Changing the Way Your Customers Buy

Want your customer to change from browse to buy? They have to trust you. Inherent in that trust is believing that you know what you’re talking about, and giving them well-presented information. Note “well-presented” – not detailed, not well-designed, but well-presented. This article from Eric Best at Marketing Profs gives the skinny:

Changing the Way Your Customers Buy – MarketingProfs.com

“we see a trend toward SKU-level—or item-specific—merchandising. Your brand image is critical. But if you’re not thinking about merchandising in terms of the most detailed product attributes and variables—pricing, title, description, keywords—you’re not fully leveraging available merchandising control.”

If you organize, they will buy
However the customer finds you – word of mouth, search engine results, typing in your URL from a business card – in order for them to find what they want, you have to organize well. You have to structure your entire site, each individual page and every product listing so that it is easy for the customer to find the info that makes them want to know more, convinces them this is the right choice for their needs, and that makes them then press the buy button.

The elements mentioned above – pricing, title, description, keywords – are the most critical basics. Everything else – reviews, specs, testimonials, whatever – is essential to one person, fluff to another.

Get the basics, make it easy to purchase, and put everything else underneath. Those who know what they want and/or make a snap decision, can move quickly. Those who need a bit more evidence or coaxing have the info available.

The right info, presented well

“As buyers become more informed, with more options for where and how to buy, merchants have to understand how and where they engender or lose customer trust. You can drive traffic to your online store all day, but if it’s hard for customers to find the right product, items are out of stock, and returns are difficult… you’re wasting your budget.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re a content monkey pounding keys on a dinky blog, or if you’re Amazon.com. You gain your customer, their trust and their business, only when you put forth the right info, and present it well.