Overcoming Obstacles to Gain Customers
How do you bring new customers to your web site? The internet is full of web sites trying to entice people to come to their business. What is a business owner to do?
One of the first things you should look at is try to understand what reasons people DO NOT shop from you online. If you can grasp the reason they don’t shop from you, you’ll be able to overcome these resistances. The following will help you understand the needs to establishing your customer.
Obstacle One: Lack of Trust
No one knows who you are on the internet. A benefit and a flaw of this sales medium is anonymity. You are faceless and people fear that which they do not know or trust. Add the fact that the media does a great job of growing these fears, you have a recipe for no sales. People are afraid of losing money, having their identities stolen, or not getting what they order.
You have to build trust with your customers. One way of doing this is to make sure that there is easy access to your location. How many web sites do you go to that do not have any form of contact information on them? People need to see that you are open and willing for them to get in contact with you. Make sure this information is readily available on your web site.
Another means of gaining trust is to provide something for free on your web site. This doesn’t have to cost you anything, actually. It could be free information. It could be advice. It could be a chance to win a free iPod. Giving to your customer before you sell them something is a way to tear down this barrier. This is up to you, but building the trust between you (the faceless stranger) and your customer is essential.
Obstacle Two: Building a Sense of “Need” in the Consumer
Once you hurdle past the first obstacle and your customer thinks they can trust you, you have to give them a reason to need your product. A need can be anything you can think of to show the customer that they can’t live without your products. This could come in the form of testimonials (showing how others needed your product and what it did for them) or touting the benefits of your product. Remember: Don’t tell the customer the features of your product. No one cares. They only care about the benefits and how it will make their life easier. If the customer doesn’t think he will need your product, he won’t buy your product.
Obstacle Three: The Specifics of How This Product Will Help the Customer
OK, you’ve figured out a way for the customer to trust you. They think they need your product because it is addressing some problems they have, but now they ask, “Will this specific product really help me?”
They begin to question if your product is the actual product they need or if one of your competitors offer a better, more reasonable product. You have to show them in words on the internet on how this product will increase their current quality of life. Your products aren’t an impulse item like a candy bar or National Enquirer in the grocery line. This is something they are looking to buy at this time. You have to persuade them to make that purchase and punch in their credit card number. Your persuasion of your products will get you the price you demand and the sales from these new customers.
Obstacle Four: Is There a Sense of Urgency?
This is the most important of the four obstacles to overcome. You have the person on your web page. You’ve shown that you are a trustworthy sales outlet. You’ve given them a need to buy your products and shown them how you will enrich their lives by what you sell. Now, while they are here, you must show them the need to buy this product right now!
It is a natural tendency to hesitate. I can come back to your store if I really need this. It isn’t like you are going anywhere. I have this fancy bookmarking tool to come back any time I want. But the question is: Will they come back? Will they buy from you or the next person online offering your goods?So how do you overcome the lack of rush and instill a fear of loss that could be suffered if they don't act now? One way is to develop the idea that your product has a limited time of availability.Even if the product has every appearance of being available for a long time, let the customer know that the price could escalate. Let them know the prices are good only till the end of the month. If you want, show them that there is a shortage on the item. A good example of this is the Nintendo Wii.
The Wii came out at Christmas time a couple of years back, but Nintendo didn’t release millions of their popular game system all at once. They only released 5 or 10 units at a time to large resellers. They released 1-3 units to smaller establishments. Word spread through the stores and online that this was a hard product to get. People waited in lines. They pre-ordered and they waited months on end to get this coveted item. Is it really that scarce? Not really. Everyone I know who wanted one has a Nintendo Wii. What did happen was that they had to search to find a game system. Nintendo used this obstacle to their advantage and they sell out of the Wii System every time they open the flood gates to trickle out a few more.Your long-range focus should be one of building a sizeable list of loyal customers that can be a continual source of cash-flow for you. It is fun and financially rewarding (although challenging at first) to build an expanding list of responsive customers.When you do, they will be your asset for years and years. You will get better and better all the time at overcoming the four obstacles. As you do, your customer list as well as your business and income will grow.
