Getting to Know Your Customers

Pop quiz time- who is your ideal customer on the Internet?

And to be fair, let me give you a few insights before you answer the question.  If you own a brick and mortar storefront, then the customers you interact with everyday are not your ideal clients online.

Those people already know your brand and appreciate it.

I’ll give you another hint- it’s not just random website visitors either.  Because people that do not already buy from you wouldn’t bother visiting your website unless one of three things happen-

1.  They’re looking to make a purchase today…as in right now.
2.  They’re considering a product or service and they’re seeking info.
3.  They stumbled on an ad that caught their attention.

What do all three points have in common?  They are all someone who wants to buy or thinking about buying EXACLY what you have to offer.  That’s pretty darn specific information; it tells you that unless you mess something up, your cash register is about to make that sweet “cha-ching” sound.

Believe it or not, that’s probably the vast majority of your website’s visitors- someone that is ready to buy with cash in hand.  All you have to do is quickly impress them and then get out of the way.

Let’s go back to that pop quiz again- who is your ideal customer on the internet?  It’s a motivated buyer.

If you want to know even more about the motivated buyers who visit your site (and you definitely should), then we can narrow things down even further by encouraging feedback and two-way conversations.  Here are just a few of the ways-

– Post short online surveys asking visitors questions – Frequently encourage visitors to call, stop by or email – Have an opt-in box to capture email addresses – Offer an online chat that can be accessed thru your site – Guide customers to social media to start conversations – Encourage users to leave replies on your blog posts

Now, implementing some of these things probably seems like a huge pain in the neck.  But it’s actually one of the most powerful marketing features on the internet today.  By listening to your customers and answering their questions in real time, it prevents them from ending up at a competitor’s site and it also gives you cues on where to improve your core content.

Let’s try a practical, real-world example to see how this plays out.

Pretend that you own a pet store.  A potential customer is out on the town looking for somewhere to buy organic cat food, and they happen to stumble across your website.  That’s great!

But when the visitor goes to the pet food section, they don’t see their favorite brand listed. So what do they do?

They leave.  Every single time they leave and go shop somewhere else.

But if they happen to see an online chat or a banner that says, “Call us at 555-1234 if you have any questions about our organic pet foods,” then there’s a decent chance of converting that customer after all. Because even though you may not have the exact information that’s required, a banner makes calling you the next logical step IF (and that’s a big if) it’s prominent on the page where the customer is seeking answers.

This comes full circle as well, because customer feedback also tells you how to improve your website to better serve your customer needs.  That way, every single piece of content that’s placed on your website is there to entertain, inform or convert potential customers.  All you have to do is listen…and your visitors will guide you 100% of the way.