites capture your interest with a compelling headline, then instantly get you hooked on how you will benefit by staying on that site.
Make no mistake – if you don’t capture a person’s attention and interest within three or four seconds, they’re gone! One click of the mouse is all it takes to move off your site.
Direct Response strategies are scarce on the internet and present you with a major opportunity (if you use them) …
A benefit-led headline is the first of many direct response strategies that can dramatically increase the effectiveness of your website.
For more examples and free advice visit
www.common-sense-marketing.com
Or contact sally@common-sense-marketing.com
Blog written by Sally Stanton, Marketing Consultant,
Richard Lomax & Associates
Tel: 01692 538800, email: sally@common-sense-marketing.com