In this day and age, people are used to making purchasing decisions in seconds. You can find virtually anything on the internet, see how good or bad the reviews are, and then with one or two clicks or even a single swipe of the finger, buy it and expect to see the item on your doorstep one or two days later. Even people shopping in stores have an immediate way to compare prices and read reviews simply by scanning a product’s UPC code with a clever app on their smartphone.
It has never been easier for marketers to separate prospects from their cash. So, the question is, how do we ethically apply this phenomenon to how we present our solutions?
To answer this question, think about how an average person finds and purchases a product or service. Each step along the path should be as streamlined and clear as possible. Your website should come up when your prospect searches keywords related to your business. The message on the landing page of that site should be clear and concise (it could even be a short video or infographic so your prospect quickly comes up to speed on what your value proposition is). The next steps should be immediately defined and presented in a streamlined way to help your prospect follow those steps – whether it’s a form to fill out, a “contact us” button, or even a checkout page that facilitates credit card payments.
If you’re not easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to contact, you’re not easy to buy from. Spend some time in your prospects’ shoes. How easy is it for them to do business with you? Your job is to optimize anything that might be making the process of buying from you unnecessarily tedious.
