Ken has written an excellent sales-oriented Web site. Here
are his thoughts on how to construct a Web site that will overcome the
intense sales-resistance of Internet surfers/buyers.
Each point is exampled with a page from Ken's site. The
example will open into a new window on your browser. After reviewing the
example, just click on the background window to continue reading this
article, or select this window from the "Window" menu (select
"How to Write a Web Site that Sells") in the menu bar at the
top of your browser.
1)
Front page/Home page
Benefits, benefits, and benefits. Stress benefits. Let
your customer know how his/her life will be better because of your product.
Most people hit your site at 100 miles per hour. You have to STOP them.
And nothing stops your target market better than stating the key benefits,
in language that your customer will appreciate. And use sharp, hard-hitting
headlines ... and lots of them..
Be willing to lose a certain percentage of visitors right
off the bat. Decide what’s important to MOST of your customers
and hammer on that. Don’t try to get everyone to go to "page
2." You can’t get ALL the information on the front page! But
you DO have to retain those who are open to your concept.
2)
Who Are You?
Although this was a page that made me nervous, people
need to get a good feel for who you are, and they need that early in
the site. But keep if OFF your home page. Provide tons of info for them
to check you out. They have to be convinced that you are real, that
you are stable in your community, that you have some kind of track record
that can be verified, and that you can be reached.
3)
Testimonials
Real names, real phone numbers/e-mail addresses. If your
testimonials aren’t verifiable, they lose much of their worth.
Amazingly, almost no one checks, but that doesn’t matter—people
know that they COULD check ... and since they COULD check, they know
that you wouldn’t put those testimonials there if they weren’t
genuine.
Sanford Carr posted a clever, original idea to the I-Sales
mailing list: "Encourage people to report their experiences to
a newsgroup, answer questions, whatever. Then provide a Deja News link
to search for the messages. You take the risk of negative comments,
but even these are good if you respond well to them."
4)
What Do I Get?
Let your customers know what they will receive. The best
way is to offer a trial version—either limited time or limited
number of trials ("disable features" are not so great, though).
If that is not possible (due to PennyGold’s unique
nature, we can’t do this), make it extremely clear what they get.
One way or the other, they have to see enough to believe it’s worth
the money.
Don’t assume the customer knows what you know, ever,
but especially not when it comes to your product.
Of course, you DO have to stress benefits on the front
page, but if your customer see nothing of substance (i.e., features)
to support your "benefits promise," ... well, say good-bye.
5)
Disclaimer
It’s also important to be fair. I must say that,
according to our log files, it is mid-range in terms of visitor popularity.
If anything, it does add credibility.
6)
The Guarantee
A good guarantee is vital. People who phone me almost
always mention "and it’s guaranteed, right?" or ask some
question about the guarantee.
NOTE: If you offer a free trial of your product, the guarantee
becomes less important. But for our site, it IS vital. And since PennyGold
WILL deliver what we promise, the guarantee costs us very little (if
you honestly offer a solid product, 2-5% of purchasers will still make
claims—a few of those will be fraudulent and will fool us and a
few will be genuine (not everyone can succeed in life), and we’ll
refund them).
7)
The Closing Page
Steady-build to the close. If your product is over $100,
no one will buy off a short and quick pitch. It’s why I don’t
even put my "get-the-order closer page" on the Table of Contents.
When we review visitor paths through our site, they have invariably
viewed four or five pages before clicking to the order page. That’s
the way I want it for PennyGold. They even have to click an "I
promise to keep it confidential" link (600.html) to get there.
For this particular site, I want serious-customers-only on my order
page. That could and would change dramatically for another product.
You don’t always have to get THE SALE off the first
visit— although certainly work towards that end. But also work
to get a "pre-sale" response. For example, have them fill
in a form, call you on the phone (voice-to-voice lets your customer
get a much better sense of who you are), join a mailing list, whatever
is appropriate for your business.
Think carefully about the nature of your product (and
its price) and your target market. Then decide on how you want to build
to the final close.
On the closer page, offer every way possible for your
customer to pay you—I can vouch for this. I have already had
several certified checks turn up through regular mail, without even
a single e-mail inquiry. I originally offered this route only "to
be complete"—but people actually use it!
8)
Music and Javascript Alerts
Many of our visitors comment on the music, ALL
of them positively ... I mean it, VERY positively.
Our worry before implementing this, of course, was the
download time. But when I review our log files, less than 5% kill the
download. If you have a sales-oriented site, I strongly recommend good
toe-tapping music (with a few alternate selections). Why do you think
all the "real-world" retailers do it?
PennyGold uses two javascript alerts, one upon
visitor entry and one upon exit. We worried whether they might be too
intrusive.
Our visitors, however, are positive. They often say something
like, "Very cool. How did you do that?" I highly recommend
creative use of them. Although, if they were to become commonplace,
I’d be the first to drop them—they really would get too annoying.
If you DO use javascript alerts, they DO get tiring for
repeat visitors. So if your site is heavily repeat-visit oriented, add
a few lines of script to the effect that if that visitor has been there
before (check via cookie), drop the entry script. I’ll be doing
that shortly, even though PennyGold does not try to generate heavy repeat
visits.
To see the closing javascript alert, CLOSE the browser
window completely when you have finished looking at the example. The
alert directs wavering customers to the FAQ, which s/he may choose on
the floating table of contents that remains after closing the alert
window.
The question of "intrusiveness" brings up another
general observation: before following conventional thinking (which IS
usually based on solid reasoning), consider your audience and the nature
of your site. You may just decide to go against the flow. We did, and
we’re convinced that both the javascript alerts and the music were
correct ... for the PennyGold site (but I won’t use either for
the GoodBytes homepage—they just don’t fit).
9) Pseudo-autonomy
You can go anywhere you want, as long as it’s to
my next page." Our log files are amazing to see—the paths
are almost all the same. They may stray a little, but those who stay
soon get back on the main road to the order page. Permit your customers
to wander, but design the site so that they WANT to stay on the main
path, or get back to it as quickly as possible. We don't force our customers
to take a certain path -- we just design the site so that there is a
clear "best way" to get the information that they need to
make a decision.
10) Conversational language
Use a less formal, more friendly and conversational tone
throughout your site. Use words that make them feel like they’re
talking to someone. Make it feel like there is someone on the other
end of that web page listening and anticipating what the visitor wants
to know." But don't cross the boundary and get too cute, either.
Well, those are the top ten techniques that we used to
design our site. I hope it helps.
