There is a lot of discussion in the online marketing world and website design world about conversion.
Everybody talks about the sales funnel and how your website needs to sell. We talk about it here on this blog. Selling is important. Selling is how you make money.
So why am I saying that conversion is overrated?
I think the focus on conversion is getting too far toward one time transactions. That’s not what business is about. One time conversions are not what your business should focus on and I think it’s time to take a step back from the conversion discussion to really focus on what’s the most important focus for your business website.
Online Sales is the Same as Offline Sales
When you think about your website and how it sells you need to think of how you would sell your product or services to someone face to face. You’ve probably done this many times in your life. You’ve met someone for the first time. They’re asking you questions about your company. In fact, they are expressing a problem they are having and they’re fishing for information about how you might help them.
You probably spend quite a few minutes with this person. You might even give them your business card and follow up with them in a few days. The sale is the ultimate goal but you know that it might not happen right away. For some businesses the sale comes with time.
With your website do you know how long it will take a first time visitor to convert to a sale?
The answer may surprise you because it’s probably the exact same as your offline process. If you sell a service then it might take a few visits before someone will even contact you on the phone to discuss giving you money to help them.
People seem to forget that the online world is the same as the real world. You aren’t always looking to convert people right away on the first visit. Just because someone comes to your website and visits the homepage, the about page, the services page, a few blog posts and then leaves does not mean that person is not an eventual customer or conversion.
What usually happens is you’ll have a bunch of people leaving your site without converting only to come back a few days or even a few weeks later. They often search for your brand name on Google and find your site again. They dig deeper into your content and once they get through the entire process they convert to a sale.
But instead of thinking about the sales process in this way we think about the importance of conversion and in the process we turn away more customers than we actually convert in the long run.
When you start speaking with a person that has a simple question about your service do you immediately turn their focus to the sale? Do you turn off all questions they may ask and get right into the sale of the product?
No. Of course you don’t do this. It would be awkward.
The best salespeople know that a sale can take a different amount of time depending on the particular business. Whatever the process is for your company it needs to be reflected the same exact way on your website.
Instead of trapping customers on the website by not giving them enough answers to their questions and directing them right to the contact form you need to take them through the entire sales funnel. It’s difficult to do because we all want that sale right away. We think that because it’s the web that people already have all the information they need to make a purchase.
The web is no different than real life. These are still real people (for the most part) visiting your website.
When it comes to your website here are some tips for going through the entire sales process:
First, consider your entire sales process. Think about how your sales conversation goes when a brand new person visits you in person. Relate this to a new person visiting your homepage for the first time. Do you direct them to your contact page right away to get the conversion? Maybe, but usually that’s not the case. You need to get this person interested in how your company can help them. This means guiding them through the content on your website. Take them through the services information and maybe some case studies and examples of your work. Take them through the entire process. Think about the questions people as you in person and use your answers for website content. Eventually you’ll direct them to the contact page or the purchase page, but not as soon as you might think.
Second, lots of folks are talking about measurement and analytics. Sales and profit are really the only metrics you need to worry about. You want to know that your website is providing incremental sales for your business. You can figure this out with a pretty basic set of analytics. You don’t need to focus on all the other forms of stats out there because they really aren’t that important. Conversion is not an important stat. You can get to what you’re really interested in by looking at your monthly reporting. Conversion focus can lead to quick sales, but low retention and potentially even a lower sales rate than otherwise possible. Focus on your sales process and give people all the information they need to make the right decision.
Finally, your website has one main focus. You want to increase sales. In order to do this you need to focus on what’s best for your business. Usually that is getting more new customers. Think about how you get new customers in the offline world and use those insights when creating your website. With this mindset you’ll find that it’s much easier to create web design and web content.
