I spend a fair amount of the day at my computer. Writing copy for clients. Surfing the net for ideas. Linking IN.
And of course, checking to see if Miley did anything outrageous the day before. Important stuff.
And I gotta tell ya….I still am amazed at how many marketers seem to think they are communicating with “the masses” when it comes to
their website messaging.
In a face to face selling situation, business owners would never say to a potential customer..."Okay, you just stand there and let me tell you all about our "world class" service or our vision...then, I'm going to list all the products and services we offer with all the neat features...and to finish off? I'm going to
give you a chance to sign up for a free demo.
Online? It happens all the time!
And it's a sales opportunity killer.
Even though your selling conversation is online, that doesn't change the fact that it's still a one-to-one interaction.
Your web copy, emails, sales letters and landing pages are usually being read by one person. Not a group of people who
sat down together in the lunch room with their peanut butter sandwiches and decided a fun activity would be to look at websites or read emails together.
So many websites and emails lead with what the business owner does - usually in the form of some incredibly boring “seen it all before” list of services or features.
Whatever happened to SELLING??!!
Case in point. The other day, I come across a company that sells technology. New time tracking software system that will blah blah this and blah blah
that.
Here's the core message:
Buy our software because you get:
- Easy and accurate time
tracking using web based timesheets
- Track time & expense towards projects, clients or any entity your business requires
- Easily track billable and non-billable time
- Smart e-mail notifications for timely timesheet
submissions/approvals
Do ya think a potential customer for this
product just MIGHT have have seen messaging like this before?
Like when he visited the other seven web sites he was researching?
He EXPECTS a system he buys to have easy and accurate
time tracking. He EXPECTS it to be able to track project time and expense.
What he WANTS (and needs) to know is:
Can they deliver so he doesn't end up looking like a doofus who
bought the wrong system.
That's the message they SHOULD be selling.
I'm not suggesting that they the features/benefits shouldn't be included.
But this company needs to LEAD with WHY they are uniquely to provide him with a solution.
Stuff like...
...a 97% new customer retention rate after 5 years!
...quickest onboarding process in the industry!
...24 hour support!
These are the things users need reassurance about.
Having software that does the basic part of the job is the price of getting into the dance.
The prospect wants to know what he/she gets in addition to that!
If the web copy is simply used as a billboard listing services, then guess what the reader is going to use to make a final buying decision?
That’s right...price.
When prospects arrive on your web site, they want to know how you're going to make their problem go away better than your competitors. FULL. STOP.
Our job, as marketers, is to communicate with them on a personal basis (yup, even a techie needs to be reassured your software system won’t blow up and cost him his job) and lead them to the conclusion that we are the one best-suited to solve their problem or fulfill their need.
