This post is contributed by Jason Dirkham.

There are many thoughts and considerations that go into a customer finally deciding to use your business, either to purchase your products or enlist your services. We don’t need to lay every single thought out there, because you no doubt go through the same process yourself as a consumer each day.

It’s also important to note that we all have our priorities and considerations that inspire us to purchase. For example, many of us have brands that we really do appreciate, and will probably show an interest in whatever they put out. 

However, for many of us, we tend to seek out a few essentials before making that final decision. For example – is the product or service valuable? Have others reviewed it well? Does it fit our needs and purpose for buying? Is it sustainable?

Depending on your ideals, these priorities may matter more or less to you. For example, great copywriting and handsome packaging may mean more to you than scrolling through thousands of product reviews, or value may or may not be that important depending on how much you desire the item and how much disposable income you have to acquire it – after all, much of the luxury market isn’t “value for money,” but offers a sense of exclusivity that makes up for it.

So, as a business trying to design your sales funnel, in convincing your customers to make that final “yes” decision, it’s important to think through the best method of completing your customer sales conversion. In this post, we’ll discuss a variety of methods to help them make that jump:

Offer Guarantees

It’s important to recognize that even if you’ve offered everything you can, you know that your product is great, and you have all the social validation you need to verify what you have to offer; some people will still feel unsure whether or not to take the jump. This is because they know that ultimately, only they can verify if your output is worth using.

This is why it’s good to make this final decision as much of a no-brainer as possible. For some companies that feel totally secure in their product, they might offer a no-questions-asked full return and refund if someone doesn’t like the product or service they’ve been given. There may be a time limit on this of course, and other conditions to prevent fraudulent requests, but you may be surprised how that kind of guarantee can help encourage new people to take that first step into using your brand.

Display Social Proofs

Display social proof of your service. By that, we mean use services that allow for transparent reviews, and encourage honest reviews from people who use your service so you know what to improve on next time.

For example, displaying reviews from TrustPilot on your website can be a good place to start. You might also encourage people to do video reviews of your products, again, absolutely emphasizing that they should be as honest as possible.

When you have people talking about your brand, even a relatively average review shows that you’re a real business, you’re trying to improve, you respond to all discussions about your company with positive thanks or appropriate recourse for bad experiences, and you’re not afraid of feedback. That in itself can put someone at ease when purchasing from your store.

Offer Trials Or Discounts

If you can, offering first-time trials of your service, or discounts for first-time buyers, can be a great way to onboard someone who isn’t sure. Depending on the nature of your service, you might offer a month free trial or so just like Spotify Premium does, so people can see what the package entails and how much they use it in their daily life.

To use another example, Amazon Groceries in the UK offers a £15 discount to anyone using their online store for the first time, meaning that anyone who laughs at the idea of Amazon putting together their weekly food shop gives them a chance to prove the possible customer wrong. Could it be that a measure like this could be valid for your brand, also? It might be worth trying.

Answer All Questions

It’s important to answer all the questions you possibly can when someone is considering onboarding with your store. You’d be surprised just how often people can ask questions that may seem obvious, so don’t be afraid to place a very visible FAQ section on your landing page.

This might include what the ordering process looks like, when they can expect their goods, what the refund process looks like, or whatever other pertinent information you feel is possible. This way, no one will ever have to close your web page or look to your competitors out of confusion based on what you have to offer. Answering all questions also shows that you’re not afraid to be highly transparent, because even if you’re not, the unintentional shielding of information may give that impression.

Don’t Overcomplicate

It’s good not to overcomplicate your potential audience with a thousand possible combinations of products or discounts or promotions. Keep it simple, and try to simplify and streamline what you’re actually offering.

You can liken this to a menu in a relatively upscale restaurant. The better the place you visit, the simpler the menu selection. Some three Michelin-starred establishments might have five starters, five mains, five desserts, and a tasting menu. This is not only easy to understand, but allows the product itself to do the talking, as opposed to asking your consumers to wrestle with your concept. 

Take this concept and run with it, as it will help you avoid alienating new custom that may have otherwise been interested. With the best Shopify theme modification suite, you can customize your store for easier onboarding.

Integrate With Major Services

It’s also wise to integrate with major services, to the degree that you can. For example, when Headspace was growing as a meditation app, they offered free premium services to anyone who took on Spotify’s Premium deal. This meant that those familiar with a much bigger service had the chance to check out a smaller one in the same field. For how long the promotion went on for, we can assume this enjoyed some success.

But it’s not just partnering with trusted services that can help you. Integrating them into your process will be important, too. For example, you may find that allowing PayPal, Google, Apple Pay, or even Bitcoin payments can open the possibility of someone paying for your services with confidence, as opposed to giving you their contact details outright. This helps emphasize the “no-brainer” approach to your given service and its needs.

Tailor Your Pitch To Individual Needs

The old adage of “even if you do everything right, not everyone will like you” certainly holds true in business. It’s just the reality of how the world works. This is why it’s good to make sure your pitch is tailored to the specific audience you’re trying to reach.

We can use an example to better illustrate this point. Let’s pretend that you’re selling relatively similar sports supplements. One is a formula designed for men, and the other for women. You can make slight alterations in the packaging to better showcase who the product might be for, even if the formula itself is nearly identical, and it’s not as if a man would melt if he used the female version, or vice versa.

However, your marketing can be much different in inspiring a purchase. That’s not to say men and women are different species, but one may prefer to see women working out in the promotional material of your landing page, and other may prefer to see a weightlifting guy. That kind of familiarity breeds comfort and a sense of belonging with the product itself. This is just one example of how to tailor your promotion, you can make this as complex or as simple as you deem necessary.

Inspire Urgency

For some, nothing inspires a purchase like the possible feeling that they may miss out. That’s why it might be that your promotion is only valid for people 30 minutes after visiting your landing page.

This is just one example, you can alter the timeline of your urgent call to action as much or as little as you like. However, when people feel as though something good could be slipping through their fingers, that risk-seeking part of their brain tends to be more enthused by the idea of a good outcome.

Of course, it might be that the promotion isn’t really going away, it might reset anytime someone visits your website. But still, this is a harmless strategy to use, and if you’re offering a discount anyway it’s not as if you’re being deceptive; you’re still allowing that value to be gained.

Promise & Prove Aftercare

Show your aftercare approach. This inspires some people to try your product knowing that your support times are good and you’re happy to answer any questions. Perhaps you’ll offer a warranty. That in itself can be competitive and a good way to stand out from the competition.

With this advice, you’ll be sure to move from curious to certain in completing your customer sale conversion. We hope this helps your small business expand as it deserves to.