Selling Process
Fixing Your Sales Funnel
It does my heart good to see others say, thanks Carolyn Gardner in DM NEWS, what we’ve been saying for the better part of a decade. Online marketers need to focus on their sales funnels. It’s not enough to have read “Call To Action” or “Waiting For Your Cat To Bark?” (so many did they became NY Times & Wall Street Journal lists’ bestselling books) you have to do something about it.
Carolyn Gardner writes:
“According to Shop.org’s State of Online Retailing report for 2008, online retailers allocate 53% of their marketing budgets to online customer acquisition — driving traffic to a Web site or landing page. But when it comes to online customer retention, the marketing spend shrinks to 21%. Does this mean that any effort to convert visitors into customers must come out of the remaining 26% of budget? Because retention is all about building engagement and loyalty, this disproportionate spend and disregard for the sales funnel is alarmingly short sighted.
Acquisition strategies that drive traffic to Web sites designed for mass appeal are safe. But going a step further, by creating Web sites with “personalized content,” you improve engagement, retention and loyalty. Loyal customers typically buy and spend more than new customers, so shifting budget into engagement and retention should be a no-brainer. What, then, is the problem?
I think it stems from marketers playing it safe in the comfort zone of e-mail and search. E-mail and search have definite roles to play, but won’t address conversion. After all, what happens after the beckoned traffic arrives? Too often, engagement is weak and visitors bounce. With competition just one click away, there’s a very small window of opportunity. It can only be optimized with personalized content, displaying the right message to the right person at the right time, based on that person’s profile and behaviors. ” (read entire op-ed column)
We explained recently, in our newest whitepaper, how especially in a recession marketers can’t afford not to focus on conversion rates and gaining market share.
Do you need help fixing your sales funnel? We can help.
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
3 Reasons Your Visitors Don’t Convert to Leads
Want to ramp up the conversion rate on your lead generation site?
Lead generation sites fail to convert for three basic reasons:
1. Visitors don’t understand the value they get in exchange for giving their information.
2. They are informationally challenged and collect too little, too much, or incorrect information.
3. You haven’t established trust and set proper expectations of what to expect when doing business with you.
Obviously, each is interrelated and flow from one to the other. There might be a few more reasons, but for now, these three culprits are enough to start you identifying specific problems on your site and determining action items for optimization.
Keep in mind, more leads may not be what you need. You may need more qualified leads, and a properly planned Web site should help the visitor qualify herself.
We’ve worked with several companies that have seen a decrease in the number of leads, but increased sales and optimized the sales team time and closing ratios because the quality of their leads was improved.
Exchanging Value: My Name for Your Service
Many sites offering “free” whitepapers, case studies, or resources in exchange for some visitor information do a poor job of merchandising their downloads. Your downloads contain valuable information. Treat them as such.
Stop thinking of these downloads as free. You’re asking for something extremely valuable to both you and the visitor, their contact information. To get this valuable information “merchandise” your downloads better. Show the visitor the value of what they’re downloading. So when they fill out the lead form, they feel they’re making a good exchange, valuable information for valuable information.
- Include thumbnails of documents.
- Let them know what they’ll learn from the download.
- Let them know what they can do with the information.
- List everything what’s “in it for them” in the download.
- Let them know what will happen with their information. Will you be calling them? (More on this, below, under “Establishing Trust and Expectations”.)
If you offer a free trial or demo period, provide clear information about what they are getting. Is it a fully functional trial with a time limit? What happens when the demo runs out? Will you offer them support during the trial? (Sounds like a good way to win over a potential customer doesn’t it?) Disclose system requirements before they begin the sign up process.
Track the number of “bogus” e-mails you get, either bad e-mail addresses or e-mails from Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail. If you get too many emails from lucilleball@yahoo.com or elvisp@hotmail, rest assured that visitors don’t see value in the offer and the exchange.
Beware, sometimes these tactics will cause a drop in the number of leads, but rid you of junk leads. You have to determine if this is an acceptable trade off (it almost always is).
Help for the Informationally Challenged
Information, information, information is all around us. Some is useful, sometimes it’s hard to find what’s useful, and some information is just plain not helpful at all.
One approach to determine if you have info problems is to examine time spent on page. Often times I work with sites that have low time spent on main content pages but their FAQ page gets more visitor time. This may indicate that visitors aren’t finding information they need elsewhere. If a visitor relies on your FAQ to get information, it reduces trust. Why aren’t these frequent questions answered frequently (or linked to) on key pages like home and service/product pages?
Often sites put up so much information that visitors cannot find the piece of info they seek. This occasionally indicates an information architecture problem, but more often indicates that the visitors’ needs and motivations aren’t addressed in the content.
