Archive for August, 2004
How hard is it to hit the “REPLY” Button?
Customer visits your site.
Customer is very interested in what you have to sell.
Customer has question that she cannot find an answer to on your site.
Customer finds contact email and spends time typing an inquiry about your company/service/product. Hits send button.
Customer waits and waits and waits and waits and waits.
Customer gets NO reply.
Customer assumes you don’t want her business.
Customer begins to visit your competitors.
Customer finds the answer to their question and then purchases from your competitor.
All the web analytics, all the SEM , all the SEO, all the traffic increases, all the clever marketing strategies, all the best practices, all the best company strategies, all the best site design, all the best research in the world will do nothing for your company if you cannot do something as basic as take care of the the customer’s that visit your site. Seems simple, and it is. Maybe that is the problem. Maybe folks think the job of answering customer email inquiries is small potatoes and have delegated the job to someone in the company without the authority or knowledge to help the customers, worse yet to someone that does not give a whit about your customers.
Where are your customer’s emails going?
Show me the company that works it’s tail off to communicate and reply to customer inquiries and I will show you a company with better site performance, better conversion rates, more repeat customers, and better word of mouth.
Again it sounds soooooo basic, but seems like alot of companies are ignoring it. Scope this article from Internet Retailer.
26% of retailers fail to reply to customer e-mail inquiries, study saysAlthough more than a quarter, or 26%, of retailers failed to respond to e-mail inquiries from customers seeking to make a purchase, the retail industry outperformed the cross-industry response rate of 41% in a recent study by Benchmark Portal and sponsored by eGain Communications Corp.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
Broadband and a Faster Vs. Richer User Experience
Late last week Internet Retailer reported on some very exciting news. Just a tad over 50% of US Households are accessing the internet using a broadband connection. Read the whole story.
This is good great news for ecommerce, it means the internet is becoming more important to people, it also means that some are going to spending more time, and eventually more money. Niiiice.
The worst thing that could happen now is a lot of ‘creative’ or ‘rich media’ web developers view this news as an excuse to build bandwidth intensive sites.
Please don’t.
Remember there are still 49% of folks who are still on dial-up, that’s alot of folks. Not to mention, people are buying broadband for a reason, they want a faster surfing experience. They are looking for speed, not a ‘richer’ media experience. How much better will the broadband users experience be if you continue to optimize for dial-up? The faster your site is percieved to load, the better your visitors experience on your site will be.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
Don’t Eat My Cookie!!!
If you’re business depends on using Web Analytics or any kind of tracking cookies it is imperative you read Dave Morgan’s column on ClickZ - The Endangered Cookie . This is one of the main issues the newly formed Web Analytics Association is dealing with in their Advocacy committee. If you want to get involved let us know.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
Linkin’ Ain’t Easy
When the crew at Future Now isn’t researching and developing new foreward thinking tools and methods to increase our client’s conversion rates each of us willingly donate a little free time to help the wardrobe-challenged Bryan Eisenberg find just the right clothes to wear to whatever speaking appearance is next on his calender.
Today it was my turn, and after a couple google searches I believed I hit paydirt. The How-To article on the site indicated to me that the clothes I would find here would definately fit Bryan’s ‘vibe’.
But something was missing in the article. There were no links to appropriate products for sale anywhere in the article. Come on guys, we know linkin’ ain’t easy either, but this is Internet Persuasion 101. We have been jumpin’ up and down screamin about adding product links on articles, well since Future Now day one.
And as synchronicity would have it, on the same day I hear usability dude Jakob Neilson now thinks it’s a good idea too. See his most current article for a nice little basic refresher course.
I did manage to discover a nice outfit for him, it was only after a few frustrating clicks around the site. Another gripe I have about this site: why no wishlist? Bummer! But just in case you are wondering Bryan would really like to have a pair of these.
Oh, and btw..is it just me or is the Jakob/Homer resemblence a wee bit uncanny?
Do’h!!
Seriously…are you including links to products and services on your site in your site content and articles? If not you’re missing opportunities to convert.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
Dull Web Page Copy - To Know it is to Avoid it - Part 2
During a previous post we began a study of the Dullest Blog In The World, using the dull copy as an example of what not to do when writing for the web. We continue with the 3rd and final element of dull copy.
