NextStage's Joseph Carrabis tells us how to use your website's FAQ page to increase conversions on the sly.
In my last column, I wrote that we were going to work on some of the hard problems of website and marketing design. We're going to start by asking two questions about the material you're designing:
- What are your goals for the material?
- What do you know about the people who'll be interacting with this material?
Remember my writing about problem solving deltas in my last column? Here is the first one we need to solve for -- the delta between your goals for your material and the client's goals for their time interacting with your material. Our method will be to remove the situation in which the problem thrives to solve that problem and all problems similar in nature.
The solution method
A client is investing in the usual tools to get visitors to his site and not getting the results he wants -- conversions, pure and simple. He has excellent records, has done his homework and has it down to a science.
A little bit of research showed that the majority of visitors weren't coming to purchase or even research a purchase. They could go anywhere to satisfy those needs. What visitors were hungry for was knowledge and learning. They wanted information with which to know what to purchase and what research was relevant.
The client added educational features to his site and downplayed sales. The result? A dramatic increase in conversions. Paul Hernandez-Cuebas, President of Integrated Management Solutions, saw a dramatic increase in conversions when he added educational features to his website. Educate visitors and you become the de facto expert. They have to come to you if they want to know the truth.
The solution had little to do with search word buys or site design, layout, presentation... the places in which one might normally consider solving the "Why aren't they converting?" problem. The solution had lots to do with discovering what visitors were willing to invest their time in. Solving the problem involved getting out of the level at which the problem existed (the site) and into the level of what visitors were looking for. The moral?
- Learn what potential clients want and give it to them
- Once people have what they want, they're much more likely to show an interest in what you want them to be interested in
The solution method in practice
We're going to continue with the education motif because lots of websites offer papers for download, lots of email newsletters have links to downloadable content, and most marketing material includes an offer for some more detailed information.
The overt goal of this material is to educate. The covert goal is to convert.
You know your industry and market far better than I do, so I'm not going to tell you what to write. I am going to offer you a suggestion on what topics to pick, how to write it and how to publish it.
I'm going to ask you to read the rest of this column purely with the goal of educating in mind. That's important for what follows. Think Educate!
Step 1: picking an education topic
or
"Just the FAQs, ma'am"
Does your site have a FAQs page? Do your customer service people have a FAQ sheet they regularly reference and that gets updated periodically? As one of my mentors once told me, "If you have to answer a question twice, put it on a FAQs page." Each item on your FAQs page or customer service response sheet, each question you're asked more than once at a trade show or seminar, is a topic for educating your prospects. Here are some examples:
- Your business is weddings: "Ten things that go wrong and how to avoid them"
- Your business is gourmet foods: "Olive oils -- Is there more than a difference in price?"
- Your business is automotive detailing: "what to look for when considering automotive detailing and restoration"
In each case, quote people in your business but not in your geographic market, such as those doing business a few states away or someone you met at a convention.
Step 2: educating
In step one, you chose a topic based on something you've already answered more than once. Answering anything more than once means you've got a pat answer that you've adjusted a few times based on the situation. A pat answer with adjustments becomes a couple of paragraphs with examples in an education piece. This is the flow:
- You have an answer already at hand: the FAQ itself.
- The question becomes the title to the paper. Include in the title something that indicates the answer to the question is also in the paper.
- The answer given in the FAQ is the opening paragraph. The goal is to be informative and knowledgeable. The tone of the paper (business casual versus suit-and-tie) is based on your audience and their definition of "expertise." If you have a picture of yourself that suits the tone of the piece, include it at the top of the first page.
- Every adjustment you made to your pat answer to address someone's specific situation becomes an example that explains or demonstrates the solution you're offering.
Boom! With maybe half an hour's work you have a one-to-two-page education piece.
Remember, we're educating. Nowhere in this piece are you going to do any self-promotion. If you can quote notables in your industry, even better.
Step 3: picking a publication format
People are use to accessing files in HTML, DOC, PDF and TXT format. Your industry and business might also be comfortable downloading XLS, PPT and more exotic file formats. Whatever format you chose, make sure that it is one for which people will already have a "viewer." If your education piece is in a non-standard file format, be sure to include the viewer or player either as part of the download or as a link available on the download page.
Step 4: publishing
You've written something the world has been waiting for and it's in a format everyone can open. It's time to get back into the mind of the visitor.
Remember that our goal is to educate, not to convert. Most websites and marketing materials are designed to get information from the consumer before allowing them to download or access material.
Here's where things change: allow visitors to download the education piece without having to reveal anything to you. No email address, no name-address-telephone number, nothing. Just come and download. Remember, the goal is to educate.
Step 5: educating them so they'll convert
At the end of your education piece, include a link such as "For more information...", "To find out more...", "If this paper was helpful to you, these papers might also be of interest...", "Please contact us for additional resources..." or "Please contact us for a list of the references mentioned in this article..."
The goal for all these things is to get them back to you, hence to get them branded to you, hence to get them into the habit of coming to you for help and advice, hence to come to you when it's time to do business.
Regular readers will recognize that I'm combining several previous topics here. Removing any download requirements (name, email address, et cetera) is from Removing Barriers to Entry. Getting visitors to download something is a demonstration of the Visitor Action Metric and The First Sale is the next page.
Downloading is a demonstration that they're qualified. Their return for more information is a demonstration of just how qualified they are and what, exactly, is qualifying them. Design your interface so that what they're looking for is easy to find and familiar and you create Brand Loyalty.
Joseph Carrabis has been everything from butcher to truck driver to Senior Knowledge Architect to Chief Research Scientist. His 22 books and 225 articles have ranged among cultural anthropology, mathematics, information mechanics, language acquisition, neurolinguistics, psychodynamics and psychosocial modeling -- and other eclectic topics. His knowledge and data designs have been used by Caltech, Citibank, DOD, IBM, NASA, Owens-Corning and Smith-Barney among others. Carrabis is CRO and Founder of NextStage Evolution and NextStage Global, and founder of KnowledgeNH and NH Business Development Network. He's inventor and developer of Evolution Technology.
Joseph will be speaking at the Sept 05 MCAN management meeting in Baltimore on "Six Web Techniques that Get New Business." Come on by and introduce yourself. You can download sections of Carrabis' next book, "Reading Virtual Minds," at www.hungrypeasant.com.