The number one reason people don’t buy and how to fast-track your prospect from weary window shopper to confident customer.
A blessing and a curse…
Whilst being highly skilled and able to rapidly resolve customer problems is what makes us great at our jobs, being able to explain it to them in the first place can quite often be a stumbling block; this becomes even more apparent if you're not speaking to them in person and trying to get them to take action from an ad/web page.
When it comes to marketing, a few things need to happen before your prospect is ready to push the magic button, get their credit card out, and say yes to your product/service. Heck, even getting them to pick up the phone and make an enquiry off the back of your ad/landing page can seem like an uphill battle with how “lazy” the human population has become.
Nowadays, we’re accustomed to having everything already worked out for us, using minimal brain power, and having the answers to problems “handed on a silver platter”; this leads to attention spans being short and having them dialled in for about as long as it takes a Bugatti to accelerate from nought to sixty.
When you're letting your marketing do the talking, you probably have their attention for a couple of seconds initially, then the “TikTok brain” of the average human decides that if what you’re saying is too much effort to get to the good stuff, it instantly switches off like a blow to the head from Mike Tyson!
So, that begs the question, “Are you talking like too much of a professional”?
As someone who has worked incredibly hard to be in the position you’re in, running a business and being an expert, it’s only natural to want to flex that intellectual superiority in your market, which goes down well when conversing with other professionals.
The problem is, when we’re talking to John and Mary who know that something “just hurts” or “need a Will so things go to my family”, it’s easy to see why their brain switches off when talking about “fixing your infraspinatus”, or “why you need some complex legal trust”.
Obviously, it's much easier to explain all this to them in person, or over the phone, rather than having a massive "text dump" on your website or landing page; unless you're in e-com, that's the reason for the ad in the first place, to get their details and start the conversation so you can convert them to a sale.
Why is this a problem?
Let me let you in on a little secret here…
Confused people DO NOT buy. Fact.
It's hardwired into our DNA to be indecisive when we don't understand the options available to us. This leads to overthinking and imagining the worst-case scenario if we were to move forward with that decision and leads to ZERO action being taken.
Most business owners vastly overestimate the sophistication level of their audience.
This is an extremely common phenomenon if you run a business and are an expert in what you're selling. Have you considered the average knowledge level of your consumer when talking about your product? Just because you're a mega geek when it comes to fixing patients' back problems or a super whiz at accounting, don't assume your customer knows what the hell you're talking about!
Now, obviously, I don't want you talking to them in a slow voice like they only understand a few words of English, but make sure you're messaging is easy to understand and straight to the point.
Below I’m going to let you in on a few tricks you can use to turn the tables and get inside the head of your reader, whispering in their ear the exact words they’re begging to hear…
Have a headline that 'cuts through the clutter' -
This is super important and will make or break your advert, especially when we're talking about 'interrupt through scroll' like Facebook ads.
A trick I learnt from Dan Kennedy, one of the 'OG's' of direct response marketing was, "Is your headline good enough to get them to respond on its own"? Would your prospect understand what you're offering and why it's extremely important for them to respond to your ad, right there, right then just from the headline?
If you had back pain, what's going to get your attention more? - "Peterborough Chiropractic Solutions", or "Fix back pain permanently with our easy 3-step programme".
You shouldn't need to be a cryptographer to decipher your headline; your customer should be able to understand in a split second what you do and what you offer.
Enter the conversation going on in their mind -
Dealing with these people all day long should make you an expert in their problems and what they're going through. When marketing, you need to establish where the reader is currently. Are they aware of their problem, are they aware of the solutions, what do they need to see/feel to take the next step on their journey with you?
Try not to do too much in one piece of marketing, just get them to the next stage and take it from there; this is often referred to as a “funnel”, and each piece takes them to the next stage of the journey.
If you’re advertising on Google, what are people most likely searching for, how can you get in front of them with the answer, and what action are you directing them to take?
Talk to them like you would in person –
There’s a test I like to use here called “the bar test”; this is where you read your writing out loud and see if it sounds like a conversation you would have with someone at a bar. I don’t mean the kind of conversation where you’re 10 pints deep and blathering on about that crazy party you went to 15 years back, but does what you're saying sound like and flow like a real conversation?
An example here would be a client I worked with in the estate planning market; there’s a massive difference between, “Our legal experts are specialists in protective assets trusts that ensure your beneficiaries inherit”, and “Basically, our wills are designed to ensure everything you’ve worked hard for goes exactly where you want, in the easiest, most cost-effective way”.
As I mentioned above, think about the average sophistication level of your audience. Do they understand their problem and what solutions are available in the market?
Avoid unnecessary Jargon –
This is one I see quite often when looking through other companies marketing. Again, it’s that impulse to “flex our intellectual muscle” like Ronnie Coleman’s biceps that leads us to jabbering on about industry-specific terms and leaving the prospect dazed and confused.
No one needs to know how the flux capacitor thingy-ma-bobby works at the intricate level, they need to know it’s the “vehicle” which takes them from problem to solution.
In conclusion...
Be concise and to the point, talk about the CUSTOMER's problem and how you fix that in easy-to-understand terms. Layer in some humour, empathy, and quick-witted remarks to show you’re a real person and guess what, they start listening to you!
Hopefully, this got you thinking about your marketing from a different angle.
If you’re interested in seeing how we can help you get more clients, complete the contact form on the link, and we'll be in touch for a no-pressure marketing consultation.
Matt Mckee
Marketing Director - Smart-Clicks
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