The Most Under-appreciated Factor In Selling Anything Online
I bought a bidet on Black Friday.
That's right, one of those things that hoses your rear off in the penultimate stages of the bathroom ritual.
Now, why did I do that?
Because I was targeted with an ad of course, but it wasn't the ad that made me buy. The ad is never enough. It was what happened after the click.
You're Looking at The Wrong Thing
The advertising and marketing world is littered with agency after agency overpromising massive results - but only touching the ads, and nothing else.
But the entire customer journey matters - a lot. The ads are just a tiny fraction of the experience.
But where are you sending these people? Your home page? A product page? A collection page? Landing page? What experience are they getting when they arrive? And how does it work to get them to convert?
Facebook's algorithm is getting so good that ads are getting harder and harder to screw up. And with video advertising on the rise (rightfully so!), customers are even getting some nice warming up in the process.
But the real sale happens after the click. So if you are wondering why your ads are underperforming. It might be time to stop looking at the ads and start looking at everything else a potential customer comes in contact with.
So Where Do I Send People?
The short, annoying answer is - it depends. But let me just say this - the most important aspect of any online marketing experience is specificity and empathy.
People need to be given a very specific experience that leads them to feel a familiar emotion, and leads them to purchase a specific product.
It's the same reason people who watch live TV are always complaining about there being "nothing on TV."
Give me 3 choices instead of 300 any day, thank you very much. Then I can actually make a decision.
1 Offer, 1 Page, 1 Funnel
So when you're trying to make the decision about where to send people, think first about what you are trying to sell them, and then get super specific about the customer journey to buying that product.
And then based on that....
Is my home page the best place to do this? Or is it a muddy place where they'll get lost and start doing other stuff?
What about the product page - sure it's specific, but what's the journey look like? Is there enough education for my product?
At the end of the day, you only want to make one offer, that lives on a single page, inside a single sales funnel. Specific, powerful, tight, and conversion friendly.
What If I have Nothing Specific?
A couple things come to mind...
If you don't have a specific experience built into your site, this is a problem you need to solve ASAP. In fact, I believe 95% of e-commerce brands should optimize their home pages for conversion.
Ask yourself this question - what is your offer? How can you make it irresistible?
Build a landing page around that offer. If you have Shopify, download something like Zipify or Shogun Page Builder and get to work.
Make sure that page (and your home page for that matter) has frequent buttons to take action, lots of copy that talks about pain points and problems you can solve rather than constant features and benefits, ideally a video, and TONS of social proof (testimonials)
Tushy
So I bought the bidet from a company called Tushy. The advertising was simple, just an image ad, nothing special. But their site is a great example of creating a specific, conversion-friendly experience.
The example above is actually a product page. All their pages are structured intelligently like landing pages for their different product segments.
And yes, I bought that bidet, and I feel pretty darn good about my purchase.
So, what are people thinking when they go to your pages?
At my agency, Guide Social, we take responsibility for every stage of the buyer process, from content, to ad, to page after click. Apply to work with us!