Does Your Online Sales Approach Match Your Customers’ Level of Need?

How many times have we visited a website when we’re somewhat interested in what they’re offering…only to have it try so hard to sell us we feel like we walked onto a used-car lot?

Too many websites try to act like big ads. In a few cases this works fine (mentioned below), especially if the reader’s need for your product is immediate. Or if it’s a niche audience and their time’s at a premium.

In these cases the need is acute. Visceral. So it makes sense to sell hard-and-fast.

However, that level of need is not always the case. In fact, I think it’s relatively rare online. When I visit a website, it’s for information. That may be information leading UP TO a sale – or it may not.

So I’ve put together four scenarios here, based on this idea:

1. Little Need/Soft Sell
2. Little Need/Hard sell
3. Strong Need/Hard Sell
4. Strong Need/Soft Sell

Each of these represents an approach you take in your website’s content (how strong its voice is, if you will), compared to the level of need your reader has while visiting the site. How well does need match up to selling approach? What happens in these situations?

Let’s find out.

1. Little Need/Soft Sell – Promotes Following

Your reader has a low level of need; you’re using a soft-sell approach in your content.
The reader may be here for a little research. Or a link brought him here and he/she isn’t quite sure why yet. The content is a light read. Seems to fit with some things they were thinking about.
They’re likely to bookmark the site, subscribe to email/RSS, or follow you on social media channels.

2. Little Need/Hard Sell – Used-Car Pushy

Your reader has a low level of need; you’re using a hard-sell approach in your content.
If web content tries to sell when there isn’t much need, it’ll chase readers off. It’s doubly worse if the content pushes hard for the reader to buy.
They’ll think, “Woah! Hey, who are you trying to convince here, me or you? I didn’t need this anyway,” and click Back.

3. Strong Need/Hard Sell – Short-Term High Sales

Your reader has a strong need; you’re using a hard-sell approach in your content.
There is a circumstance in which hard sell outperforms soft. That circumstance is the single-page online sales letter. You’ve seen these for things like specialized training programs. They’re popular with healthcare products too. These work because they’re hyper-targeted, usually sell one thing only, and do so (typically) for a short time.
Other circumstances though? If you can demonstrate value right away (and a lot of it), this approach can work. Otherwise…bye.

4. Strong Need/Soft Sell – (Many) Confident Buyers

Your reader has a strong need; you’re using a soft-sell approach in your content.
Now there’s something interesting I’ve found…
With little need/hard sell – i.e. you’re pushing something hard when people are just on your site for information – the content often fails. But with soft-sell content, the content succeeds regardless of the level of need.
If I visit a website with a product I’m a little curious about, and the site doesn’t push a hard-sell at me, I’ll remember it. It fits my future need. It forms an impression in my mind.

If I visit a website with a product I really need, but the site soft-sells me? I appreciate that they’re not pushy. It projects confidence. I think, “Wow, these guys must be confident in their product. I should get this one.” An even better impression forms in my mind. And so I buy.

Soft-Sell Wins Out Online

Content is, way too often, the last thing considered when building a new site or working up marketing campaigns. Sometimes when it’s last-minute, businesspeople will write from a hard-sell approach because they don’t have time to work on more finessed content (or to hire a writer).

Going for a soft-sell content approach, taking the extra time to portray your website as a confident educational resource instead of an ad? You’ll get a better response every time. Why? Because you’re finding out your customers’ level of need, and building a sales approach that matches it.

Which selling approach do you prefer? Comment about it.