Figure 5-7. CNET.com TV buying guide
Both the buying guides and product wizards focus on product features. Another way to connect with customers is via self-actualization. Using this approach, you will give visitors a list of possible selections to identify who they are and what brought them to your site. When a user selects the option that best describes her, she is committing to a certain path in the site. By identifying the visitor’s specific needs, you will be able to tailor the messages and copy on the site to satisfy those needs. Figure 5-8 shows how IBM uses this strategy on its home page by providing visitors with a list of possible industries and roles, so they can select the one that best describes them: Government, Investors, CIOs, Journalists, and so forth. When the visitor selects her industry, she is taken to an appropriate page that provides her with the information she needs.
Focusing on product or service benefits is a great way to connect with visitors. Similar to self-actualization, you will ask visitors to identify which of your offer benefits relates most to them. You will then direct these visitors to specific pages that answer their questions. Since you know the need these visitors are looking to fulfill, your copy, design, and overall online message will be fine-tuned to them. The persona development stage includes needs assessment analysis, whereby the design team will identify the different needs your service provides for your target market. Figure 5-9 shows how the IRS identifies different needs a visitor might have when he visits its site. Although there might be many reasons a person would visit the IRS site, the design team focused on the more popular items people ask for on a regular basis. Besides providing visitors with a better website experience, the IRS is able to minimize the number of inquiries to its calling centers.
Figure 5-10 shows how Xerox allows visitors to select the benefit or need that best matches what they are looking for. For example, a visitor may need to increase productivity, reduce operational costs, or provide superior customer service.
Visitors in the evaluation of alternatives stage are getting closer to the conversion point. They decided that they do need or want the product or service you offer. However, they have not selected the vendor they will use or the particular product that will fulfill their needs. A higher percentage of them will convert compared to visitors in the earlier stages of the buying funnel. The question is, are they going to convert on your website or on another website?
You will again look for linguistic cues from visitors to determine whether they are in the alternative evaluation stage. These visitors are likely to:
These potential customers are not looking to buy a product; they are looking to buy value. They are assessing two main elements. First, they are looking for the best product or service to fill their needs. Second, they are looking to do business with the best company that provides the particular product or service. To persuade visitors during this stage, you need to present them with the best combination of:
If visitors can buy the same product from different vendors, the emphasis shifts from the product benefits to the vendor benefits. Several of the techniques we discussed in Chapter 4 will persuade visitors to do business with your company instead of the competition.
The type of information your website needs to provide visitors during this stage will vary based on the type of transaction the visitor is going to complete on the site. In business-to-business (B2B) complex sales, the visitor is looking for product or service demos, white papers, or case studies. In business-to-consumer (B2C) sites, the visitor is probably looking for product information, technical specs, price comparisons, and shipping information.
Let’s look at a real-world example to demonstrate the issues visitors deal with when evaluating alternatives. Invesp had moved to a new office and decided it was time to upgrade to a new phone system. After researching the options, we decided to go with a VoIP system.
Figure 5-11 shows Google’s SERP when we searched for the term “voip telephone comparison.” Initially, we were unsure which of the different manufacturers and models would best meet our needs. Unfortunately, none of the results displayed on the page answered our questions. Two of the top three pay-per-click (PPC) results (CudaTel and Avaya) offered particular brands and no real way to compare the different alternatives from various manufacturers. The other result from the top three PPC results, ShoreTel, seemed to answer our question directly. However, clicking on that result took us to the landing page displayed in Figure 5-12, where ShoreTel offers a report that compares the top 11 VoIP vendors. Although this is exactly what we were looking for, the report was only available if we submitted our contact information. We were not ready to hand out our information to ShoreTel. So, we went back to the SERP looking for other options. The rest of the PPC results did not answer our question. AT&T’s paid ad offered “DVR, HD Channels,” which did not relate to our search query. Google’s organic results did not resolve our problem either. Although we were searching for a VoIP phone system, the page displayed VoIP providers—not exactly what we were looking for. So, we had to ask friends and family what phone systems work best for them.
After further research, we decided that the Cisco 7960 was the best option for our office. We again went to Google to find the best website from which to order the phone. Figure 5-13 shows the top Google PPC results when searching for “cisco 7960.” When selecting a website from which to buy the Cisco phone, the features that mattered the most to us were store rating, unit price, shipping cost, and delivery time.
We examined the first three vendors listed on the page. The first result, for TelephoneGenie.com, brought two additional features to our attention: warranty and quantity discount. Both of these features were important to us in making a final decision. Table 5-3 compares the availability of information on the six features we were concerned with among the top three vendors listed on the PPC results. The table shows that TelephoneGenie.com and TelecomBiz.com, the first two results listed, do a much better job of selling the stores’ features and convincing us to click on their respective ads. TelephoneGenie.com has four of the seven features we were considering. TelecomBiz.com has three of the features we were considering. Finally, AtlasPhones.com has only one of the features we were considering.
