Who buys online?
How to design your website to Sell
by Linda Laforge-Koebel, L.A. Designs

If you haven’t had success selling your products or services online, you might have missed an important element in your site. You may think you’ve done everything exactly the way you were supposed to, and still, no sales, or at least, not the amount you had hoped for.

The first steps in developing a great website, you would think, are the obvious ones.

It’s easy to navigate

• Your site loads quickly. Your product images are big enough, clean and crisp, and still load quickly, even on the slowest modem.
• Your copy is short and sweet.
• It’s easy to understand which page you are on. The headings, copy and images are all consistent with the page title.
• You’ve marketed your website online and offline thoroughly and ethically, bringing lots of new visitors to your website everyday.

 
If you’re still not gaining new business after all of this effort, you’ve got to be frustrated. After all, according to most web designers and pros in the industry, you’ve done everything right. But you may have missed out on some important information that could mean the world to your success ­ knowing how online buyers decide to buy.
 
What buyers want
Your website may not speak to your visitors in language they relate to. Without getting into too much detail, it may be as simple as this. Maybe you’re talking about how great your products are, rather than telling them how they will improve their life. Maybe you’re telling them all about you, but you’re not showing them why buying from you, rather than the other guy with the website, is better for them.
 
Online customers are the same, in essence, as the customer who walks through the doors of a retail store. They want to know ‘what’s in it for me’. They don’t want to buy from you just to improve your bottom line. They want to buy from you because it’s a benefit to them. It’s got to be all about the customer. The copy on your website has to tell them that you can help them solve a problem, answer a difficult question, relieve them of a fear or do something that builds their ego or self image.
 
Four Personalities
You can’t assume that everyone wants your product or services. The visitors to your site are all different. They have different needs and desires and they think differently. People generally fall under four basic personalities - Competitive, Spontaneous, Methodical and Humanistic. Each of these different personality types make buying decisions in different ways. You have to find a way to speak to each of them in your sales copy and throughout your site.

Competitive people commonly seek out the most competitive price, or else they’ll try to find a way to get you to compete for their business. They want quality, sometimes quantity and price. When they hit the ‘Buy Now’ button, they’re looking for the up-sell and the add-ons. Offer two for one deals. Give your customers something extra just for buying today.
 
Spontaneous people buy when they’re in the mood. If they’re not in the mood, the trick is to give them a reason to return. Offer something fun to do on your site, or include lots of helpful information. Next time they visit your site, they may be in the mood to use their credit card.
 
Methodical people, or rules people, seek out every detail in existence before they bite the bullet and decide to press that “Buy Now” button. That is, unless they’ve decided to take all of their information and make the purchase from the guy down the street instead. This is the guy you need to provide lots of useful information to, as well as a reason for him to buy from you. Not only will he appreciate that you’ve given him this information for free, but he’ll begin to trust you. This is where you develop relationships with your online customers. The more you can do to give the methodical thinker a reason to trust you, the more likely they are to make that purchase.
 
Humanistic people make their purchasing decisions based on their ideals and ethics. They like to do their research too, and if they think your products were made with baby seal fur or in a sweat shop, you’re not likely to get their money. Do everything you need to do to convince these guys that they have a reason to trust that your products are worth their support  unless they’re not. Never lie, or try to obscure the facts. You’re bound to be found out and the losses can be larger than you might think.

 
We could discuss in detail how you can design your website to speak to each of these thinkers individually. There are companies who specialize in this alone. Maybe what you're selling speaks predominantly to one type of thinker. A thorough analysis of your ideal customer can tell you this.
 
Five Kinds of Online Shoppers
Understanding the online buying process that most people go through when deciding to spend their money will definitely help you see why you haven’t made any sales in your first few months  even with thousands of hits to your site. There are five different kinds of shoppers.

Perfect prospects ­ - they know exactly what they want and are ready to buy.
Prospects  they sort of know what they want but haven’t narrowed their search criteria down.
Window shoppers ­ - they might buy something if what they want appears, maybe.
Mistakes  - they found your site on a search engine, but you weren’t even close to what you they were looking for.
Researchers ­ - they’re not prepared to make a purchase until they research and analyze all the options.

 
Depending on the purchase, sometimes I’m the Researcher, and sometimes I’m the Perfect Prospect. There is a process that I seem to go through when I’m buying anything, be it online or from the grocery store. The same rings true for most shoppers. One day they’re window shopping, and the day they get their paycheck they might be the perfect prospect.
 
The Art of Persuasion
There is an art to persuading people to buy. There are methods to writing great sales copy, some of which you will find on this site (name the article-link it). With some practice, and taking the time to write a few variations, you can create something that gives a person the desire to buy from you. Persuasion doesn’t mean you’re turning into a pushy sales person in print. It should mean that you’re writing something you honestly believe and that rings true for your visitors. Bullshitting about a bunch of stuff you don’t actually believe is always obvious to people
 
You need to give your visitors what they want and what they need in order to buy. Give them lots of good honest information, for free. This gives them a reason to trust you. It gives them a reason to come back. It also gives search engines like Google a reason to give you a higher page rank (more referrals from them).
 
You need to tell visitors how they will directly benefit from buying your products or services. That doesn’t mean sticking a list of benefits in the middle of your copy. How will it make them feel? How will it make them look to their peers? Does it resolve an issue for them or improve their health? If it improves their health, how will that effect them? Will they have more energy to do the things they love?
 
The Bottom Line
Keep in mind that everyone and anyone will not have the overwhelming desire to buy from your website. You’ve got a lot of competition out there. People of all sorts and all kinds will be visiting your pages. It’s your job to make sure there is something there for them, regardless of their thinking style and their propensity to buy at that moment. Develop a site around the customer, and your profits will follow. Your bottom line will increase if you design your site around your visitors.

 
Linda Laforge-Koebel is an advertising professional dedicated to the business success of her clients. To see her portfolio and find more resources visit her at: http://www.CreativeEngineer.com or contact her by email at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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