Another key issue often neglected is that often the person doing the research on the Web site isn’t the decision maker. She’s trying to gather, sort, and print (you do make it easy to do that, right?) information to give to the person making the decision. Are you making your site easy to understand for this person as well?
There really are no easy solutions to get your information in order. First begin to establish a persuasive framework, building personas then planning each persona’s interaction or persuasion scenarios with your site, and determining what information they need and when and where they need it on the site.
Establishing Trust and Expectations
Visitors must trust you. If they don’t, they don’t become leads or often they become bad leads. Visitors may even fill out a lead form if they mistrust you. Sometimes they are just going through the motion of getting proposals and pricing and are planning on buying from your competitor. You might have the better solution for them but the site or the lead process doesn’t instill enough confidence to take you seriously.
Most visitors who aren’t confident simply won’t contact you. They fear harassment from the sales team. Or sometimes your site is ineffective in communicating the values of the visitor and they bail. Again, this is a tragedy especially when you consider they could be in the market to buy what you sell.
Other times, visitors are in early stages of the buying process and an overly aggressive lead form will cause them to tighten up, assuming you’ll push them somewhere they don’t feel ready to go. Here are some things you can do to help instill trust.
- Include information about what it’s like to work with your company. Let them know when you will contact them. Assure them that you will only help them determine their needs and not pressure them.
- Ramp up your About Us page.
- Ask as few questions as possible in your lead form. Don’t force them to give you all types information or endure a stack of intimidating drop downs.
- Include short, friendly lead forms in several places on the site (not just your contact page). This will help you track where they filled out the form and better inform you what they might be interested in.
- Tell them exactly what will happen when they send their info, tell them how soon they will be hearing from you. If possible give them a choice of how and when they prefer to be contacted.
- Some visitors like to be prepared for the call. Provide a checklist of information they might need to have handy when they speak with you.
- Some visitors prefer to call. Provide the phone number near the lead form.
Now go get some leads.
. .
Originally seen on ClickZ.
Editor’s Note: Want more tips on lead-generation? Join Bryan on June 3rd in Manhattan at the Call to Action seminar.
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Screencast: Guarantee Holiday Sales
One of the most important — and often overlooked — ways to boost your conversion rate while improving the experience for your customers is to focus on point-of-action assurances. Basically, these are the messages that smart e-commerce sites give us, just as we’re ready to check out. Point-of-action reassurances help us overcome that one last moment of doubt (”I think she hinted at this one, but can I exchange it if she wants that other digital camera instead?”). These types of messages are especially important when dealing with customers who are buying gifts online.
Offline, returns and exchanges are less of a concern to shoppers. They can simply take their purchases back to the store they bought them from. Many retailers even offer gift receipts so recipients can take the merchandise back and exchange it.
Online, the gift exchange/return process looms more ominously in shoppers’ minds. What if shoppers want to return or exchange orders? What do gift receivers do? How about gift givers? Where do they go? How fast will they get a refund? Return-shipping costs, shipping hassles, price-matching concerns, and other questions hover like conversion-rate-chomping gremlins, threatening to devour your sales. Online retailers must resolve these questions, manage expectations, and inject confidence into their visitors, or their “buy now” buttons will look like black holes threatening to suck shoppers’ cash into the ether.
In this screencast, I’ll show you how big online retailers like LandsEnd.com, WalMart.com & BestBuy.com handle these concerns during the holiday crunch. You’ll see how adapting these techniques to your own checkout process can help close the sale and keep them coming back — not just to return things, but to buy from you year-round.
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
“Yours for Just 3 Easy Payments of… “
eBay’s (EBAY) PayPal said today it would begin offering credit financing with General Electric Co.’s GE Money Bank. The new PayPal service, called PayPal Pay Later, allows online merchants to offer a credit account with flexible financing options such as no payments for 90 days. Merchants will not pay any additional fees, but will pay the regular PayPal processing fees.
Research commissioned by eBay showed that 56 percent of PayPal customers are more likely to buy from a retail site if a deferred payment option is available, eBay said.
This is an interesting development in the online payment services battle. Amazon (AMZN) just announced they’re entering the space with their own payment system. So, this news ups the ante between PayPal, Google Checkout and Amazon Payment.
Retailers who don’t take advantage of this may be missing out. We’ve seen the success that offering a deferred payment options has brought to several retailers we’ve worked with. To see a great example of how this deferred payment is being used by a retailer, check out Ice.com.
