As any successful entrepreneur knows, there’s more to generating on-line sales than owning a web site. To produce sales, your web presence must be effective, easy to navigate, and properly marketed – all of which require a well-rounded understanding of your target client. But how do we get inside
collective mind of our market? The key is psychology – in this case, e-psychology – or
science of understanding how consumers shop on-line. Understanding how consumers make
purchase decisions on-line will allow you to develop web site content that appeals to
maximum number of prospective clients.
World Wide Psychoanalysis
Internet advertising isn’t
same as print advertising. Web surfers tend to read less on-line, instead using visuals such as photos, animation, and colorful graphics to gather information. From a development standpoint, this places an emphasis on site navigation and overall layout.
The motivations behind on-line purchase decisions differ from those generated by more familiar mediums. To achieve success, your on-line sales strategy must embrace these differences.
Let’s begin by glancing at
web sites of your biggest competitors by sales volume. Chances are,
primary content is designed to accomplish three goals:
* Generate interest, usually by eliciting or identifying a need * Convey
unique value of their specific product or service, and * Promote a transaction.
To produce sales on-line, your web site must do more than serve as an information resource about your company. Your site must ask for
business. Each page of
web presence should lead to an action step promoting a sale or contact request.
On- or off-line, asking for
business is
only way to achieve any greater result than educating prospective clients about your industry and product or service.
Writing For The Web
The foundation of any purchase decision is
desire for a product or service, usually based on a pre-existing need or want. Selection of a specific product or service provider begins when a consumer identifies a company that offers a value most compatible with
consumer’s perception of value.
Start by writing your web site’s content to elicit
general value
product or service provides. Introduce solutions generated by having
product or service, based on
typical ultimate desires of
target market. For example,
benefits of developing a web site for a small business may include increased sales, expanded credibility, and a 24/7 on-line purchase option.
Next, build on this general foundation by introducing
features, benefits and value of your own company. Remember that surfers tend to do less reading on-line, so you’ll need to accomplish a great deal in each line of text. Each sentence must:
* Convey
tangible and intangible value of your product or service * Include key terms and phrases effectively describing your industry and products/services * Promote prospect-to-client conversion * “Hook”
surfer, encouraging further reading