Dull Element #3 - Colorless Verbs and Nouns
Let’s take a look at a post from November 14, 2003…
Tying my shoelace
The lace on one of my shoes was undone. I knelt down, took the two ends of the lace in my hand and tied them together. Having tied my lace I stood up again.
Not a trace of anything with color or personality here. Several verbs here, several nouns and not a single one adds life or association to the post. A quick rewrite will show you how to add a little life to a dull topic with just a sprinkle of unpredictability.
Untied shoelaces
The lace on my shoe was unlooped. Kneeling down, I grasped the ends of each lace in my hands and twisted, tied, and tightened them. Mission accomplished, I stood.
This rewrite is a little better but no work of art, you must understand that even the best writing won’t help when your content is weak and irrelevant. What I am hoping to demonstrate is how using less preditible verbs and nouns in your copy can make a difference. Even the most ‘professional’ of products and services can be made to sound colorful, powerful and trustworthy using unpredictable verbs and nouns that bring associative meaning to your copy.
You will notice that I did not mention anything about colorful adjectives. Overused and flowery adjectives are the favored tools of an amateur.
Let’s take a gander at a great before and after example
Before
Powered by the Volvo D4D high performance, low emission engine, this all-rounder provides high rimpull, excellent penetration and fast acceleration in whatever you do. With its superb low rpm performance, the Volvo engine responds immediately to the operator’s commands, making your operation more productive.The Volvo high performance, low emission engine generates high torque at low rpm, for quick response and low exhaust emissions that meet existing requirements including EPA Tier 2.
After
It’s our job to help you do yours – no matter how big. And the full line of Volvo Wheel Loaders is always up to the task. Whether you move rock, earth, timber, sand or snow, a wide range of Volvo Wheel Loaders and attachment options are available to help you conquer the elements.Dig deeper in this section to find the perfect Volvo Wheel Loader for your operation. You’ll get all the information you need to make the right decision – including financing options, full product specifications, competitive comparisons and you can also find out how to take a local demo.
Climb into the cab of a Volvo Wheel Loader and get to work. Along with unmatched production and power, Volvo Wheel Loaders help you move it - with ease, speed, cost-efficiency and comfort.
Another example of un-dull copy is the X-Arcade 2-Player, notice how the lifetime warranty section, a topic usually written in legal speak, is infused with life and attitude.
And lastly, Librarians may seem dull to some, but well written copy can make them action heroes.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
When Binary Thinking Collides With Fuzzy Understanding
The present SEM market was formed when an obsession with “instant” results collided with marketers misunderstanding of the purchase consideration process to produce a form of binary thinking that severely limits marketers’ ability to persuade. Persuasion is not a binary (on or off) or linear process. Persuasion is an iterative process.
The Internet cannot be understood as a purely direct marketing vehicle but it also cannot be understood simply using the traditional brand marketing paradigm. On the Internet the entire persuasive experience needs to be architected; hence Persuasion Architecture.
This was inspired by Fredrick Marckini’s (CEO of iProspect) excellent column in ClickZ. titled:
Why Nonconverting Keywords Will Drive Search Ad Spend
“…Direct marketing mustn’t be the one-hit wonder of your MP3 playlist. Unfortunately, direct marketing is the only song search advertising is singing now.”
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
Dull Web Page Copy - To Know it is to Avoid it - Part 1
Let’s face it, the internet is rampant with dull copy, copy so dull it can make even the most exciting product seem excruciatingly boring. Dull copy can take special moments in life and reduce you to tears of boredom, dull copy you can even take all the fun out of pretending to be Harry Potter.
So how does one avoid writing dull copy? One technique is to closely study the elements of dull copy and avoid them like bad breath. To accomplish this what better way than to study the dull copy at the World’s Dullest Blog.
Dull Element #1 - Boring Irrelevant Content.
With post titles like Looking At A Wall, Turning Off A Light, Taking an Item Out of Drawer, the Dullest Blog somehow selects the most mundane boring topics and spotlights them. It’s funny here, but when you do the same thing with your product by taking the irrelevant and expected features and hi-light them as something special you are successfully boring and repelling your visitors .
