“Sell more? Without getting more people to visit my website?”
Sounds too good to be true right?
Not at all. It’s achieved by focusing on a specific group of people who are already visiting your website. To understand this group, you need to picture the wider range of people that visit your website.
- There are the people already buying from you. These are the success stories. Forget about this group.
- Then you have the visitors that were just looking for information, or they landed on your site by mistake, or they just didn’t want what you were selling. It doesn’t matter how persuasive your website content, they are not going to buy. Forget about this group.
- Some visitors are just browsing at the moment, they’re perhaps a couple of interactions away from buying. They need your attention, just not right now. Forget about them.
- This group is the target group. The money group. These visitors to your site wanted your service, they had the money and were almost going to make a purchase. But they didn’t. Close but no cigar.
Ok, you’re with me now, aren’t you? If you can get more of this final group to become customers (and we’ve established they were almost there anyway), you’ve increased sales without increasing traffic to your site.
So, the million dollar question for this group is: what makes them almost buy?
Fear of wasting money
This may be their money or someone else’s money. It doesn’t matter. They’re worried about making a bad decision and wasting valuable funds. These site visitors like your product but this fear of wasting money is strong; it’s just enough to stop them picking up the phone.
Fear of mockery
No one likes looking like a fool, so if there is a chance they’re about to make an error and their peers will learn of their mistake, it’s another powerful force to stop them taking action (i.e. making that order with you). It’s why we follow other people for guidance on what to do.
Fear of being conned
They have all experienced dodgy salesmen, too-good-to-be-true offers or a hidden catch in the small print. This builds up resistance to marketing. Every time they get spam, every time they smell a rat, every time they’re let down – they toughen up a bit.
So what does this mean for your website content?
Back up your promises
Why not offer a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee?
“But what if everyone asks for their money back?” Don’t worry, they won’t.
Only a tiny percentage of people will ask for their money back. And you can learn a lot from them when they do. The benefit you gain in sales will far outweigh those few people that ask for a refund. Do it and you’ve reduced their fear of wasting money.
Be trustworthy
Include testimonials that directly address the concerns your site visitors may have. Make sure your testimonials are real – never make them up – and always include the person’s name (with their permission) as it’ll seem more genuine. You’ve proved other people trust you, so you’ve reduced your visitor’s fear of mockery.
No hype
Be real, be human. Don’t hype up your offer so that it becomes less believable. Highlight the benefits of your service in plain English as if you were selling to a friend. Don’t sound like a dodgy salesmen. Bingo, you’ve reduced their fear of being conned.
Remember: you’re targeting that group of people that almost bought from you, that almost picked up the phone. Think about why they might not have taken action and then reassure them and build trust.
Once you’ve earned the trust of the group that almost bought from you, they’ll become your favourite group – the ones that do. And that means one thing to you: improved sales.
