Increasing sales with your site
This will be our penultimate blog on increasing sales on your website. As we reach the end of the blog series, make sure you get in touch with [email protected] if you have any questions.
CHECK OUT THOSE SMILING PEOPLE AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE We've found that any of our sites that have actual people smiling back at the clients seem to do much better than just generic photos with people. Hence the happy three people you see cycling across our website header. BRIGHT BUTTONS BEAT TEXT LINKS ANY DAY Oftern we find clients hiding important links in website text. There are benefits to this - if you use the correct search terms in links to the your page it'll help the search juice - but why not put them on a button? They are bigger, brighter and get clicked more often. EXPERIMENT WITH COLUMNS Have a play with displaying your content in one or numerous columns. It's said that alot of users prefer one column, but it all comes down to content and how you display that content. CHAT AWAY Give your clients the chance to speak directly to you with a live chat function. Once you've hooked them in for a chat, the chances of a sale increase dramatically. GET YOUR MUGSHOT ON THE SITE As we've said earlier, people relate to people. Don't be afraid to use your photo - the logic that a big brand shouldn't have the individual faces often doesn't translate. The same goes with emails...we never send out a bulk mail campaign from a "[email protected]" address - we always use an individuals name - it's a more personal touch. USE THE GRAPHICS TO TELL A STORY It's amazing what the shape of a picture, or something as blatant as an arrow can do. Direct people to where you want to be on the page through the layout and the images used. WE'LL BEAT ANY OFFER For the most part people won't actually take you up on a 'we'll beat the offer of our competitors' - but using a phrase like that can instill confidence in the customer that they are getting the best price. TRY DIFFERENT SIZED CONTENT As a general rule we prefer shorter content and think that works better, but often it comes down to the industry. Some fact based industries may have customers that want a heap of content - try different lengths and see what works best. HOW DO WE GET IN TOUCH? This is a must do. A big one. Make sure you make it easy for people to contact you. As a rule of thumb we put a link to the contact page on every other page throughout the site. This might not be appropriate for an e-commerce store, but for service based industries it's a really good idea. Selling on your website
GET SOME TESTIMONIALS & REVIEWS
It's amazing the impact a positive review can have. We like to place a single testimonial on each page of a client website - it legitimises a business without bombarding the consumer with too many. Facebook and Google both have facilities for reviews as well - make sure you contact customers and ask them for feedback. EVERYTHING'S EXCITING Charge up your customers by charging up your text. Use emotionally powerful language to excite your consumer base. LESS IS MORE WHEN IT COMES TO CONTACT FORMS If you need to take lot's of information in a form, make as many fields as possible optional. You want that sales lead first and foremost, so don't scare them off. RESPECT PRIVACY Including a privacy policy with your contact form reassures customers that you won't give away their information and can be the difference between being contacted and not. MAKE YOUR SITE LINE UP WITH YOUR ADS If you are paying for advertising then make sure what you advertise is also what your potential customer finds on the site. Never mislead - it might increase click through rates, but that won't follow with sales. OFFER ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT OPTIONS. Most payment facilities should do this these days, but be sure you offer PayPal and a credit card facility (even if it directs the payment through PayPal). COLOURFUL EXPERIMENTS This is certainly one we have tried repeatedly. Changing our colour schemes had a direct result in sales. There is no magic colour, as for different products, different colours work better - the only way to find out what will work for you is to experiment. Don't be afraid to change colour. Sales Conversion Tips
TELL THEM TO DO IT. SERIOUSLY, TELL THEM.
