Most business owners believe that if a visitor is browsing their website today, they must be ready to buy today, without even considering the average website visitor’s buying cycle.
So they design their entire website around converting today’s visitor into a customer.
The truth is that website stats just don’t back that up.
75-90% of your website visitors today aren’t going to purchase the first time they visit.
If you’ve designed your website to market only to today’s buyer, you are effectively ignoring 3/4 or more of the hard-won traffic that is coming to your website.
These potential customers – tomorrow’s buyers – are in research mode. They are determining if they should make the purchase. They are trying to decide which companies they would feel comfortable with when they are ready to buy.
Are you confident that these researchers will remember your business when they are ready to buy? They may be comparing several of your competitors as well.
What website will they remember (or even save) to revisit as they continue to research?
The one that had the most useful information, made it easy to learn, and seemed like a trusted and comprehensive source on the product or service.
So what can we do to design our website for the 75-90% of visitors that are tomorrow’s buyers, and ensure that they revisit the website when they are today’s buyers down the road?
1) We can provide the best source of information on our industry and other topics of interest related to our business.
And make sure that our website is the website from their initial research that they save for future reference.
2) Offer them a helpful resource in exchange for permission to continue to communicate with them.
Can you offer them something they would find useful during their research phase? This is called a Lead Magnet, and it can be anything from an email series that teaches them something valuable, to a downloadable PDF guide with tips and advice related to their interests.
It’s important to make this information as irresistible as possible, and the steps to getting the lead magnet super easy – typically just a signup form with name and email fields.
3) Entice them to follow your blog and/or social media profiles.
And continue to deliver valuable content that they need as they research and make a buying decision.
4) Use your own website and sales tool’s analytics to learn more about your specific industry’s buying cycles online.
The more you understand about the process a prospective customer goes through before making a purchase decision, the better you can serve those customers while they are still in research mode – and the better you will stack up against the competitors they are also considering.
If you are ignoring the majority of your website visitors because your website is designed only to serve today’s buyers, you are potentially leaving a lot of revenue on the table.
Take the time to learn how to best serve tomorrow’s buyers too, and ensure that when their purchase day comes, your website is the one that is top-of-mind.
