The 5 Types of Customers You Meet on the Web
The 5 Types of Customers You Meet on the Web
Chris Williams
Blue Ferret Communications
June 12, 2006 (originally written)
It’s easy to think of your market as one big block of people. It’s an old print-advertising tactic. It’s also irresponsible to use on the Web.
A customer could be browsing through your site for a dozen reasons. He could be a tire-kicker, just browsing. He could be shopping around. Comparing you to a competitor. Desperate for a fast answer to his problem. He could even be a non-customer - a member of the media, or an industry researcher.
The key to respecting customers’ multiple interest levels is to provide specific types of content geared toward what they want. For these 5 types, the answers to that are:
A. Tire-Kickers
What They Want: The name says it all. Tire-Kickers are merely exploring. They might want to buy sometime in the future, or they may not have any interest beyond the pretty colors. Tire-Kickers are the hardest type to convert to customers, but it doesn’t take much to bump them up a level.
How to Give It To Them: Lure them in with detailed product/service descriptions and clear statements about how they solve specific problems. The Personal Voice (see my report, “3 Web Content Tricks”) is most valuable here, because it can draw Tire-Kickers into becoming Shoppers.
B. Shopping Around
What They Want: Shoppers want clear answers to their questions without having to ask them. They’re out for information, the more prolific and detailed the better. They’re in the emotional stage of beginning to apply reason to justify the emotional want.
How to Give It To Them: Shoppers are easy to please - give them what they want. Information. Put articles on your site about your products and industry. Include success stories. Alternately, you can anticipate their wants through landing pages (several versions of a page with slightly different content aimed at specific questions). Landing pages work best if you’re SEO-savvy and/or use them in part of a larger marketing campaign. They’re more effort, but you’re more specific. Higher return.
C. Comparison Shoppers
What They Want: They want to hear exactly how your product will solve their problem. And how it does so better than your competitors. Unfortunately, if they hear that from you, they’ll be skeptical. Doubly so if you outright mention competitors by name in your content.
How to Give It To Them: Who Comparison Shoppers would like to hear from are your previous customers. Offer them case studies and testimonials from people just like them. The content most likely to sway a Comparison Shopper away from competition also happens to be the most valuable marketing copy available, so use as much as you can get your hands on.
D. The Desperate Customer
What They Want: The Desperate Customer needs assurance he’s in the right place. Right now. He’s stressed. Deadlines loom. He’s already worked out the necessity of buying. All that remains is for you to show him you’re capable of solving his problem. Do that, and you have an instant customer.
How to Give It To Them: Here’s one way to show him what he needs. If you have articles, success stories or newsletters, make sure you have them listed on an index page, sorted by title or publication date, and link to it right off the homepage. Think about it - he can immediately check to see if someone else had his problem. Then he reads the article, sighs in relief, and calls to get that solution.
E. Non-Customers
What They Want: Non-Customers aren’t interested in being sold to, but what you can do is use them to help spread your message. (If you don’t have a clear message, get one fast.) Equip them with information tools. Show them why you’re a great company to work with, and they’ll carry the word along.
How to Give It To Them: They’ll want information, lots of it, and they want it fast. If you anticipate media attention, put a Media Kit section on your site with statistics, article clips, bios, and success stories. (Don’t forget testimonials!) Non-Customers can then get an overall impression of your company in one spot. If researchers come often, consider gathering customer statistics too.
The good thing about Web communication is that you’re not limited to a certain page size or number of words. You can take as long as you need to fully educate your customer and make your sales points. And with the customer types you’re bound to run into (these 5 aren’t all there is, trust me), the more solid content you can put up, the more visitors you’ll convert to customers from it.
(PDF download of this report available here.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Williams (chris@blue-ferret.com) is a Web copy writer in the Bay Area, CA. A true tech-head, he spent 6 years in corporate IT before venturing out in 2002 years ago to help companies communicate more effectively with their customers online. His writing clients include IT consulting firms, union committees, insurance companies, and networking firms. You can find his copywriting website at http://www.blue-ferret.com. He blogs about technology, writing and the communication that occurs between them at http://www.blue-ferret.com/category/blog/
Copyright 2006. This content is free to use and distribute, so long as it remains unaltered. Citation must include the author’s credentials.
, Zipped by 