The chain of effective online sales: marketing
Among the links in the chain of effective Internet sales , the link “marketing and supply” is perhaps the most subtle and undervalued.
Someone still believes that increasing sales can only increase traffic. Others are already paying attention to the site interface and consider that it is worth changing the color of the buttons, making a new design and sales will increase significantly. Of course, these examples are exaggerated, but very few people begin work on increasing their sales with an offer. As we said earlier, a successful sales chain consists of four inseparable components. And the offer is its first link. Marketing helps to answer the question: what offer will be most demanded by consumers, what is the composition and needs of the audience and what ways can you influence this audience.
Let's start with the analogy. A website is a sales manager who meets with a potential customer. He is dressed in a businesslike manner, is benevolent and easy to communicate with. Step by step in the dialogue process, the manager brings his client closer to making a decision on cooperation. His task is to make an impression and find such words that will help the client to decide and place an order. And if the approach is found, mutual understanding is established, and the consumer is aware of the real benefits of working with the company, then most likely such a meeting will end with the signing of the contract. It was a good manager.
But it happens in a different way. A beautiful girl or a young man comes to the client who make a strong first impression and in every way attract him. But they can not build communication with the consumer. Do not try to understand what the interlocutor wants and how you can help him. They can not fully answer the banal questions of the client, not to mention such as "why you have more money" or "why I should buy from you." They just learned what the company is doing, and now dryly tell it to their interlocutor. What do you think will be the outcome of such a meeting? Obviously negative.
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Summarize. The main factors affecting the success of the meeting:
Oddly enough, a good site should work just as well. He should have an appearance that would stimulate further interaction: not too catchy, but with taste, causing a positive first impression. The content and structure of the site should offer this logic of interaction with the visitor, which would help to decide on cooperation. The visitor should be shown a solution to his particular problem, while everyone should clearly understand and see how this proposal differs from its competitors.
Please note that all the success factors of the manager, except for communication and appearance, will work as successfully as he was able to know the needs of the customer. The site itself cannot do this, but it is obvious that if you accept it, there is a risk to turn into that very beautiful manager who makes an impression, but at the same time reads the list of services dryly and does not sell. The only opportunity to adapt to your consumer and learn more about him is to conduct a study of his audience, his needs and motivations. The process of marketing is just aimed at the consistent solution of these problems. Using data obtained as a result of marketing research, it is necessary to develop such a site that most accurately meets the needs of the identified target audience.
Knowing your audience and its needs is nothing if you don’t know how to apply them correctly. These data must be reflected in the following components of the site.
For successful sales, it is important what the first impression the consumer will receive at the first visit and how convenient it will be to use the site functions in the future. To a greater extent on the design of the site affects consumer information. Depending on the social status of visitors, occupation and expectations, a design should be developed that will produce the right first impression on the respective target group. In addition, the design should help to understand the visitor that he got exactly where he needed. That is why the site is not a place for self-expression of the aesthetic ambitions of the owner and designer, he has a much more prosaic, and no less complex goal. It is important not to distract with opportunities or interactivity that are unnecessary at the moment, but to form an image of what the visitor is looking for here, and also create conditions for perceiving information that is important for the target audience.
The structure of the sections largely depends on the marketing proposal and the needs of the company's audience. The structure helps the visitor to navigate the sections of the site, and therefore it should effectively demonstrate the company's activities and its advantages. It should also facilitate the fastest possible orientation on the site, otherwise the visitor will not waste time searching and go to another site. When designing the structure, it is necessary to decide which sections will be most in demand by the target audience. These sections should be as high as possible in the navigation tree, preferably on the first level or even as a separate entity. To adequately make such a decision is not enough simple common sense, you need to know what details interest the consumer in the product or service, what typical questions he has about the process of interaction with the company, what he pays attention to when making a decision. This data helps in building a structure that will effectively direct the user to pages that are important to him.
