Buying Process
Why Virgin’s Banner Ads Work, Even on Facebook!
Traditional banner ads can be frustrating. They’re easy to ignore. And all too often, the landing page on the other side of the click doesn’t fulfill the promise of the ad.
So why not try something new, like placing an ad on Facebook, where captive users are forced to see it right there in their news feeds?
That’s Virgin America’s strategy. But is it anything new?
Despite the hype, social media ads are rarely different than traditional banner or pay-per-click ads. The landscape has changed slightly, but the need for fundamental persuasion and conversion tactics remains. As always, better planning makes all the difference. Let’s take a look…
A Smooth Takeoff
Here’s Virgin’s latest “sponsored news feed item” — i.e., fancy contextual banner ad that targets only certain demographics:
As you can see, the language is simple and engaging. A time limit (March 28) is set, thus creating a sense of urgency without drilling it into the customer’s head.
Nobody likes to be yelled at, especially not on an airplane. So why yell at them to “BUY NOW”? Virgin knows better, and this ad’s subtlety makes it that much more click-worthy.
A Soft Landing (Page)
The landing page continues the scent trail that started with the banner ad. Notice how the exact wording carries over.
See that? Change may be “in the air,” but Virgin was smart to stick with their original verbiage.
What’s even more interesting is that this landing page is actually the VirginAmerica.com homepage. It was the homepage last week, when the March 28 promotion was happening, anyway. This week, there’s a new promotion, and a new homepage message to match.
Consistency across channels is what ensures the success of Virgin’s ad buys. By adjusting the homepage to match their current campaigns, they’re capitalizing on the persuasive momentum of their various banner ad campaigns. (This screen shot proves that Virgin’s Facebook ads are no different than any of their other banners. Would they change the company’s homepage just to match a persuasion scenario that starts at Facebook? Nope.)
Persuade → Qualify → Convert
Virgin America continues the momentum from click-to-click by keeping it simple and keeping visitors engaged on the active window. By showing all March 28-related promotions on a single page, they’re reduce friction in the buying process.
Virgin uses this page to reinforce the visitor’s original interest while introducing a few more offers, thereby qualifying our needs. We click through, and it’s off to the booking engine.
Like most e-commerce shopping carts, it seems flight-booking engines were made to confuse us. Not Virgin’s. Theirs is intuitive and straightforward. As you can see, several steps are combined into one. It’s the website usability equivalent of the magical airplane stall door lock (which doubles as a light switch, and triples as a switch for the fan).
The only downside to having a site that works this well is that now Virgin needs to make sure people enjoy the flight as much as they enjoyed booking it. But if the real experience is anything like the one online, it looks like they’ve got you covered.
CMO’s should take notice.
While there’s no such thing as a perfect website, you should still try to convert like a Virgin.
Related Posts:
Written by:Peter Lee
The Good, The Bad & The Pay-Per-Click Ugly
A few months ago, I showed how Dell had bought a PPC ad for “bestbuy Sony DSC-W80,” and although they were smart to buy this highly-targeted search term, there was no follow-through on the landing page.
Bryan Eisenberg bought the camera last year and was so happy with its performance that he’s been spreading the word around the office ever since. After doing a routine Google search, we noticed — unsurprisingly — that there are a lot of bidders for the term “Sony DSC W80″.
What we soon found was that, much like Dell, the landing pages these other e-tailers were taking visitors to illustrated everything from the good, to the bad, to the PPC-ugly.
Plenty of options…
Looks like there’s a lot of competition for this search term. If a searcher clicks one link and doesn’t find what they’re looking for, it will be easy for them to hit the Back button, to see if the competition makes learning about it — and eventually buying it — easier.
When customers have this many options, getting your link on the front page of Google isn’t enough; you have to bring them as far into the buying process as you can with the information you are given. Lets take a look at how well the different options presented here do at bringing the searcher closer to the purchase.
Make sure the Landing Page works
Walmart.com had one of the top 3 paid search results. When we click their link, we assume we’ll be taken where we’ll easily find the product that was advertised. Instead, the customer is brought to a non-working page (curiously titled “walmart9.com”), forcing them to click the Back button.
Obviously, Wal-Mart needs to update this URL. While it may have once led somewhere, it now only brings frustration to the camera-seeking masses. They’re losing sales and paid search credibility with anyone who clicks it.
