Converting Visitors to Buyers

1. Converting Visitors to Buyers Stephan Spencer Managing Director, Netconcepts sspencer@netconcepts.com www.netconcepts.com

2. Your Visitors are Tough Customers • They don’t read; they scan • We read 30% slower off the screen than off of paper • They don’t scroll • Over 60% of the time • Anything important ‘below the fold’? Hope not! • They’re impatient; they won’t wait • 8 second rule • They can’t remember much • Our brains can’t handle more than 7 items at once

3. If Your Site’s Not Part of the Solution, It’s Part of the Problem • Do you make it easy for them to do business with you? • Do you solve their business problems? • Do you save them time or money, or help make them more productive?

4. Make It Easy for Them • Less is more. Keep it short and punchy. • Don’t just reuse content from print • Minimize scrolling • Use bullet points • Use white space • Restrict the number of choices available

5. Writing for the Web • Must be value-added, compelling, interactive, fresh, well-written, concise, readable, tailored to the individual’s needs • No marketingspeak • WIIFM • Content needs to be written as much for search engines as for humans

6. No Marketingspeak! • Skip the meaningless blather and cut to the chase • Everyone’s “leveraging,” “monetizing,” “repurposing,” “disintermediating,” and “synergizing” • And they’re all hawking “solutions” that are “next-generation,” “best-of-breed,” “innovative,” “scalable,” “mission critical,” “real-time,” “dynamic,” “customer-centric,” “24/7” • Did they use the B.S. Generator? (http://tinyurl.com/1wvi) • Avoid industry buzzwords and jargon • Put your site to the test • the B.S. Detector (http://www.streettech.com/bs)

8. Don’t Over-hype • Soft sell • Avoid exclamation points • Avoid words like “premier,” “leading,” and other hyperbole • No ALL CAPS (except in your legal disclaimer, where you must have it) • “Keep it real.” You’ll instill trust.

9. WII-FM • Your visitors listen to WII-FM … What’s In It For Me • They don’t care about your • Letter from the CEO • Mission statement • Assorted press release hype • Your site should not be a ‘temple to the brand’ or a testament to the company’s ego

10. “You” & “your” vs. “We” & “our” • Web site copy that’s all about “us” • We all love talking about ourselves. But does the visitor really care? • Should be a 7:1 ratio of “you” and “your” to “we” and “our” • Is your site ‘company facing’ instead of ‘customer facing’? Then you’ve got your butt to the customer.

11. Active Tense not Passive • Conserves words • Less wishy-washy • More persuasive • Read “Think Active!” article by Jeff Eisenberg

12. Verbs With More Punch • Inject more ‘punch’ into your verbs and concomitantly cut down on your use of adjectives • For example, “Immerse yourself” rather than “Take an audio visual journey” • It’ll give your prose more personality. Set a tone appropriate for your target audience, though. • Read “Pump up Your Verbs” article by Jeff Eisenberg

13. Writing for Search Engines • You’re writing for search engines as much as for people • Keyword-rich copy (“keyword density”) • Keywords should be not just relevant, but also popular • Overture’s Search Term Suggestion Tool (http://inventory.overture.com) and WordTracker.com • Prominent placement of keywords at beginning of first paragraph, in headlines, in titles, etc. (“keyword prominence”) • Text-rich, constantly changing home page

14. The Offer • Give a compelling value proposition • Make it relevant • Sign up for e-newsletter • Free downloads (white paper, screensaver, etc.) • A sweepstakes • Etc.

15. Call-to-Action • Invite your visitors to act • Every page should have a clear ‘call-to-action’ to get your visitors to take the next step

16. The Follow-up • Maintain contact at least once every 90 days • With each contact, try to get increasing levels of permission • e.g. email -> phone -> in-person meeting -> proposal -> sale

17. Get Personal • Mass customization = a mass of markets, not amass market • Tailor the content, speak to the user • Rules-based personalization vs. collaborative filtering • Example: Amazon.com’s “1-click ordering”, Recommendation Center, & Email Notification Service • Use to highlight relevant products/services/information, to auto-fill in order & inquiry forms, for targeted promotions and for email reminders

18. Acquisition Funnel • Map out the stages in your customer acquisition process • E.g. Visit web site, sign up for e-newsletter, download white paper, trial user, customer, loyal customer, evangelist

19. CPM =$100 CPV84=$53 CPV0 = cost per new viewer CPV84 = cost per viewer retained for 84 or more days CPV0=$30 Acquisition Funnel Example Click to Web site Download attempt Downloadsuccess Regis-tration 4-wkviewer 12-wkviewer 90* 70* 75* 50* 80* 1%* * Fictitious conversion rates, for illustration purposes only Slide courtesy of Ann Shepherd of PointCast

20. A Hypothetical Step-by-Step Permission Marketing Strategy • First contact: visitor signs up (e.g. for a free BMW screensaver) and opts in for emails • Email campaign: come in for a test drive and go in the draw to win • At the test drive, invite them to become a member of BMW Owners Club, free • Follow up with formal invitation letter • Follow up by phone • Maintain contact at least once every 90 days

21. Hyundai Case Study • Campaign cost $75K • Contest entries 39,502 • Handraisers 25,418 • Cost per lead $2.95 • Test drives 1,204 • Cost per test drive $62.29 • Sales 210 • Cost per sale $357.00

22. In Summary • Writing for the Web means writing for unforgiving humans and search engine spiders alike • Manage the acquisition process - the offer, the call-to-action, the follow-up, etc. • Personalize

23. Further Reading • Net Words: Creating High Impact Online Copy by Nick Usborne (http://www.nickusborne.com/networds.htm) • Guide To Killer Copywriting by Debbie Weil, a downloadable e-book, free when you subscribe to Debbie’s free email newsletter (http://www.wordbiz.com/signup.html)