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Converting Web Customers - Where's the Rub?

Guest post by: Max Kalles

Article Overview: What if you owned a store and shoppers started disappearing before your eyes. For web marketers, it's not a scene from a bad horror movie, but a common reality. Potential web customers can opt out of the conversion process at the click of a button. Fortunately, there's a way to give the story a happy ending.

Converting Web Customers - Where's the Rub?

What’s the difference between your potential customers on the web and in the real world? While they are the same people, the differences lie in how they are converted into paying custoomers.

Let’s say you owned a clothing store. Imagine for a moment that anyone who came into your store could immediately “teleport” themselves out of your store if they saw something they didn’t like or understand. And we mean anything – the color of your walls, the design of your checkout counter or the language used by sales associates.

The scenario might go something like this: a shopper comes in, starts looking at some merchandise, looks interested ~ poof ~ they're gone. You have no chance to ask what they were looking for, why they left or if they ever will be back.

As the storeowner, what would you do?

For a quick answer, talk to a web marketer. The imaginary situation we just discussed is a reality on the web. Potential customers on the internet, even those with a high-level of interest in your product and in the late stages of the buying cycle, can opt out at the click of a mouse, perhaps never to return.

It’s the “bad news” about e-commerce. You can spend a lot of money to get people to your site, but you can’t make them click; or stop them from leaving to see what tomorrow’s weather will bring.

But, what makes surfers stop in their buying tracks and change course? Unfortunately, the answers are as varied as your customers – the phone rang; an IM message came in or the boss appeared. However, in many cases, potential customers abandon the conversion path because they encounter a rub, or friction, somewhere in the process.

Friction is anything that interrupts the smooth transition from shopper to customer. It could be a telephone call, over which you have no control; or it could be your web content, site design or checkout process, over which you have total control.

Friction is encountered by your bricks and mortar shoppers too, but, unlike the internet, if they don’t like the colour of your walls, they can’t simply pop off to another store.

Small changes that reduce friction can significantly improve your results, both in-store and on the web. The “good news” about e-commerce is that making those changes is relatively easy and inexpensive. For example, if you think that changing the background color of your site will improve results, you can literally do so in a matter of seconds. But, imagine the time and cost of changing the wall color in your store.

The web allows marketers to easily determine where customers encounter friction and to quickly take steps to make the buying process smoother and more successful.

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Article Tags: conversion marketing, converting customers, web customers



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