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Top 10 Tips for Selling “it” on eBay
For nearly a decade, companies have hired Future Now to help them understand how people buy online. In this same amount of time, I’ve spent a good chunk of each paycheck bidding, saving money, doing “market research” on eBay. And, throughout the years, it continues to amaze me how few eBay sellers get it right.
One little-known but poorly-kept secret out there in vendorland is that many big companies — the same ones who come to us for retail advice — use eBay to dispose of returned, open-box, or otherwise retail-disabled inventory. Did you know that?
So it dawned on me: Here I am, an experienced buyer — who better to ask than me about what makes me bid, bid, bid? Want to SellItNow™ your way to increased eBay sales? Here are some guidelines so you’ll be able to sell like the pros (and by pros, I mean folks like these, not just eBay PowerSellers).
10 tips for persuasive eBay listings:
#1) A Sticky Headline — If you can’t write a strong headline, you might as well not bother. It’s your only hope for getting anyone to ever see what you’re selling. (Don’t forget to test your headlines.)
#2) Better Product Images — Having better-looking product images than other sellers will do wonders. In fact, 83 percent of eBay shoppers skip listings without images, while sites with galleries get 15% more activity and those with so-called super-size photos show a 24 percent spike in sales.The better photo wins every time. Consider this photo, for example. And remember that lighting control is essential, as well as these two other points about product photos on eBay:
- Place a product image by the headline. It’s the best way to grab attention to your headline. Remember, you’re trying to slow the bidder’s eye as she cans hundreds of similar listings. It costs virtually nothing to add a photo by the headline, you’ll get way more click-throughs, and it simply looks more professional. If you don’t have $0.35 for this critical feature, you’ll never get my attention. Don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish!
- Show multiple views with close-ups. This article makes the point, so we won’t repeat ourselves. It’s especially important to show multiple views and close-ups while exaggerating product flaws (see tip #5).
#3) Outstanding, Original Copy — If you’re tempted to just cut-and-paste your way into persuasive sales copy, forget it. Your words matter. First of all, it’s obvious when sellers just use the same boilerplate copy from the manufacturer’s website, which may not even be good to begin with, that everyone else is using. Besides, using the manufacturer’s copy implies to me that the product is brand new and untouched.
Show some personality. Showing personality helps potential buyers to see you as real; it builds trust. Why did you buy this product in the first place? Why are you selling it? Have you sold any of these items before? Different people buy in different ways, so the words you choose, and how you choose to dispense them, are everything. Start with spontaneous, emotional copy at the beginning, then get more methodical toward the end when listing product details. The second half of this article offers good advice on how to write for different personality types.
#4) So, What’s the Catch? — Why do you have such a good deal? Oftentimes, the most persuasive thing you can do is to be completely transparent about your business model. Are you making tons of money by selling digital cameras in bulk? Did you buy too much for your brick and mortar store, and you’re selling the overstock? Is your wife making you sell the XBox before you get a Nintendo Wii, so you’ve set a low reserve just to move it (this happens). I want to know. Sorry, but saying “Lowest price on eBay, guaranteed!” means nothing.
#5) Exaggerate Flaws — This one may seem counterintuitive for the novice seller but it makes perfect sense and the best eBay sellers do it masterfully. If there’s a minor scratch on that DVD player you’re selling, zoom in on it enough in a separate photo to the point where it seems ridiculous that you’re apologizing for it in the first place. Overestimating flaws builds trust. Trust is what makes people bid.
#6) Accept PayPal – It’s been the eBay gold standard since 1998. If you don’t accept it, you’re not making things easy. I’m skeptical. In fact, offer as many payment options as possible. Get the cash (GTC)!
#7) Know How to Price — Hear about all those folks trying to sell iPhones on eBay for $1,000? How’s that working out? It’s not. In the world of eBay, your competitors are two clicks away, at most. Overestimate the market for your product, and you’ll never get that crucial first bid. Here’s how it’s done:
- Be aware of what it’s selling for elsewhere. Find out how much similar products are selling for and you’ll have a good idea of what you should expect to get for it. Then…
- Take the expected winning bid price and cut it in half. Shave off another 10% off, and you’ve got your reserve price. Think that’s crazy? Too low? Guess again. Studies have shown that bidding is what drives up the price. The more competition among bidders, the higher the winning bid. The only way to kick-start the bidding frenzy is by putting the floor well below the ceiling.
- If you’re willing to accept a price that’s around or below where it’s selling elsewhere on eBay, list that price as the “Buy It Now” and throw in “free” shipping. Now you’ve killed two birds with one stone. You’ve created a compelling offer and you’ve avoided the stigma of “shipping rape” (see #10). Free shipping is often the #1 driver when it comes to online promotions.