Walmart.com surely has a massive PPC budget to oversee, and updates like this can slip through the cracks. But it serves as a good reminder to keep tabs on your paid search ads. If you notice one is converting poorly, or not at all, you should at least make sure the landing page works.
Give us a Brand or Category Page (at least)
Thankfully, Vanns.com doesn’t give us a broken link, yet it merely brings us to the homepage. This won’t do.
Since I typed in a specific brand and model number, I expect to be brought to a Product Page — or, at the very least, a Brand Page or Category Page. They have exact information about the product I’m looking for and they just drop me off on the homepage? Leaving it up to the visitor to first find a tiny “Digital Cameras” link, then navigate through the site to find the Product Page, is an unnecessary gamble, especially since the paid search link promised “Sony DSC W80 in stock!”
Why not take me directly to the Product Page instead of making me scan the homepage just to find a Category Page?
Sony’s word against Bryan’s?
You’d think the company that made the product would have something to say about the camera, even if it’s discontinued — which, apparently, it is. At this point, the halo from Bryan’s positive word-of-mouth is beginning to crack. (”Thanks a lot, buddy. Does this camera really exist?”)
SonyStyle.com is missing out on an opportunity here. Although they no longer make the camera, they could provide links to similar cameras, especially if there’s a newer versions of the same model — which there is. They could use this page to show improvements that were made to the newer model. This page provides visitors with nowhere to go besides Back.
• Manufacturers: It takes time to get the word out about your products. If you don’t take advantage of it, you’ll lose some sales from late adopters (a huge chunk of the market).
• Retailers: Don’t forget to capitalize on positive word-of-mouth from older model numbers. Turn would-be customers for those older products into buyers of the newer ones. If you still offer popular discontinued products, leverage that advantage with targeted Pay-Per-Click ads and Landing Pages.
Unscramble the Search
Finally, the product I’m looking for — and it’s right on the landing page. NewEgg.com has it down. They even show visitors the newer model on the same page!
NewEgg removes all the obstacles a visitor might go through to find the product (they’ve already clearly told Google) they’re looking for. They place visitors in the perfect place; this is where customers are in the buying process when they search for “Sony DSC W80″. It was a little harder to find this camera than it should have been, but ultimately, NewEgg shows how to get the most out of your PPC ads.
New research shows that fewer people are clicking Pay-Per-Click ads on Google. In past discussions on this blog, readers have expressed that they no longer use PPC ads because of numerous bad experiences. Perhaps that’s why so many companies out there aren’t optimizing or paying attention to their PPC ads, which — soon enough — affects how useful they are for consumers.
If Pay-Per-Click is part of your online strategy, make sure your ads are optimized. Otherwise, you’re leaving money on the table. PPC can be very valuable when used properly. But if you neglect it, and the experience isn’t useful for customers, these campaigns can negatively effect your business.
To be truly PPC- and Landing Page-savvy, here’s how to appeal to all buying modes.
. .
[Editor’s Note: Want to convert more customers with your Pay-Per-Click campaign? Contact us.]
Related Posts:
Written by:Daniel McGuigan
That’s My Amazon Kindle, But Those Aren’t My Hands
I’m not known for being a detail person. I’m not the type of woman who can tell you where we had our first date, what you were wearing, or what we ate, but I can tell you whether we had a good time. But when it comes to marketing to women, I’m starting to notice everything.
It usually starts with a feeling that something’s not right. That’s what happened when I kept seeing banner ads for Amazon’s new reading device, Kindle.
When I looked closer, I realized the problem - this is a first-person view, but those aren’t my hands. They’re very nice hands, but they’re a man’s hands. I thought I was being pretty nitpicky here, but it still bothered me that those weren’t my hands. So imagine my surprise when I went to Amazon to do a little holiday shopping and there it was: My personalized homepage with an ad for the Kindle. But this time… Those ARE my hands! (Well, not my hands, exactly, but a woman’s hands nonetheless.)
I wonder, does Amazon change the Kindle ad on your homepage based on whether your name indicates you’re a man or a woman? I don’t know. Anyone else have an Amazon homepage? Is the Kindle held by a man’s hands or a woman’s?
I was so impressed to see my own hands holding the device, I actually clicked through to read more about it. It looks pretty cool. But I had one big question: “Can you adjust the text size?” I can’t see. Really. It’s a problem. I sometimes won’t buy a book if the text size is too small, and it’s not like you can adjust the text size on a book. I didn’t end up seeing any information on the product page about adjustable text size until I scrolled way down to the bottom. Finally, I saw that, yes, you can indeed adjust text size on the Kindle.