When we make a site we have a policy of making sure that wherever a user is on the site, they will very quickly find a link to that final point of the sales equation. For most companies that's a 'contact us now' button, but for others it might be a 'BUY NOW'. Whatever it is for your company - call them to action! SALES UPON SALES. KEEP THE RECOMMENDATIONS FLOWING If you have one product that sells very well, but you think another goes well with it - make a recommendation on the first product page. Recommendations to similar products or information on each page can work really well. Try to tell a story through the links in your site. CREATE A SCARCITY IN PRODUCT If you are selling an actual product online, think about limiting the number available and showing that number of stock left on the sales page. If there are 'only 2 left', you appeal to the primal 'buy now' aspect of a shoppers mentality. DON'T SHOUT IT IF YOU CAN SPEAK IT In a busy commerce world, shoppers aren't going to fall for overly hyped jargon. When you are writing the content for your site, be compelling, but avoid completely over hyping it. Don't be an informercial on the internet! THIS IS AMAZING - BUT WHY? Really spell it out to consumers what is good about the product. Make it absolutely clear what the benefits of the product are. Don't sell a 'TV Screen', sell a "52 inch, Plasma, HD TV Screen" for example. TEST THE HELL OUT OF HOW YOU TELL THEM TO DO IT A good website and good sales platform takes alot of experimentation. Something as simple as the text on a buy button can change how well a product sells. Test variations - 'buy now', 'order now', 'purchase' - and see what has the best effect. Test and test again. Increasing Sales
SIMPLIFY YOUR CONTACT FORMS
We often have clients that want to grab as much information as possible...because it makes their life easier at the other end. As we have said time and time again, that's the complete wrong approach to marketing and sales. Think of the customer first...what is going to make their life easier, and make them more likely to contact you. Less fields = more sign ups...which means more sales leads. STICK BY YOUR WORK Have faith that you will do a good job or that your product will be top quality. For us, that means creating a first homepage draft free of charge before asking for a deposit. We know our service and product is excellent, so don't mind giving the first bit away free to get the conversion. For others, that might mean having a money back gaurantee - it reduces risk for the customer. SELL AND SELL NOW Language is surprisingly powerful. Use words like 'buy now', or 'secure your spot early' and you may be surprised at the quick increase in conversions. LET YOUR CLIENTS SPEAK FOR YOU Alot of older websites have a page specifically dedicated to testimonials. There is a reason for this - people like hearing the word of others before committing to a sale. Our personal view is that you should intersperse testimonials throughout the site (only one or two on each page). This constantly re-affirms the trust factor. If you have been reviewed by big companies, or have worked for renowned companies - think about including those logos on your homepage. WHAT IS IT AND WHY DO THEY NEED IT This seems obvious, but you really do need to know your product and SELL that product or service on your website. Rather than just saying 'here is my service', start saying 'here is my service, and this is why you need it'. It's always a good plan to think as a customer when you write your content. Ask yourself what would sell this product or service to ME. Why would I take the extra step of actually parting with my money? Once you can communicate that you'll be one step closer to making a sale. Next post we'll start looking at a few technical features you can employ on a website to help with conversions. If you ever have any queries about our thoughts, just contact Jamie at [email protected] Pricing your services & products
Recently, we've seen just how important a customer's perception can be to your bottom line. If you price too low, you run the risk of being perceived as 'cheap' and low quality, where if you price too high, the perception is that your product is too expensive. So the big question is how do you hit that sweet spot? The price where perception meets reality.
There doesn't appear to be a silver bullet for this one unfortunately, but there are a few well established guidelines that you should consider when setting your pricing. THE CHARM PRICE Multiple studies have now concluded that putting a "9" in your pricing makes a significant difference into it's attractiveness. Initially we thought this sounded like a bit of an old wives sale tale, and could never understand why companies continually put their prices at '$9.99', but it's been shown that having your pricing adjusted to this can increase your sales by 24% - and that is significant. TEST THE SWEET SPOT This is the big one. Pricing has been shown to, on one hand, give a perception of value and equally, on the other hand, a of a lack of quality, so it's really important to figure out what your consumer thinks is the right price. Funnily enough, this was pretty much perfectly shown by Kanye West recently - he opened a pop up store and started charging exorbitant prices for his "one of a kind" t-shirts. People were more than willing to pay this price, until they noticed the generic brand tag inside the t-shirt which told them it was just a cheap product with fancy sign writing on it. Equally, the Warehouse in New Zealand has had to battle a 'cheap and nasty' perception for the last few years, despite bringing in higher quality products. DO RIGHT BY YOUR CUSTOMER You won't find this one in any text book, but we strongly believe this is a critical part of the equation - particularly for repeat business. If you set your price as low as possible (without going below the perception of low quality threshold), you will ensure clients continue to return again and again. We certainly keep this as a key pillar of our pricing. The last little takeaway we'd like you to think about as you read this blog is to think about how you yourself perceive products from now on. Don't just buy something because it is more expensive, and equally don't buy something simply because it is cheaper. Ask why the price is set at where it is. Think about the product, not the price. 543 will continue to keep our prices as low as possible and hope that we can debunk the 'cheap' perception by providing high quality website and marketing for our clients. They understand we can do that be reducing our overheads and working with systems that save them money without compromising on quality... Hopefully that means we hit the 'sweet spot' for pricing! |
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Jamie TwiggThe founder of 543 Design & Online gives his thoughts on everything web and branding. Categories
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