Stage 3: Turning Enquirers into First Time Buyers
Episode #4 of the course How to influence your customers to buy more by Chloë Thomas
Welcome to lesson number four!
In this lesson, we finally get to talk about Stage 3—yes, we’re finally aiming to get a sale. In Stages 1 and 2, we got the right people to the website and got them to sign up for your email marketing. That gives us a great platform from which to get the purchase.
Laying this groundwork before we go for the sale means the customer knows your business a lot better, which should make them more likely to buy. The better you’ve done in Stages 1 and 2, the better results you’ll get from your efforts in Stage 3, both because the quality of the customers is better and because they are better educated about your business.
What you must get right in Stage 3
Stage 3 is all about the path to purchase.
• In your marketing, the customer needs to be presented with the products they are most likely to buy—usually your bestsellers or what’s new and exciting or even well-reviewed.
• Once they get to the website, the product pages need to give them the information they need to make the decision to buy.
• Then the checkout process needs to be straightforward.
• In case the checkout process isn’t so straightforward (and even the best ones experience drop-outs), you need an abandoned basket email sequence.
That may seem a little overwhelming, so let’s dive into a handful of key steps:
Welcome Email Sequence
In Stage 2, you went through a lot of effort to capture email addresses; when someone first signs up is your most powerful time to impress them. So you need to immediately follow up with whatever incentive you used to get them to sign up. If it’s the “latest behind-the-scenes news,” your first email to them to thank them for signing up needs to include some behind-the-scenes news.
Then follow that one up with some information about the business, who you are, why you do what you do, and what makes your products so great. Include what your customers think.
Then the third welcome email is either your top reviewed products or your bestsellers, because people like to do what other people do.
Product Pages
Take a look at the product pages of your top 10 bestselling products. Do they answer all the questions a customer would want to know before buying?
• Size measurements
• Color details
• Compatibility
• Weight
• Delivery
• Availability
The list varies from product to product, so have you answered it all? Do you need more videos, images, or just a few more lines of text?
The better the information on the product page, the more likely the customer will be to buy.
Abandoned Basket Emails
Most website platforms have a plugin you can use for this.
Just like with the pop-ups in lesson 3, you don’t need to include an offer in this.
What you do need to do to maximize response is send within 30 minutes of the basket being abandoned, include details of the abandoned order in the email, personalize the subject line, and make it VERY clear how the customer can come back and checkout easily.
Key messages to get customers at the Enquirer and Visitors Stages to buy
Keep featuring your bestsellers, most reviewed, and customer testimonials in any marketing you do to this group of customers.
Whether it’s social media, remarketing, advertising, or direct mail, these are your strongest messages.
And don’t forget to say “buy now”! Also, an offer for first-time buyers usually works—but always have a deadline for when the offer will expire.
Many businesses only break even on this first order—not surprising given how much work has gone into getting it! In the next lesson, we’re going to look at where the profit comes from—getting the second order from your customers.
Catch up tomorrow,
Chloë
Recommended book
Share with friends