Amazon, you’re doing a lot of things right here — (as of today, Kindles are sold out, so check back with Amazon for updates) — but if I could make one suggestion: Make the adjustable text size a main selling benefit and have it in a large, bold font. For those of us with poor eyesight, this could be the main reason for buying the gadget.
It’s sort of ironic, but the Kindle page should be a lesson to all of us. Showing benefits right away is a must, and readability matters — especially when “readability” is the main selling point for some people. Behavioral and demographic targeting is one thing, but the experience falls flat without persuasive copy.
Related Posts:
Written by:Holly Buchanan
Women Buy Electronics? No Kidding?
It was one of those eye-opening moments. I was in Toronto eating dinner at a cafe by a park, people-watching (one of my favorite pastimes). I saw a guy walking his dog and some kids skateboarding, doing tricks and racking up some serious bruises. And I saw women — some alone, some walking in pairs.Here’s what struck me: Every single woman was on the phone or texting on her BlackBerry. Every single one. Most of the guys were gadget-free. This seemed pretty funny to me since so many consumer electronics marketing efforts remain geared toward men.
Women are an extremely important market for consumer electronics. There is a huge opportunity here, especially since, according to one study in the UK, electronic retailers are doing such a poor job of understanding and reaching out to this market. Here’s what study has to say:
Thirty-five per cent of female internet users polled said they would increase their spending on consumer electronics if marketers and retailers thought harder about how they approach them and offered more guidance in stores and on e-commerce sites.
A staggering one in two women said they walk out of shops and leave websites without buying anything because they’re unable to find what they want, representing a huge opportunity for brand owners and retailers who are prepared to rethink their approach.
One third of women do not feel confident enough to ask questions in stores with one respondent describing electronics retailers as reeking of a “strong scent of man”.
Almost one in three women do not consider technology advertising relevant to them and the majority of women feel disillusioned that brand owners and retailers don’t understand what they care about and don’t view them as a relevant group of customers.
Ouch! That’s pretty harsh. But if you sell consumer electronics, and you have a website, this could be really good news. More and more women are researching products online before they buy — online or offline. So answer her questions on your website. Help her find the products that best meet her individual needs. Lose the techno-jargon and speak in plain English.
Here’s a great example of a big screen TV guide. See how the copy explains more than just features and benefits; it provides useful information to help her decide which type of TV would be best for her.
First, decide if you want the TV to be on a table, on the floor or on the wall. The advantage of LCD TVs is that they age very well. They rely on a light bulb that can be replaced after it burns out, which usually happens at the five-year mark.
LCD TVs also are very easy on the environment. They draw little power, and their production generates little in the way of hazardous materials. The disadvantage of LCD TVs is that they are relatively expensive and don’t get much larger than 30 inches. Also, demand for these things has been so strong lately that they actually have been creeping up in price because manufacturers can’t make enough of them.
That’s where plasma TVs pick up. Their displays are typically between 40 and 60 inches, and that is their main advantage over LCDs. Like everything else, plasma displays wear out. Under heavy use, you’ll get about three years out of a plasma display before you notice severe fading. If you leave a plasma display on all the time, it might actually degrade to a point at which it is nearly useless. What wears out is the panel itself — kind of like how a fluorescent bulb wears out — and there is nothing to do but discard it. Fortunately, they too are relatively environmentally friendly.
This is the kind of honest, transparent guidance she’s looking for. She cares about the placement of the TV, how long it will last, and, yes, women care about environmentally friendly products.
Would men also appreciate this kind of plain-spoken advice? Sure they would.
Does your website provide helpful guidance? Are you helping her to figure out which product is best for her? Or are you just listing features and product specs?
Related Posts:
Written by:Holly Buchanan
Why I Nearly Flaked on the Season Pass
Last winter, when I made my temporary move to Salt Lake City, I started researching the local ski resorts. The mountains surrounding the city are known for having some of the world’s biggest and lightest powder snow. I was convinced by the customer reviews I’d read online that were written by local ski bums from Utah.
Time and again, I read and heard reviews about the Snowbird resort having some of the most challenging terrain, coated by the area’s best powder. So when I finally got a chance to ski Snowbird’s Cottonwood Canyons trails for myself, I quickly turned into a raving Snowbird fan.