The structure of the information on the pages, together with the structure of the site, determine the route of the visitor, who must effectively answer consumer questions and bring him closer to handling or ordering. In order to properly design routes, knowledge of the decision-making cycles of representatives of target groups is needed: true needs, typical problems, concerns, frequent questions, etc. We need clearly defined competitive advantages that distinguish the company from a number of competitors. With this data, you can decide on the placement of additional information blocks, links in texts, additional images, videos, etc., to help the consumer find answers to their questions. The structure of the information affects the stage of a quick user study of the site page. At this moment, the visitor's eye wanders around the page in search of information of interest, it does not yet read the texts, but only runs over the headlines and notices the blocks that stand out from the general structure. To help him find the right words and clues, you need to be well aware of what is important to the consumer, how he calls it and what can interest and motivate him to further interact with the site. The structure of the information on the page also defines the logic and hierarchy of the content. The logic and hierarchy helps not only to orient at the stage of a cursory study, but also determine the sequence of the visitor's perception of information. This is a very important point, as it allows you to build the path of consumer conviction.
Texts on the site should help the visitor to make a final decision on the treatment or purchase, as well as answer questions that have appeared. Depending on the description of the target groups, such texts are developed that will have the maximum impact on the relevant audience. This means that they must take into account the current state of the consumer, influence his feelings, form the value of goods or services for a particular segment of the audience. Depending on the composition of the audience is determined by the content, volume and types of text. The text is the speech of the sales manager from our past analogy. If the manager is dry to list the properties of the product, the effect of such a sale will be much lower than the targeted offer, offering a solution to a specific problem and demonstrating personal benefits from the purchase of a product or service.
The functionality of the site is more dependent on the needs of the target groups. Often, site owners are trying to follow the progress and add more and more new functional modules, without thinking about their expediency and relevance to the audience. And by doing so, they do a disservice: website elements that are not needed by a visitor interfere with the perception of important information, and therefore distract and increase the likelihood of failure. Functionality should be introduced to the site only when these capabilities help the visitor to solve their specific task and satisfy their information needs. For example, if it is known that when searching for sports venues that are leased, the consumer’s most important thing is the evening on weekdays, then you need to develop a filter that will give you the opportunity to choose such conditions for the search, and not just the date and time. Without knowing the needs of your audience, it is very difficult to think up such little things that have a tremendous impact on conversion. Functional capabilities, in addition to the needs of the visitor, must correspond to his level of training and the depth of knowledge in the field of the service provided, and therefore data on the composition and needs of the target audience are necessary.
Thus, an effective website is a marketing proposal, taking into account the composition, needs and motivations of the target audience and the design of this proposal in the form of the structure and design of pages, text and functionality of the website.
To develop an effective website, we need data on the competitive environment, consumers, their needs and motivations.
It is necessary to collect and analyze data on competitors selling a similar product or service to the same groups of consumers and at approximately the same prices as the company-customer. You also need to obtain information about companies working to meet similar needs. For example, when studying competitors in the field of installation of video surveillance systems, one should pay attention to companies that provide services in the field of installing other security systems: alarms and intercoms.
This analysis is designed to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, their promotion strategies, the details of the proposed product or service. On this basis, you can form your own offer, which will take into account the market situation and compare favorably with a number of others. You can get this kind of information from various sources: from ordering goods or services from competitors and exploring their sites to communicating with current or retired employees.
The first thing you need to start is getting data from internal sources of information. These are data on current customers, information about their complaints, data on the sales department, the results of interviews with managers, sales reports, etc. This information will provide an overall picture and prepare hypotheses for further work. Special attention must be paid to the consumer. It is required to understand who he is, where from, how old he is, what his gender, position or duties are, if it concerns b2b, what are his financial capabilities, etc. Next, you should analyze those consumers who left the application, called, but did not become customers. This helps crm systems, if they are implemented in the company. These data will help in the development of target audience segments.