#8) Link to the Owner’s Manual — (Where applicable) link to the owner’s/user’s manual/instructions for your product. Feel free to borrow product details from here, just don’t use the manufacturer’s boring words 
Just don’t use this tip as a substitute for tip #3 above.
#9) Have a Star Rating Above 99% — If you have a star rating below 99%, that means you’ve upset too many people for me to feel comfortable buying. Sorry, but if you have a 100% rating and you’ve sold to less than 100 people, I’m still not confident; it’s not a true 100%. If you’ve sold to thousands of people and have a 98% rating, your “success rate” means nothing.
#10) No Shipping Extortion — Last, but not least, some eBay sellers lose their minds when it comes to shipping. Do you think we’re stupid? Um, no, it doesn’t cost $15 to ship from a one-pound package from Kansas to Brooklyn within 10 days. If it costs $5 to ship it from China, why must I pay $25 to ship it in “4-6 weeks” from California? And, by the way, I’m receiving the package, so I often how much you’ve paid the very moment I get it. Try this, and the only one you’ll fool is yourself.
eBay sellers: I’ve still got one last free corner of space in my apartment. Please help me fill it with stuff! The quicker it fills, the quicker I’ll clear it out by selling on eBay and then have all sorts of free space to fill up with new eBay purchases!
Do you have any tips to sell more effectively on ebay?
Update: Seth reminds us people are irrational.
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Written by:John Quarto-vonTivadar
In Sales? At Least 9 Things You Can Learn from Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?
Implement strategies to improve your sales efficiency while meeting the needs of your customers
You’ve got online sales. You’ve got offline sales. To complicate matters, neither of these exists in isolation. According to a recent BIGresearch survey, 87% of the customers who research their purchases online actually buy offline!On top of that, websites and flesh-and-blood sales staff must continually field product and service questions from customers who increasingly are as, if not better, informed than they are!
How can you implement strategies to improve your sales efficiency - within and across channels - while at the same time meeting the diverse needs of your customers?
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 136
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Written by:The Grok
But We Don’t Sell on the Web: At Least 8 Things You Can Learn from Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?
The fact that your products or services aren’t suited to shopping carts doesn’t mean the Web shouldn’t be a focus for implementing your business strategies
The fact that your products or services aren’t suited to shopping carts doesn’t mean the Web shouldn’t be a focus for implementing your business strategies.In an emerging media and experience-based economy, the Web is the glue that binds a business’s multi-channel marketing efforts. Today, the Internet plays a critical role in how customers perceive brand, shape their buying decisions, and evaluate their experiences-even before you’ve ever sold them anything.
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 135
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Written by:The Grok
The Equation That Matters
Understanding the complexity of your sales topology allows you to create a more effective persuasive system
I sing this song a lot: “You sell, I buy, tra la tra la.” But that’s what it all comes down to. Whatever you’re doing, you’d like me to take advantage of it. You’re selling. I’m buying.You’ve got a process in place to manage the transaction from your point of view. Meanwhile, I have my own agenda, and you want to find a way to convince me you deserve line item space on that agenda!
That’s where an understanding of sales topology really pays off!
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 134
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Written by:The Grok
Another Dumb Pet Trick
Don’t wind up teaching your visitors to beg (or bail)
Bryan couldn’t wait to email me the screen shots. “This is crazy! I can’t believe they’re doing this.” There’s a lot we can’t believe folks do, so this actually isn’t an unusual situation. But Bryan was … um … peeved. (That’s putting it politely.)You see, DJ needed a bowl for his water, and providing for DJ proved slightly more complicated than Bryan had anticipated. In his words …
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Read the entire newsletter: Volume 120
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Written by:The Grok
The Forest for the Trees
B2B or B2C, you persuade most effectively when you map their buying processes to your selling process
Okay B2B folks. Time to see the light. Time to challenge your perceptions of industry differences – when it comes to online persuasion, B2B is not substantively different from B2C. You sell; they buy; you’re most effective when your selling process pairs up perfectly with their buying processes. Whatever you’re doing out there in cyber space, you get that relationship right and you’ll persuade brilliantly.Getting stuck on superficial distinctions you think should define your practice of conversion is a big mistake. It’s a great big Forest of Persuasion out there – every possibly variation on selling and buying – and, believe it or not, every tree I’ve ever brought to your attention has come from the same forest! B2B folks who out of hand dismiss B2C examples as irrelevant truly risk missing the forest for the trees.
If you don’t have traffic and don’t have goals for that traffic, you don’t need to pay attention. Everybody else cosy on up, ‘cause this pertains to you.
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 106
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Written by:The Grok