I was set on getting a season’s pass for the this year. And after reading reviews like this one from CitySearch, my excitement about the upcoming ski season reached fever pitch:
Depending on the characteristics of — or our level of attachment to — the must-have thing du jour, we all buy in different buying modes to match our feelings about it. I typically purchase commodities in a more Spontaneous mode, but I take my ski season very seriously, and my search for a good deal on a Snowbird pass turned into a Methodical review of various resources to find the ultimate deal. I took my time and I read everything I could before I pounced.
Although I knew I wanted a season’s pass, I had a hard time justifying the steep price Snowbird was asking ($1,149). If the season let me down with only a few big snow days, I could be kicking myself for risking that much money.
As the summer came to a close, I got a little anxious about my upcoming purchase. Around this time, I heard a radio ad about “Sniagrab,” an annual sale run by the Sports Authority a local sporting goods chain called Canyon Sports. They were offering discount season’s passes to Snowbird. I don’t recall them specifying a sale closing date, but when I called Canyon Sports (shortly after hearing the ad), I was let down when I heard I’d missed the sale by one day. Maybe it’s my fault that I missed their sale, but the ad was vague and I had still acted quickly. It made me feel stupid — as dumb as that sounds.
Chances are you won’t catch me in a Canyon Sports any day soon.*
Unwilling to give up my quest for a deal, I searched for “snowbird seasons pass” at Craigslist. Believe it or not, there was a woman who posted a 10-day pass because she’d recently broken a bone and wouldn’t be skiing this season. She was selling it at a discount because she obviously needed to give the buyer an incentive to purchase from her, rather than go directly to the source. But since I was planning on skiing more than 10 days, I continued my search.
I sent an email to my local friends, asking if any of them had a connection to help me out. To my delight, I received a reply from a snowboarding friend. He encouraged me to join the Velocity Sports club in order to get a discount at Snowbird. Velocity’s an exclusive club, so in order for me to join, my friend had to sponsor me. He was only allowed to sponsor one person annually. There was also a $40 membership fee that I had to pay upfront. I signed up and paid my dues but this still didn’t guarantee me a discounted season’s pass. Before I had a shot at one, they made a limited promotion available to existing members who have been members for over a year. So I waited and waited for a reply.
After two weeks without a reply, I sent them a follow-up email. They told me I would hear back from them in a couple of weeks. When three more weeks passed without a reply, I decided to email again. That same day, I received a phone call from Velocity Sports, telling me that the promotion was now open to me but I had only two days to take action.It’s a good thing I didn’t miss the promotion (like I had with the Canyon Sports promo). It would’ve been nice to have gotten periodic updates from Velocity about the promotion. Then again, maybe I would have never even heard from them had I not been really good at nagging! Regardless, they came through for me in a big way, and I got my season’s pass for $799; a $310 savings (after membership fee) over buying directly from Snowbird.
No matter where they decide to buy a product, 64% of customers regularly do their research online before they go for it. In this case, there were a few multi-channel influencers (i.e., the radio ad, craigslist, Snowbird.com) in my buying decision process, but only the consumer-generated media (i.e, the customer reviews and word-of-mouth) had a positive influence on where I actually bought the thing.
The bottom line: It seems the local skiing/snowboarding community is more involved in finding and offering good deals for Snowbird customers than Snowbird is itself.
What do you think? Am I just griping, or should Snowbird consider being more involved in the community in order to better harness their marketing potential?
[Editor’s Note: See comments below. Our sincere apologies go out to everyone at Canyon Sports. Although it seems the Sports Authority chain — not Canyon Sports — has the Sniagrab Sale, there’s too much confusion about who Melissa called. Did she call Canyon Sports, and they answered her about a different sale that just ended? Who knows? Still, it seems there’s a whole lot of ski marketing fog to break through in Utah. Either that, or Melissa needs to stop multi-taking when she drives. 
]
Related Posts:
Written by:Melissa Burdon
Screencast: Building Trust & Credibility Online
If the roof of your home started leaking, you probably wouldn’t waste much time trying to fix it. And unless you happen to be a carpenter, you’re likely to find someone else to do the job. You’d probably call a professional; someone with experience, who can find the source of the problem and patch things up. A leaky roof isn’t generally a good place to shop on price alone. You want to know that whomever you hire can be trusted.