The next step is to build the hypotheses of needs, motivations, and consumer decision cycles.
Hypothesis testing uses various survey methods. The most commonly used:
These methods help not only to confirm or disprove existing hypotheses, but also to develop new ones.
Obtained in the research process data should be reflected in all components of the site. Also, individual provisions can be presented in the form of hypotheses, which will be consistently verified through promotions and special offers. The best hypotheses must find their place in the permanent part of the resource.
It is often heard from customer representatives about these words: “we already know our customers. Fortunately, we work not the first year. And they need only one thing - low price. Who is lower, in order and take. Just make us a prettier site. ” These are typical delusions. First, most often, no one can provide systematic data about consumers and their needs, and all the “knowledge” is built on the sensations of managers. Secondly, it is not enough to know their clients, it is equally useful to learn about those who did not for some reason work with the company. And these are exactly the people who were not satisfied with something in the offer on the site, and the majority of them. It is for them that the struggle is fought, and in order to win it, you need to understand who they are and what they want. If they continue to offer what attracted old customers, they will never be able to attract new ones. Thirdly, the decision-making process by the consumer is very complex and is influenced by many factors. If the value of the price would be so high, then all purchases in each of the industries would be carried out on one site, on which the lowest price would be. This is not the case in life, and the largest players often offer far from the lowest prices. The marketing research data, if properly used on the site, is intended to influence the non-price factors of the proposal and motivate the visitor to stop further search and contact the company. Therefore, marketing and supply is the first in the chain of sales through the Internet, and it is he who determines the feasibility of all components of the site, including design.
Someone still believes that increasing sales can only increase traffic. Others are already paying attention to the site interface and consider that it is worth changing the color of the buttons, making a new design and sales will increase significantly. Of course, these examples are exaggerated, but very few people begin work on increasing their sales with an offer. As we said earlier, a successful sales chain consists of four inseparable components. And the offer is its first link. Marketing helps to answer the question: what offer will be most demanded by consumers, what is the composition and needs of the audience and what ways can you influence this audience.
Why do you need marketing for effective site
Let's start with the analogy. A website is a sales manager who meets with a potential customer. He is dressed in a businesslike manner, is benevolent and easy to communicate with. Step by step in the dialogue process, the manager brings his client closer to making a decision on cooperation. His task is to make an impression and find such words that will help the client to decide and place an order. And if the approach is found, mutual understanding is established, and the consumer is aware of the real benefits of working with the company, then most likely such a meeting will end with the signing of the contract. It was a good manager.
But it happens in a different way. A beautiful girl or a young man comes to the client who make a strong first impression and in every way attract him. But they can not build communication with the consumer. Do not try to understand what the interlocutor wants and how you can help him. They can not fully answer the banal questions of the client, not to mention such as "why you have more money" or "why I should buy from you." They just learned what the company is doing, and now dryly tell it to their interlocutor. What do you think will be the outcome of such a meeting? Obviously negative.
')
Summarize. The main factors affecting the success of the meeting:
- Business appearance, not catchy, but with taste;
- Positive attitude and willingness to communicate;
- The ability to talk to the consumer and find out what he really needs and is important;
- With this information, to build a logic of communication that will allow the consumer to come to the realization of the benefits of working together;
- Present your proposal so that it is ideally suited to the requests of the buyer, which were clarified earlier;
- Have a clearly defined competitive advantage.
Oddly enough, a good site should work just as well. He should have an appearance that would stimulate further interaction: not too catchy, but with taste, causing a positive first impression. The content and structure of the site should offer this logic of interaction with the visitor, which would help to decide on cooperation. The visitor should be shown a solution to his particular problem, while everyone should clearly understand and see how this proposal differs from its competitors.
