By Bushra Azhar
When Jane visits your website by following a link from Facebook or a quick Google search, she isn’t looking to buy from you.
(If she were, she would come directly to your website, not follow random links. Right?)
What is she doing then?
Most likely, it’s one of these three things:
- Looking for information so she can make a smart buying decision;
- Shortlisting her available options; or
- Researching the best option online so she can go and buy it offline.
All three are excellent opportunities to sell to her.
Why?
She is in a buying mindset and she will buy. It might not be today, but she has already acknowledged there is a massive problem that needs to be solved.
If you can solve that problem for her, you have a sale.
Here are three research-backed ways to tweak your copy and design so you can position your solution as the ultimate knight-in-shining-armor for the massive problem facing Jane.
Using these three tips, you’ll be able to turn visitors into customers, or even loyal enthusiasts!
1. Talk to Your Visitor as a Customer, Not a Prospect
This is based on the well-established principal of labeling. Research shows that labels are like self-fulfilling prophecies. If you call a man a good man, he will do anything to be a good one. If you label him as a friend, he would act like a friend.
Here’s an example of how it works: Imagine you run a website that works with overwhelmed working mothers to help them manage the pressures and strains of everyday life.
Jane is a working mother and comes to your website looking for solutions in dealing with stress. If this is a massive problem for her, she would most likely move to your offerings page.
She might find something similar to this:
If you are dealing with the day-to-day stress of motherhood, the deadlines are driving you crazy, and the housework is piling up, you have come to the right place.
What’s happening here is you are assuming she is only a prospect and would be interested to buy ONLY if she ticks all the boxes.
What if your page opened with a clear value proposition that labels her as your customer and lets her visualize how things will be when she is one?
What if you greet her with this:
Today is the day you kick-out all your stress…. of office politics, closing deadlines, soccer practice, and dentist appointments.
Today is the day you learn how to deal with the stress of everyday life, get stuff done, and still get to enjoy some ME time.
Now, isn’t that fantastic?
See the difference? You are using the term “when” instead of “if” which effectively takes out the question of whether or not she will work with you.
You are talking to her as if she already is, which makes it easier to turn visitors into customers.
2. Overcome Objections Faster than She Can Think of Them
When it comes to online persuasion, the power of labeling coupled with a clear pre-anticipation of your prospect’s mental process is the ultimate recipe of success.
Persuasion is strongest when the message and audience are heading in the same direction. Not only does Jane get convinced consciously, her subconscious also nods in agreement.
Our old brain (AKA the real decision-maker) is a compulsive jerk. It operates on autopilot and nothing delights it more than a response that comes at the heels of an objection (or even before).
Most sales pages look something like this:
- Here’s our solution.
- We offer four packages.
- This is what each package includes.
- This is how you can pay.
- This is what you get when you pay.
But what if your page was structured as a series of arguments that follow the same pattern as the one going on inside a skeptical buyer’s head?
The sequence might go something like this:
When you work with us, you don’t have to worry about xyz anymore.
This could be followed by a FAQ style narrative:
- How can I be sure this will solve my specific problem?
- How is that possible?
- How will it work?
- Why should I trust you?
- Why can’t I just buy from someplace else?
- How can I be sure this will work for me?
- Why should I care?
- Has anyone else done this?
- How much does it cost?
- What if I don’t want to buy right now?
The flow is beautiful – it’s like you are inside Jane’s head, overcoming objections faster than she can think of them. This pleases her old brain immensely, so it rules in your favor and the ability to turn visitors into customers.
3. Provide Benefits to Turn Visitors into Customers
A description is meaningless. It really is!
- We have the finest ingredients.
- We have top experts in our team.
- Our furniture is hand-crafted.
These all describe you.
Guess you doesn’t care about you? Your potential customer. These descriptions have great value as markers of authority, but none as a selling proposition.
Why?
Because people gravitate toward things that interest them. They look for situations that describe themselves.
And when they see those self-descriptions, they perk up and take notice.
People don’t buy features or descriptions. They buy benefits, specifically benefits that solve their massive problems:
- Team led by experts so you know you are in good hands.
- Hand-crafted jewelry so you look elegant and stand out in a crowd.
- Finest ingredients because your body deserves the best nutrition.
You don’t have to make massive changes to your copy or design to get big results.
Minor changes such as replacing “if” with “when” and anticipating the objections can completely change the dynamics of your interaction.
These can mean the difference between Jane clicking away or getting on to your list or adding your site to her favorites.
How will you use these three psychological secrets to turn visitors into customers?