Marketing is a lot like dating. Ask for commitment too soon and you’ll be eating alone. Hint instead of asking clearly and you’ll be eating alone. In this week’s marketing tip I show you how to ask your customers and prospects to commit without scaring them off.
Full transcript below.
Full Transcript
Do you ever have a customer or a prospect that just won’t take that next step? Hi, my name is Steve Phipps, and I’m the president of Wayfind Marketing. And here is a weekly marketing tip. We all have things that we want our customers to do, the next step in the buying process or the sales process. And what we’re doing is we’re asking them to commit. The problem is, there’s actually two problems that might be getting in the way of your customers and prospects doing what you want them to do. And that’s taking that next step. That next step could be buy your product, it could be schedule an appointment or a call.
And so there’s two things that could be impacting the results that you’re experiencing. Number one, you’re not asking. Now, if you go to a lot of websites, and maybe yours is included, the only call to action is Contact Us. Well, if that is the only call to action on your website, you are going to lose business, because that’s not clear. That’s not telling people what the next step is. Anybody can get in touch with a business, that’s where spammers go, that’s where people looking for jobs go, that’s all sorts of requests that get funneled there. But if you want somebody to schedule an appointment or book a call or start a trial, be clear. And repeat that call to action multiple times throughout your homepage, throughout your website, make it clear, be confident in what you can do for people. And that shows when you ask people throughout your website.
Now the other problem is that sometimes what happens is people ask in a way that’s really vague. It’s almost like dating and asking somebody out, but sort of hinting at it like, “Man, wouldn’t it be nice to get a cup of coffee?” That’s hinting, that’s not going to win many dates, and that’s not going to win many customers. So, I’ll give you an example. One of the calls to action that I see on websites sometimes is Get Started. Well, depending on the context, that might be clear, but a lot of times it’s not. If I click on that button, what’s going to happen? What am I starting? Am I starting a request for a quote? Am I starting the buying process? Am I starting to schedule an appointment? I don’t know. And so try something that’s clear, and that’s concise.
So make sure you’re asking, and then make sure you’re not hinting. Be clear, so that way somebody knows when they click that button, or they tap that button exactly what’s going to happen. So those are just two ways that you can encourage and help your customers to commit to whatever’s next.
