Web Marketing Step 3: Turn Visitors into Customers

Posted by Peter McEllhenney on 21 February 2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: Web Marketing & Advertising

Getting lots of visitors to interact with your business website is great – unless none of them become a source of revenue. Then it’s not so great.

That’s why the 3rd indispensable step to web marketing success is to turn website visitors into clients or customers. Here are three techniques for doing this:

1. Tell visitors what to do (and make it easy)

2. Use discounts, sales, and special deals

3. Include no-risk and low-risk offers

For details on the previous steps, see our posts on how to get visitors to your website and how to keep visitors on your website.

Tell visitors what you want them to do

The first technique is the simplest. Tell visitors what you want them to do and make it easy to do it.

If you have an e-commerce site, make the “Buy Now” button easy to find for every product. Also make sure the check-out process is quick and simple to understand.

If you want people to request more information, put the words “Get more info now!” on the button. To request an estimate, “Get your free quote now!”. To sign up for a newsletter, “Subscribe today!”

If you want people to pick up the telephone, then the words “Call 000-000-0000” need to be easy to find on every page.

Be specific about the purpose of the call, too. To get people to make an appointment, follow your number with the words, “to make an appointment.” If it’s a reservation you’re after … the words you want are “to make a reservation.”

When the first consultation comes with no obligation, include that in the call to action.

Some business owners feel awkward using a strong call-to-action. Don’t be! You started your business because you believe in yourself. Let that belief show on your website.

Use discounts, sales, coupons, and special offers

The internet fundamentally changed how businesses market themselves. But the web hasn’t changed the reasons why people buy. Those are the same they’ve always been.

So don’t neglect tried-and-true sales techniques just because they were classics long before the internet took over everything.

People love sales, bargains, two-for-one deals, free shipping, cash back, reward points, coupons, gift certificates, limited-time offers, cheap financing, no money down, special terms – and much more!– just as much online as they do out in the world.

Many businesses also have the advantage of knowing how well these tactics work in the world outside of cyberspace. This is no guarantee they will also work with web customers too, but they are great places to start.

Make no-risk and low-risk options

Traditional sales offers are typically most useful to B2C companies and to businesses with straight-forward products or short sales cycles.

Sales and discounts are less helpful to professional service providers and consultants; to transactions that require complex proposals, specifications, or negotiations; and generally to B2B companies or businesses with a long sales cycle.

These kinds of companies will want their website to generate warm leads for their sales staffs, account executives, or business development personnel.

The first basic step to get these leads is to make all the ways to contact your company – including a web-based form – easy to find from every page of your website.

The second step is to include several no-risk and low-risk options that will help potential clients in the research stage of the sales cycle, and give you contact information to use as part of a customer relationship marketing campaign.

These low-risk offers could include white papers, case studies, webinars, invitations to educational sessions, subscriptions to newsletters, and more.

These techniques also build awareness of your business and create a positive image with potential clients, so when they are ready to talk, they pick up the phone and call you.

 

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