Tag Archive for: Buyers

Do You Tell Your Buyers What to Do?

I’m writing a chapter for my book on this very topic at the moment, however, I feel is important to raise the question with you before it’s published.

Telling people what to do can be seen as impolite, but guiding the user to complete an action that you’d like them to complete is something quite different, specially if you conduct it nicely, you’re just leading them to complete an action you’d like them to complete, that’s all.

 

So, do you tell your buyers what to do?

That’s a serious question and ports not only from eCommerce, but into almost every application of the Internet. It could be asking for the sale, a newsletter sign up, a like or a subscribe, it doesn’t matter, you’re helping lead the visitor to complete an action that you’d like them to complete.

There are parts on this site that I’m working on to make the process of asking the user (that’s you) to complete and also tracking this with tools to track conversion. This will be in an another article in the next few days as I had some fun in setting this up and I’m looking forward to sharing some of the results with you.

However for now, I’d like for you to watch a video and count the number of times that you are asked to perform an action. Ignore the content of the video, its 2 minutes long, just press play on the video below:

Summary

  • Did at any time did I appear rude or impolite?
  • Did I ask for anything unreasonable?

Think about that for a while, what could you ask (AKA “tell”) your customers to do which would be so easy it wouldn’t take them a few moments to complete?

I would like you to complete an action for me.

In the comments box below, how many actions did I ask you in the video above?
(Browny points to anyone who spots the other 3!)

When People Buy from You, They Make a Commitment

Getting Married to your buyers

Buyers make a commitment to you, do you make a commitment back?

Lets think about this for a few moments as its sometimes just glazed over, its very easy to do so, with suppliers calling, all those emails to answer and packages to pack, not to mention the kids are going to need picking up later. But are we missing what a epic journey your customer has just been on?

Unless you’re selling “consumable goods” like bread & milk, the buyer that just purchased from you, has probably been through quite an ordeal to make that purchase.

Not a one click & forget

eBay isn’t a one-click purchase, Amazon can be, I used it once, but still prefer to “checkout” to ensure the details are correct. Its even worse on most websites, with no uniform checkout process. They [the customer] has had to work to make the purchase from you and even then they still have doubts.

What have they been through so far?

So with the buyer in mind, lets flip-ourselves into their shoe, to see what they’ve completed to actually buy the item from you.

  1. They found the item you sell
    Probably amongst hundreds of others. Quite a feat.
  2. They probably bookmarked the item, or added it to their watch list
    This is especially true for “considered purchases”, typically items over £40-50
  3. They’re happy with “you”
    They checked your feedback and read the negs & neuts and are still happy
  4. They’re happy with the description
    After scouring the other products, they’ve decided that this item is “right for them”
  5. They’ve envisaged using the product
    Think fashion or a drain rod set. One’s going to solve an emotional need to look great, the other, well…
  6. They’ve jumped hoops to pay for the item
    Is the eBay checkout really that straight forward? Is the Amazon checkout that straight forward either? Logging in, signing into PayPal, these are all barriers that the customer has just been through and could have tripped up at any one of them.
  7. They’ve handed over their money in good-will
    The irony is that for both eBay & Amazon, they have paid you in “good will” before even having the goods. If you were in Tesco shopping, while you may not be able to open up the bread and take a bite (unless you have kids and they’ll do it anyway), you can still interact with it, check its consistency and “personally inspect it”.
  8. They still have doubts
    Even though they’ve been through all the barriers above, they still have doubts. Is the item right? What if its damaged? Will it turn up? Will I be in to collect it? Did they get the mooney? Did I screw something up in the checkout process? Pants, was that my old address or my new address I used?

Summary

Its like getting married (an experience I’m looking forward to next year), one party is making an epic commitment to you, what are you giving back in return?

Its easy to get consumed with the day-to-day actives and forget that your buyers have been through an epic ordeal to buy the goods or services from you.

Stop - Take Action!What are YOU going to do?
What can you do to make the buyers tasks easier? What can you do right now to over-come barriers or quash doubts?

Image source: Adamjonfuller