Well, your website isn’t much different. Each day, visitors come to your site, hoping to find someone they can trust. The strange thing is that people tend to think that the words they use online are somehow different than the words they use face-to-face. They’re not. But online, you need to be even more careful about how you relate to would-be customers. They’ve got less to go on. Looking you in the eye isn’t an option, and talk remains cheap — even if it’s in the form of web copy. So, it’s your job to change that around; an especially difficult thing for smaller and/or local brands.
Today, I’m going to show you how one of my clients, Roof Life of Oregon (www.rooflife-oregon.com), used Persuasion Architecture™ to replace their own, virtual roof. I’ll show you how each page uses trust-building elements to create persuasive momentum with the customer to make them feel at home.
Have you used any of these techniques before? Are there any websites you like to visit that inspire confidence? Ones that need fixing?
If you have questions about how to build trust online, please share them in the comments.
Related Posts:
Written by:Dave Young
How Female Execs Shop for Consultants
Do women behave the same way in the office as they do at home? Is their buying process the same whether they are buying products and services for their home, or products and services for their company?
Deloitte & Touche is trying to find out.
According this Wall Street Journal article, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP has implemented a new program in conjunction with Marti Barletta’s TrendSight Group, to better understand the needs of female clients and train employees on how to treat them like, well, females.
Deloitte began offering four-hour workshops on gender differences to its employees last year. Among its other suggestions:
Don’t be frustrated if female clients reevaluate or modify their initial requests; because they discover as they shop, women may be very receptive to suggestions about other services.
Women clients want to know and trust their consultants personally as well as professionally; sharing personal details can help build trust.
Women often prefer business lunches to dinners, because they tend to have more responsibilities at home. And they may be more receptive to evening social invitations if asked with sufficient time to make arrangements at home.
Body language differs by gender. Men tend to stare as they listen and nod to signify they understand. Women may nod when they don’t yet understand to encourage the speaker to keep talking. And while consultants often seat themselves beside a male client as their “right hand man,” women are more comfortable seated face to face.
There’s certainly some valuable insight here. I do believe Deloitte will see some positive results. And I applaud any company willing to spend the time and money to truly understand their customers and their customers’ needs.
One point I found particularly interesting was the suggestion that you bring “subordinates” into meetings, so your female clients can meet the people they well be working with. I agree whole heartedly. Women do want to meet the actual people who will be doing the work. But what really interested me was the use of the word “subordinates.” (Can you say “male communication style“?) That’s a loaded word. It implies hierarchy, status, and that such people are “less than.” Be very careful with your choice of words.
There are two things I hope Deloitte will be careful of:
1.) You don’t want women to feel patronized.
2.) You don’t want your employees to stereotype female clients.
This last point is very important. As I’ve found in my research, there’s no such thing as “all women want this” or “all women do that.” Automatically treating someone a specific way just because she’s a woman is dangerous.
I do think there’s some valuable insight that has come from this training program. I’ll be very interested to see the results and feedback Deloitte gets from their female clients.
In the meantime, be sure to read Tami Anderson’s perspective, and let us know what you think of Deloitte’s research in the comments.
Related Posts:
Written by:Holly Buchanan
Why Must I “Register” Before Checkout?
We’re in the final moments of completing our Customer Focus Study, 2007 here at Future Now. We haven’t done one of these in the past couple years, and there’s already some shocking stuff popping out from the early analysis. One of the most interesting facts is that nearly half of the top online retailers still require people to register before they checkout.
Now, I understand how valuable executives think it is to have these customer accounts, but — of the hundreds we’ve analyzed — how many retailers do you think actually tested whether requiring people to register pre-checkout is costing them conversions (read: sales)?*
Retailers spend so much money driving new traffic to the site, only to force visitors away by asking them to register up-front. Most of the information you need to create an account will be asked in the checkout process, anyway. Get the cash (GTC) first, then do like TravelSmith does and offer the option to create an account after the order is complete.
The silliest thing I’ve seen in awhile happened as I was reviewing one of the retailers in our study. I was working my way through the account registration process for one of the sites. After filling out most of the form, I kept getting an error message. I couldn’t figure out. This site demanded an answer:
- “Yes, I would like to receive e-mail from Schwan’s.”
- “No, please don’t send me e-mail.”
On most retail sites, you just uncheck the check box and avoid their e-mails. This one used radio buttons, altering the standard experience by having me choose just one. Why?
[*Share your best guess in the comments.]
Related Posts:
Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Trustmarks & BizRate: Building & Breaking Trust Online
One of the most common interview questions I get is, “How do you build trust online?” If you don’t have a well known brand, how do you overcome the different barriers the web provides?