Dull Element #2 - Lack of specifics
Generalities are great for bigots and bad copy writers, but when writing persuasive copy for the web you should offer your visitor specifics.
On January 21st, we read from the Dullest Blog…
Taking an item out of a drawer
I opened a drawer by pulling it towards me. I picked up the object I needed and removed it from the drawer. Having done so I pushed the drawer with my hand, thus closing it.
Once again it’s funny here, but one of the most relevant specifics is left out of this copy…What was removed from the drawer? Your visitors have relevant questions about the specifics of your products, are those included in your copy? Or are you just spouting the ‘unique’ features of your product. Remember my recent frustration with Ediets.com and their lack of presenting me a very important specific upfront? Absence of specifics could hand a conversion to one of your competitors.
On the next post we’ll explore Dull Element #3 and some examples of ‘un-dull’ copy.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
The Conversion Rate Daydream of a Persuasion Architect
Persuasion Architects daydream like everybody else.
We dream of untold riches, world peace, distant rich uncles leaving a sizeable inheritance, island paradise vacations, fancy cars, winning the lottery, you know…the typical stuff. But this weekend I had a daydream only a Persuasion Architect could have.
It must have started Friday when I read three stories posted on Internet Retailer, each story projecting tremendous growth for ecommerce. One story told how Forrester research projects that by 2010 13% of all general merchandise spending will be spent online, then I read another about micropayments tripling in 6 years, the final story told about how digital music sales will explode over the next years to an impressive $1.7 billion annually.
On Sunday I skim a few other stories about email marketing and the projected flooding of the average Joe’s inbox, I read another about how search engine marketing is running out of ad space.
I think to myself...”At the same time that online market potential is growing at an exponential rate, the ability to efficiently market to customers is shinking. Advertising will always be with us, it is just going to get more expensive and easier for customers to ignore.”
“Hmmmmm” I think… “The ongoing fragmentation of mass media is a festering and expanding problem offline, and the cost of online advertising through search engines and other means is climbing because of demand and limitations. Profitable email campaigns look to be in trouble too. What is the average business to do?”
My obvious conclusion was that converting the traffic you already have into customers, not buying traffic through marketing , is the most efficient means to grow business online and off. Website conversion rates, not marketing, will be a key business battleground in the next few years, and universally unavoidable for businesses online in 5-7 years. I know, I know I’m choir preachin’ right?
Next I recall our most recent Future Now Staff meeting, and remember Jenn Weeks recount of her time speaking with several ebusiness folk at the recent SES. She shared her frustration about how too many of those she talked to were only paying lip service to Conversion Rates.
Then I got lost in my daydream.
“What if…” I dreamed to myself “…what if all these bozos who aren’t serious about conversion rates stay that way? What if they miss the obvious writing on the wall and continue business as usual for the next 5-7 years? Wouldn’t that be just wonderful!!????? That way when the not-so-serious-about-conversion-rate people’s competitors contact us for help with conversion rates it will be that much easier for us kick the not-so-serious-people’s tail ends. Now wouldn’t that be great?”
***sinister laugh goes here***
Sure I may be a daydreamer , but if you think you can continue on ignoring conversion rate, thinking the answer to more business is to buy more business then I have a question for you… Are you just daydreaming or are you asleep at the wheel?
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
When Your Customers Speak English and You Don’t , Website Conversion Will Suffer
As a persuasion architect it is my job to ‘translate’ industry and insider terms used by our clients and help them communicate the benefits of those terms and features in a way that will best appeal to a persona’s motives.
It is now my mission in life to sign this company (wmv download) up as a Future Now client and charge them by the word. Then our team can start looking for places to retire.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
Hats Off To Our Persuasion Architecture Partner iProspect
HatWorld.com learns how to fish the bigger pond
Incorporating persuasion into the buying process early lets e-retailers reach past visitors who arrive ready to buy into the larger pool of those who aren’t, but might be convinced to. That’s the goal of HatWorld.com and Persuasion Architecture. Read the entire story.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
