Let’s start with this premise – people don’t want to be converted. It’s not why they visit your site. It is what you may have in mind, but noone wants to be sold or converted.
This is the conundrum. Most websites, while they may be well-designed, are focused on the Buy Now customer. It is the person with urgency and pain today. It is a rather small subset of potential buyers.
The greater majority are in the Buy Later, Learn Now category. Buying is a process. It happens when someone starts to focus on solving a problem. They get online and start researching and learning for themselves the very questions they should even be asking. If you are in a complex industry, the cycle is long as your potential buyers get comfortable and orient themselves to information they are alien to in their daily lives and work.
Typical websites fail to convert leads and here are some things you can focus on to avoid the pitfalls of missing your buyer:
- Brochure design. Marketers got in the business of website design and it shows. They present the company, the products and the content in a brochure format. It’s static and hyped. Compare this with sites that engage you and lead you down a process of learning. We ignore the hype and are trying to learn something.
- Vanity. Talking about yourself and how you great you are does little to build trust. Telling your story and helping people understand how you work and do business goes much further in building trust. Talk about the customers’ problems specifically and concretely. That builds your credibility and shows you care.
- No growth. Your content in the form of knowledge sharing and resources should be continually and regularly growing. If it is not, then you become irrelevant. It’s a one and done visit, especially as someone is just learning. You have the opportunity to be an authority on your industry, product or marketplace. Be that hub and the connection increases. Your brand is no longer a stranger.
- No follow-up. When someone is searching, they forget where they have been. If they were interested in your content and information, then what keeps them engaged or connected? Your site has to have marketing automation to nurture the relationship based on their preferences and behaviors. Otherwise, it is just a forgotten experience.
There is no shortage of badly designed or managed sites. Hopefully, your own systems can improve as you incorporate just these few strategies for your web presence. It is the art of turning a stranger into a friend by continually positioning and providing value in a one-to-one fashion.
How can you improve? Feel free to comment below.
