Randomly selected client quote
Great work, go live! We definitely want a slot for phase two.
Andrew Maat, OceanReady.com, 26 Apr 2004
When people make major purchasing decisions they go through some defined stages. Spotting the right stage and reacting accordingly will take you a long way to making the sale. This can be translated to web-sites by providing information that's suitable for each of the stages. I've done this in the editorial pages of www.myKitchen.uk.com.
The process starts with satisfaction. Let's imagine, as an example, your prospect has bought a new car. They're proud, excited, driving the country way home. They're not looking to buy another car, and won't be searching the web for a new car. You won't get many visitors from people in this stage.
A few years later when they've done 60,000 miles in their car, some things have gradually changed. Their requirements might have changed, a new child or pet, a new job, different parking arrangements might all make their car a less perfect match to their requirements. They might have discovered things about their car that they didn't know before, perhaps the servicing is expensive, or the particular model has some expensive long term problem such as rust. The industry will have moved on, perhaps new cars have radar or navigation systems and theirs doesn't. And the world will have changed in those years, fashions, the economy, politics, the whole terrorism thing, environmental issues, all have an effect. All these minor points are building and changing to make your prospect less satisfied with their car, but they're not yet ready to purchase anything. A canny saleperson will be able to bring out these areas of dissatisfaction and build them up.
On your website the best response might be to showcase new features or fun capabilities of your offering that others may not offer. Another possibility might be to offer an interactive "what kind of product/service would be perfect for you" facility which asks questions aimed at bringing out common niggles, says why they are a problem, and then provides a generic product/service type (eg. what you need is a people carrier with fold-flat rear seating). If the prospect can print out your recommendation then they'll have a record of your site. And if you save the information they gave you, you'll be better able to serve their needs in later stages.
E-newsletters might also be effective in bringing out issues in a non-threatening magazine style. One month you might talk about the latest in in-car entertainment, the next safety and security.
You are absolutely not providing product information or comparisons at this stage, that would turn the prospect off and make you appear heavy and unfeeling. Everything is about learning about the client's needs and talking about issues around the product or service.
At some point, there's an "OK, that does it" moment. A moment when the decision is made that the car is no longer right. Any minor thing could trigger it, a large servicing bill, passing 70,000 miles or three years old, a minor accident, the car's stolen, or it won't fit what they now need in the boot.
So they've decided to make a change. What to? At this stage, your prospect is still not ready to make a specific product decision. At this stage they're looking at generic choices. Do they need a car at all? Should they cycle to work, motorcycle, take public transport, is it time to review the whole family's car arrangements. If they do need a car, what kind? Do they need a truck, a sports car, a fun car, a people carrier?
On a website you can help by explaining some of the choices and their pros and cons. Perhaps you might provide some examples of generic matches, or again offer an interactive guidance system to ask questions of your visitor and suggest matches or alternatives. If your product or service is good, you can gain sales by educating your market to make intelligent decisions. By asking the right questions you can highlight areas where you excel. For instance a website for fuel efficient cars would certainly raise economy and the environment as generic issues for the prospect to consider.
All this support is being provided to the prospect straight from the website, and information is being gathered automatically .. the prospect is creating their own profile as they work through the issues. So far, very little valuable sales-person time has been used on these prospects. So far, we have an automated sales system.
Now the prospect has a list of requirements and has considered the issues. They may have settled on a handful of requirements. They're looking at product choices. Now you can listen carefully to the requirements and offer matching products, outlining why those products or services match the prospects requirements. Again, this could be done interactively on the website. Here's where product demonstrations are correctly placed along with pricing information and specifications.
Just before the prospect signs or pays, there's a final checking stage. Do they really want to proceed? Are you reputable? What will their friends think? Is this decision safe? You need to be there to answer those questions. Quotes from satisfied customers help a lot, along with FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) that reflect the real questions people have. But you need to be real here, a real phone number with a real person at the other end, a real address and so on. Confidence-building techniques such as providing a readable privacy policy, having reasonable returns policies and so on are what's required here.
How you act when dealing with inevitable post-purchase issues will determine whether you get a lifelong client or a one-off. The economics of this are common knowledge, how a dissatisfied customer will tell many people, a satisfied customer will tell fewer but enough for you to slice your marketing budget. And how much it costs to get a new client is many times more than the benefit you'll get from a lifelong client. It all happens at this stage. All eyes are on you and how you behave when a problem arises. A website can help with clear returns policies, perhaps if the client needs to get a returns number you could provide an automatic online system for that. If you get frequent problems with something that actually is down to misunderstanding then you might email the client with information or provide it on the web.
You might have a user's group to offer your new client, or you might provide a whole new section of website for post-sales support. In the car example you can offer service management, booking and so on. Maybe your client could get updates on service or repair work on their mobile phone.
I'm sure I read somewhere also that this is a very fruitful time for add-on sales. Maybe the client can purchase extras and accessories in this new 'exclusive' area. Maybe there are rallies or owners exhibitions to go to.
With luck, you've managed your prospect through from having no interest to purchasing your product or service, and developed a happy, lifelong, profitable client. Your client is now back at stage one. And you have to go through the stages again at the appropriate time. Yes, your client won't come back automatically. Your competitor will be trying to do what you've just done. But you know your client, so you have the advantage. So do keep in touch, again an online newsletter can work a treat, but personal emails work nicely too. The Internet can't do everything though, and here's a good place for personal contact.
Simply, an effective website will provide information to suit people at all the stages of a major purchase. They may go through the stages over many months or years, for instance if they're buying some major civil engineering project. Or they may go through the stages in one session right in front of your eyes. But the stages are still there, and you have to provide for them. In other words, catering for all these mental stages can turn a warm prospect into a sale right there and then. But if you don't provide the background information people want, they'll seek it elsewhere. And guess where they'll go to buy product.
This page summarises the work of Neil Rackham on making major sales. I've done it from memory, so I may have summarised it badly (if you think so, let me know). If you are interested in the psychology of purchasing major items and how you might respond most effectively, I recommend his books. I'd prefer just to give you a link here, but Amazon seem to insist on this kinda thing:
I think the box above is showing two random choices from Neil Rackham, so it's worth searching for him when you get to Amazon to see what else he's done.