Here are 5 steps based on the original template which can be used by any website to improve the customer experience, and turn it into a Reputation Marketing tool.
1. Customer Satisfaction
The better you know your consumer the easier it is to lead them through the sales process and control the experience. The best way to do this is to understand why people surf the net when looking for products and services.
Three things drive the sales process:
- Seeking solutions to problems
- Looking for influencers and people who can help with the purchase decision
- Building relationships that lead to a sale
The sales journey plants seeds that lead the consumer to later stages.
2. Educate and Analysis
At this stage the consumer may not know they have a problem, or need a product. This is the stage where internet marketers try to ask probe questions that get the consumer thinking without appearing too intrusive. These questions have three purposes.
- To Identify
- To Reveal the full extent of the problem
- To impact the pain caused by not taking action to solve the problem
3. Decision
How do you convince the consumer that they want to solve the problem, now? This involves consumer research. The more you understand consumer behavior the easier it is to convince the consumer to solve their problem before leaving your website.
Consumers will buy, eventually. The trick is to keep them returning to your website until they are ready to buy.
The marketing team can bring traffic to a website. They can even increase the conversion to buyer ratio. But whether they bring 10 consumers, or 100 consumers, the business owner and sales team controls how many sales are made.
The marketing team can only offer consumers what the business owner is willing to give away. This may be tangible or intangible products, services, or perks. But if you offer consumers nothing then you reduce the ‘urgency’ to buy.
4. The Risk Associated with the Purchase Decision
- What criteria does the consumer want to be met before they buy?
- What will it take to fix the problem?
- Are they willing to invest the money or time needed to
At this point the consumer is cautious. They need to determine what the right decision is.
5. Presenting the Solution and Closing
One of the biggest mistakes seen on websites is the lack of flow from the landing page to the buy now page. The message changes, so does the layout, colors, and message. The above steps are skipped in some cases, and in others they are abrasive and intrusive.
Consumers know the answers they are looking for. They need a succinct answer without all the ‘bullying’ seen in sales of the past.
- Show features
- Show Advantages
- Describe Benefits
- Explain how it will solve the problem
- Confirm they are comfortable with the sale.