Why do customers come to your website? 🔍 Evolving Strategies

EVOLVING STRATEGIES

This week’s opportunity to evolve your strategy

Digital sales strategy of the purpose of your website

Quick read:

• Your website is a channel or buying but also for researching before deciding to buy, 81% of customers research before deciding to buy.

• Not every interaction will be a sale, consider your success measures for sales conversions that customers will shop around first.

• What to consider for your sales strategy: the content you provide on your website, think of your customers first as you load information.

The digital sales strategy of the purpose of your website:

Your website is a sales channel that allows customers to come online and buy your products, but it's not the only reason you get traffic. Consider yourself as the customer; you've identified a problem that you need to solve for. You want to buy a car seat for your baby who's outgrown their existing one. You know there are some really amazing brands out there, but you're not sure which one is the best one for you. So what do you do? How do you decide which one to buy?

You start to research.

As the customer you know you need to go online to start looking at the different car seats available. Do a comparison and narrow it down from the hundreds available to just a few. Then you start to get into more details of the colour, specs, how long can this last, durability, cup holders etc. You finally narrow it down to 3. You speak to your partner and decide on one, after weeks of researching.

You then decide to order it online, because it'll arrive in 2-3 days and you get free shipping. Amazing! Hassle free, no need to run to the store with your baby who doesn't exactly fit into her existing car seat.

So what just happened? You went online to research product options, and a few weeks later went back online to buy the specific brand you and your partner decided on.

How it impacts your business:

Customers who identified a problem and look for a solution, go online to not only buy but also to research different options. As they're in their buying journey process, the research phase is the search for the right product that meets their needs. This allows the customer to learn more about the product and different options so they can make an informed decision.

This is where the purpose of your website comes in, it's not just a sales channel. It's also used for research and customers may come to your website multiple times over many weeks or months before deciding to buy. So consider the content you provide your audience. Is it providing value? Is it answering questions they may have as they research your products?

81% of shoppers research products before buying online. So your content should answer research questions but also help the customer make the decision to buy your product. And this comes from understanding your customers and segmenting them into smaller groups so you're able to create value for them.

Keep in mind a website is great because it provides customers the convenience of being able to research from the comfort of their home and at their convenience. Make the information you provide simple and concise, so it's easy to digest the information. The easier it is the higher the likelihood that customer will buy from you.

How to apply this:

What you should takeaway and apply to your digital sales strategy:

1. Consider content for both research and buying

2. Think of your customers

3. Not every interaction is a sale

Consider content for both research and buy

Provide information on your site that meets the needs of both buyers and shoppers. You want to show the value your product provides in how it solves a customer's problem. Also show the many benefits it provides that, your competitors aren't able to match. This states a clearer direction for shoppers as they research different products.

Address all the pain points and questions your customers may have on your site, with key information pieces. Make sure they have everything they need. Average online shopping cart abandonment is 74%. Consider a follow up to touch base with a customer if they decided to abandon. During the entire buying journey process the customer may change their mind. A follow up actually increases the likelihood of the customer coming back to buy. Follow up cart abandonment emails have a 45% open rate.

Think of your customers

Keep your site simple and clean with the need to know information. Don't overwhelm your audience with too much. 65% of the population are visual learners and too much information and they can't take in everything they're seeing. Instead they end up leaving your site and possibly not coming back.

Consider who your audience is, and what they would be looking for. Create around the needs of the customer. 38% of shoppers leave a site that isn't attractive, as you build out your site consider your audience.

Think of both desktop and mobile when segmenting your customers. Approximately 50% of customers buy or research on their mobile phones. Are you creating a mobile friendly layout? Very important to an attractive layout when the customer can easily find what they need.

Not every interaction is a sale

Remember that customers come to shop before deciding to buy and that means they'll be researching. They may come to your site once, or 50 times. So create your success measures of traffic to sales based on the information that there are shoppers coming to your site as well.

Consider a follow up email for cart abandonment or account sign ups. Add trackable links, or send a follow up survey post-purchase. All these provide insights on how many times your average customer may have shopped your site before deciding to buy.

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