Please note that all the success factors of the manager, except for communication and appearance, will work as successfully as he was able to know the needs of the customer. The site itself cannot do this, but it is obvious that if you accept it, there is a risk to turn into that very beautiful manager who makes an impression, but at the same time reads the list of services dryly and does not sell. The only opportunity to adapt to your consumer and learn more about him is to conduct a study of his audience, his needs and motivations. The process of marketing is just aimed at the consistent solution of these problems. Using data obtained as a result of marketing research, it is necessary to develop such a site that most accurately meets the needs of the identified target audience.
What and how does marketing influence?
Knowing your audience and its needs is nothing if you don’t know how to apply them correctly. These data must be reflected in the following components of the site.
Site appearance
For successful sales, it is important what the first impression the consumer will receive at the first visit and how convenient it will be to use the site functions in the future. To a greater extent on the design of the site affects consumer information. Depending on the social status of visitors, occupation and expectations, a design should be developed that will produce the right first impression on the respective target group. In addition, the design should help to understand the visitor that he got exactly where he needed. That is why the site is not a place for self-expression of the aesthetic ambitions of the owner and designer, he has a much more prosaic, and no less complex goal. It is important not to distract with opportunities or interactivity that are unnecessary at the moment, but to form an image of what the visitor is looking for here, and also create conditions for perceiving information that is important for the target audience.
Partition structure
The structure of the sections largely depends on the marketing proposal and the needs of the company's audience. The structure helps the visitor to navigate the sections of the site, and therefore it should effectively demonstrate the company's activities and its advantages. It should also facilitate the fastest possible orientation on the site, otherwise the visitor will not waste time searching and go to another site. When designing the structure, it is necessary to decide which sections will be most in demand by the target audience. These sections should be as high as possible in the navigation tree, preferably on the first level or even as a separate entity. To adequately make such a decision is not enough simple common sense, you need to know what details interest the consumer in the product or service, what typical questions he has about the process of interaction with the company, what he pays attention to when making a decision. This data helps in building a structure that will effectively direct the user to pages that are important to him.
The structure of the information on the pages
The structure of the information on the pages, together with the structure of the site, determine the route of the visitor, who must effectively answer consumer questions and bring him closer to handling or ordering. In order to properly design routes, knowledge of the decision-making cycles of representatives of target groups is needed: true needs, typical problems, concerns, frequent questions, etc. We need clearly defined competitive advantages that distinguish the company from a number of competitors. With this data, you can decide on the placement of additional information blocks, links in texts, additional images, videos, etc., to help the consumer find answers to their questions. The structure of the information affects the stage of a quick user study of the site page. At this moment, the visitor's eye wanders around the page in search of information of interest, it does not yet read the texts, but only runs over the headlines and notices the blocks that stand out from the general structure. To help him find the right words and clues, you need to be well aware of what is important to the consumer, how he calls it and what can interest and motivate him to further interact with the site. The structure of the information on the page also defines the logic and hierarchy of the content. The logic and hierarchy helps not only to orient at the stage of a cursory study, but also determine the sequence of the visitor's perception of information. This is a very important point, as it allows you to build the path of consumer conviction.
Site texts
Texts on the site should help the visitor to make a final decision on the treatment or purchase, as well as answer questions that have appeared. Depending on the description of the target groups, such texts are developed that will have the maximum impact on the relevant audience. This means that they must take into account the current state of the consumer, influence his feelings, form the value of goods or services for a particular segment of the audience. Depending on the composition of the audience is determined by the content, volume and types of text. The text is the speech of the sales manager from our past analogy. If the manager is dry to list the properties of the product, the effect of such a sale will be much lower than the targeted offer, offering a solution to a specific problem and demonstrating personal benefits from the purchase of a product or service.