One of the first things you should look at is try to understand what reasons people DO NOT shop from you online. If you can grasp the reason they don’t shop from you, you’ll be able to overcome these resistances. The following will help you understand the needs to establishing your customer.
Obstacle One: Lack of Trust
No one knows who you are on the internet. A benefit and a flaw of this sales medium is anonymity. You are faceless and people fear that which they do not know or trust. Add the fact that the media does a great job of growing these fears, you have a recipe for no sales. People are afraid of losing money, having their identities stolen, or not getting what they order.
You have to build trust with your customers. One way of doing this is to make sure that there is easy access to your location. How many web sites do you go to that do not have any form of contact information on them? People need to see that you are open and willing for them to get in contact with you. Make sure this information is readily available on your web site.
Another means of gaining trust is to provide something for free on your web site. This doesn’t have to cost you anything, actually. It could be free information. It could be advice. It could be a chance to win a free iPod. Giving to your customer before you sell them something is a way to tear down this barrier. This is up to you, but building the trust between you (the faceless stranger) and your customer is essential.
Obstacle Two: Building a Sense of “Need” in the Consumer
Once you hurdle past the first obstacle and your customer thinks they can trust you, you have to give them a reason to need your product. A need can be anything you can think of to show the customer that they can’t live without your products. This could come in the form of testimonials (showing how others needed your product and what it did for them) or touting the benefits of your product. Remember: Don’t tell the customer the features of your product. No one cares. They only care about the benefits and how it will make their life easier. If the customer doesn’t think he will need your product, he won’t buy your product.
Obstacle Three: The Specifics of How This Product Will Help the Customer
OK, you’ve figured out a way for the customer to trust you. They think they need your product because it is addressing some problems they have, but now they ask, “Will this specific product really help me?”
They begin to question if your product is the actual product they need or if one of your competitors offer a better, more reasonable product. You have to show them in words on the internet on how this product will increase their current quality of life. Your products aren’t an impulse item like a candy bar or National Enquirer in the grocery line. This is something they are looking to buy at this time. You have to persuade them to make that purchase and punch in their credit card number. Your persuasion of your products will get you the price you demand and the sales from these new customers.
Obstacle Four: Is There a Sense of Urgency?
This is the most important of the four obstacles to overcome. You have the person on your web page. You’ve shown that you are a trustworthy sales outlet. You’ve given them a need to buy your products and shown them how you will enrich their lives by what you sell. Now, while they are here, you must show them the need to buy this product right now!
It is a natural tendency to hesitate. I can come back to your store if I really need this. It isn’t like you are going anywhere. I have this fancy bookmarking tool to come back any time I want. But the question is: Will they come back? Will they buy from you or the next person online offering your goods?So how do you overcome the lack of rush and instill a fear of loss that could be suffered if they don't act now? One way is to develop the idea that your product has a limited time of availability.Even if the product has every appearance of being available for a long time, let the customer know that the price could escalate. Let them know the prices are good only till the end of the month. If you want, show them that there is a shortage on the item. A good example of this is the Nintendo Wii.
The Wii came out at Christmas time a couple of years back, but Nintendo didn’t release millions of their popular game system all at once. They only released 5 or 10 units at a time to large resellers. They released 1-3 units to smaller establishments. Word spread through the stores and online that this was a hard product to get. People waited in lines. They pre-ordered and they waited months on end to get this coveted item. Is it really that scarce? Not really. Everyone I know who wanted one has a Nintendo Wii. What did happen was that they had to search to find a game system. Nintendo used this obstacle to their advantage and they sell out of the Wii System every time they open the flood gates to trickle out a few more.Your long-range focus should be one of building a sizeable list of loyal customers that can be a continual source of cash-flow for you. It is fun and financially rewarding (although challenging at first) to build an expanding list of responsive customers.When you do, they will be your asset for years and years. You will get better and better all the time at overcoming the four obstacles. As you do, your customer list as well as your business and income will grow.
Labels: building a customer list, customer list, four obstacles, gaining customers, getting customers
posted by myWebSource1 @ 11:01 PM
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