The web is anonymous; you can say you’re one type of person or entity and, in fact, be another. We have to deal with all the other people who are online, polluting the space with interruptive, bogus messages and less-than-credible offers. So, what can you do to build trust online?
Many factors influence online trust. Some of them include, a “professional” design, “good” copy, “quality” images, an “engaging” online experience, “credible”-sounding reviews, an “openness” to be contacted, external reputation and, sometimes, trustmarks (e.g., Better Business Bureau, Verisign, BizRate or HackerSafe). Notice that every factor except trustmarks is based on perception, — not reality, necessarily.
Trustmarks: Either you have ‘em or you don’t. But not all trustmarks are equal, and they’re still subject to the public’s perception of that trustmark extending its halo effect to you.
In the near future, I’ll post about each one of these trust building factors separately. But today, let me illustrate why trustmarks sometimes fail.
It all has to do with the neighbors you keep. At one point, having a BizRate logo meant something. The general feeling among those in the know was that they sold out from being a trustmark to become a product search engine. (When they don’t really stand for one thing — e.g., “buy with confidence” — trustmarks cease to be effective.) When consumers see a trustmark on another website, and that website betrays their trust or provides a sub-par experience, trust erodes and the halo effect from the trustmark can no longer transfer to your website.
Why should anyone trust BizRate?
BizRate.com conducts post-purchase surveys to evaluate whether customers will shop at the same store again. Did they deliver on time? Did they have good customer support? Did the product they ordered meet expectations? BizRate gets answers to these questions, and even tells you how many shoppers shopped at their store.
Take a look at the thumbnail picture for a screenshot from electronic retailer B&H Photo. Notice how they have a 98-99% positive rating. They have this green smiley face with all these lines around it. This seems to be a trust worthy store, no doubt.
Now let’s compare a few more store profiles that have green smiley faces (see below) to indicate positive stores. Would you trust someone who says a store is “green smiley” positive when 20% of it’s customers have a negative experience? 10%? 5%? What do you think your customers think about when they see you associated with companies that provide negative experiences 1 out of every 5 times? Do you think BizRate can be trusted? Can they actually extend that halo of trust?
If they want to maintain that halo of trust in the mind of the consumer, every trustmark provider needs to step up and start being accountable for their vendors. What standards should they accept?
Trustmarks work when they stand for something.
As I continue to explore trust in the next few weeks, I will dissect eCOST.com. On the surface, they look credible — but if you dig enough, you can figure out why 20% of their customers have negative experiences (a percentage that would hardly inspire confidence on eBay).
Related Posts:
Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Screencast: Hunting for Early Bird Persuasion, Part 3
Now that you’ve seen Parts 1 and 2, where we found that the smartest way to persuade early-stage customers is to educate them, let’s focus on how to provide a consistent experience for them.
As we look at how Cabelas.com and BassProShops.com prepare to catch the Early Bird customer, consider the following:
- Relevance — If they’re not ready yet, don’t get carried away. (Is your website proposing marriage on the first date?)
- Screen Space — Early Birds need to know that they’re welcome, right from the homepage. Give them enough space, and combine relevance with scent to lead them in the right direction. (Use the battleship grid to protect the Early Bird from winding up in irrelevant worm holes.)
- Scent Trails — Not even the brightest of basset hounds can help you with this one, but creating the right scent for the customer to follow is key; particularly when they’re early in the buying process, and may not even have the vocabulary to know what they should be asking. If they come in with the wrong questions, and don’t buy, they should at least leave with the right ones. Help them find their way.
- AIDAS — Awareness. Interest. Desire. Action. Satisfaction. If customers aren’t aware of you, there’s no place to move forward. If you haven’t grabbed their interest, forget it. If there’s no emotional desire to lure them in, they won’t bite. If it’s difficult for them to take action, they’ll run away. And if they’re not satisfied, they won’t return.
- Inside-the-Bottle Syndrome (the other “IBS”) — “When you’re inside the bottle, you can’t read the label.” This is the biggest challenge marketers face. They know too much about their own products, too much about their own companies. It’s the “Curse of Knowledge” and you must overcome it to persuade.
Once again, it’s time to go huntin’ for Early Birds…
(If you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click here for video.)
If you have a moment, share one of your early-stage buying experiences with us in the comments. Which sites have done a particularly good job of persuading you to buy, or turning you off, when you were only pecking around?
Related Posts:
Written by:Dave Young