Functionality
The functionality of the site is more dependent on the needs of the target groups. Often, site owners are trying to follow the progress and add more and more new functional modules, without thinking about their expediency and relevance to the audience. And by doing so, they do a disservice: website elements that are not needed by a visitor interfere with the perception of important information, and therefore distract and increase the likelihood of failure. Functionality should be introduced to the site only when these capabilities help the visitor to solve their specific task and satisfy their information needs. For example, if it is known that when searching for sports venues that are leased, the consumer’s most important thing is the evening on weekdays, then you need to develop a filter that will give you the opportunity to choose such conditions for the search, and not just the date and time. Without knowing the needs of your audience, it is very difficult to think up such little things that have a tremendous impact on conversion. Functional capabilities, in addition to the needs of the visitor, must correspond to his level of training and the depth of knowledge in the field of the service provided, and therefore data on the composition and needs of the target audience are necessary.
Thus, an effective website is a marketing proposal, taking into account the composition, needs and motivations of the target audience and the design of this proposal in the form of the structure and design of pages, text and functionality of the website.
Required information and how to obtain it
To develop an effective website, we need data on the competitive environment, consumers, their needs and motivations.
Competitors
It is necessary to collect and analyze data on competitors selling a similar product or service to the same groups of consumers and at approximately the same prices as the company-customer. You also need to obtain information about companies working to meet similar needs. For example, when studying competitors in the field of installation of video surveillance systems, one should pay attention to companies that provide services in the field of installing other security systems: alarms and intercoms.
This analysis is designed to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, their promotion strategies, the details of the proposed product or service. On this basis, you can form your own offer, which will take into account the market situation and compare favorably with a number of others. You can get this kind of information from various sources: from ordering goods or services from competitors and exploring their sites to communicating with current or retired employees.
Consumers, their needs and motivations
The first thing you need to start is getting data from internal sources of information. These are data on current customers, information about their complaints, data on the sales department, the results of interviews with managers, sales reports, etc. This information will provide an overall picture and prepare hypotheses for further work. Special attention must be paid to the consumer. It is required to understand who he is, where from, how old he is, what his gender, position or duties are, if it concerns b2b, what are his financial capabilities, etc. Next, you should analyze those consumers who left the application, called, but did not become customers. This helps crm systems, if they are implemented in the company. These data will help in the development of target audience segments.
The next step is to build the hypotheses of needs, motivations, and consumer decision cycles.
Hypothesis testing uses various survey methods. The most commonly used:
- Methods of in-depth interview, which is a communication of the respondent and the interviewer on the prepared plan;
- Expert survey, in which there is communication with experts from relevant areas of activity;
- Interviewing respondents implies filling out questionnaires or answering questions from respondents who represent target segments;
- Focus group, which is a discussion by a group of participants on topics proposed by the moderator.
These methods help not only to confirm or disprove existing hypotheses, but also to develop new ones.
Obtained in the research process data should be reflected in all components of the site. Also, individual provisions can be presented in the form of hypotheses, which will be consistently verified through promotions and special offers. The best hypotheses must find their place in the permanent part of the resource.
Conclusion
It is often heard from customer representatives about these words: “we already know our customers. Fortunately, we work not the first year. And they need only one thing - low price. Who is lower, in order and take. Just make us a prettier site. ” These are typical delusions. First, most often, no one can provide systematic data about consumers and their needs, and all the “knowledge” is built on the sensations of managers. Secondly, it is not enough to know their clients, it is equally useful to learn about those who did not for some reason work with the company. And these are exactly the people who were not satisfied with something in the offer on the site, and the majority of them. It is for them that the struggle is fought, and in order to win it, you need to understand who they are and what they want. If they continue to offer what attracted old customers, they will never be able to attract new ones. Thirdly, the decision-making process by the consumer is very complex and is influenced by many factors. If the value of the price would be so high, then all purchases in each of the industries would be carried out on one site, on which the lowest price would be. This is not the case in life, and the largest players often offer far from the lowest prices. The marketing research data, if properly used on the site, is intended to influence the non-price factors of the proposal and motivate the visitor to stop further search and contact the company. Therefore, marketing and supply is the first in the chain of sales through the Internet, and it is he who determines the feasibility of all components of the site, including design.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/189300/
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