Are You Losing Potential Customers?
June 12, 2006
If most of the visitors to your website are new, there's a good chance you are missing out on some potential sales! Think about it. A significant percentage of those new visitors are probably just starting their purchase cycle. They are looking for a product or service, but may not be sure of all their options. People generally do their homework before they buy. Shoppers who are just starting to look, aren't ready to buy yet. But, you have an opportunity to engage them by offering them something of value in return for being able to follow-up with them at a later time… hopefully, when they are ready to make a purchase decision.
Include an Engagement Application on every page of your site so potential customers have the option to opt-in for your help. Make the offer compelling… "Let us help you find the exact WIDGET you're looking for".
Once you get their information, start a dialog. Start the CRM (customer relationship management). The objective is to give them the information they need to make a decision to purchase your product or service. There are numerous web based CRM solutions available. One is from a company called Emma. They make it simple. Just collect your potential customers' names, the data goes into Emma's database. Then design rich HTML emails via Emma's simple application interface, slice and dice the data, sending the right info to the right prospects. Simple but effective!
What Happens When A Person Visits Your Website?
October 18, 2005
Hopefully, your site visitors follow your intended course of action, whether it’s buying something or agreeing to use your service, etc. Research shows that people will visit a website in some cases four or more times before finally making a transaction. So what happens if a potential customer visits your site but discovers a competitor’s site before returning to you for more information? If you’ve done nothing to engage the visitor in someway, he maybe gone forever. This doesn’t have to be the case!
The opportunity is to engage the web visitor on the home page… to find out something about him and offer him something in return. It’s taking a positive step toward developing a relationship. You can help answer questions, find out what additional information the potential customer is looking for or offer your prospect a discount, or “special”. In return, you ask for permission to continue the dialog by getting a name, email address, etc.
Once you have a way to stay in touch, you can provide whatever information is needed to finalize a sale. And, you can use the communication channel to retain the customer for future purchases.
