As a business owner, you need to work hard to ensure that your customers are making informed purchasing decisions. This can lead to better reviews, fewer returns, and less work for your customer service team!
In this article, we’re going to outline how you can communicate the value of your products and services in order to help your target clients make better purchasing decisions. Let’s get started.
Highlight what past customers think of your products or services
People often value word-of-mouth recommendations over other forms of marketing. This means highlighting customer reviews and testimonials on your website can lead to a lot more sales for your business. And, this can also help new customers make more informed decisions, as your reviews should provide extra context about your products or services.
For instance, new shoppers are likely to find it helpful if the former customer of a clothing retailer highlights that their clothes run a little small, or if the client of a lawyer talks about what kind of case they needed help with and what the results looked like.
Let’s look at an example of a business that does a great job of showing previous customers’ reviews to help website visitors make informed purchasing decisions.
A Gift Personalized, a retailer of personalized gifts, shows off customer reviews on its homepage. For instance, in their “Gifts for Him” section, they have star ratings under each of their products. This gives people an idea of what past customers thought about various items and is a great move for a company like A Gift Personalized, because they offer a wide range of presents people will want to compare and contrast. Plus, customers will want to feel confident that this company creates high-quality and accurate personalizations. Providing these reviews will help people see that different items have been well-received and make the decision that’s right for their needs.
If you have a lot of different types of products, show off star reviews on your website. These can help people quickly and easily compare what others think about your different products. If you do this, people will get a better idea of what they can expect from your products and make a better purchasing decision!
Publish content to help at every stage of the customer journey
People at different stages of their buying journeys will have different needs, so you need to create content with this in mind. Some people might not even know your services exist (and that they need them), while others might be weighing up their options before making a purchase.
The stages of the buying journey are as follows:
- Awareness stage: A customer becomes aware that they have a problem that a business can solve with their products or services
- Consideration stage: A customer is aware of their problem and begins looking for solutions
- Decision stage: The customer gets close to investing in a specific product or service that will solve their problem
Content marketing allows you to create the likes of blog posts or videos that target people at different stages of their buying journeys. For instance, a hair salon could create a round-up of their favorite hair dye brands, targeting those in the consideration stage, or a kids toy company could write an article highlighting the benefits of fun STEM education for kids, targeting people in the awareness stage.
Let’s look at a few examples of businesses with great content that targets people throughout the buying journey as inspiration.
Cisco Umbrella, a security software company, has a great piece of content on DNS Security, which targets people at the awareness stage. This serves as an introduction to DNS layer security, outlining what it is, who needs it, how it works, and what makes it secure.
This is also a great article for helping Cisco Umbrella’s customers make better purchasing decisions. By targeting people at the awareness stage, Cisco Umbrella can help ensure that their new website visitors will know what they’re getting into before making a purchase, leading to happier customers. After all, people who read this article will be able to decide if this is the right security option for them, or if they should go with something else instead.
Consider writing introductory content for your different products or services. If you can write in-depth articles outlining who needs them and why, your customers will be able to discern whether or not they should make a purchase with you.
G&G Fitness Equipment, a retailer of exercise products, has a lot of great content on its website. This treadmill buyer’s guide targets people during the consideration stage of the buying journey. It outlines what someone needs to know when shopping for a treadmill, the most important parts of a treadmill, and more. And, this guide is incredibly detailed — the company even outlines what to look for in specific parts of the treadmill, depending on what the user needs from their equipment. This will help people find the best product for their specific needs, leading to better and more informed purchasing decisions.
If you sell a lot of products in a certain category, consider writing buying guides that help your website visitors make the purchase that is right for them. This will help ensure that people know what they’re getting and make an informed decision that suits their unique needs.
Break down exactly how your products or services work
One of the biggest reasons people make purchases that they aren’t happy with is because they don’t quite understand what they’re getting. This could mean someone doesn’t understand the different applications of a particular product or the timeline that a particular service follows.
To ensure that you don’t leave customers confused or disappointed, you should put a lot of time and energy into breaking down how your products or services work, so they know what to expect.
Consider creating guides or videos that show exactly how your products or services work. Filming them in action or creating user guides can help with this and ensure that your prospective customers know exactly what they’ll receive in exchange for their money, leading to better purchasing decisions.
Let’s look at an example of a business that does a great job of explaining its services to give you some inspiration.
On Montana Capital Bad Credit Loans’ homepage, the company notes that their customers can get money in just three quick steps — they fill out an online application, wait for a lending decision, and get cash. The process is explained in a way that’s straightforward and very easy to understand. This conveys to the user that it’s a simple process that won’t take long, reassuring website visitors who are concerned about having to potentially go through a long, drawn-out process. Knowing what to expect can help ensure that people interested in getting a loan know exactly how it works, ensuring they make a solid and informed purchasing decision.
Consider outlining how the processes of your services work in just a few easy steps on your website. This will help ensure that your website visitors know what they will be getting into and give them the information they need to make a purchase they’re happy with.
On the other hand, Scrub Daddy, a retailer of sponges and cleaning products, does a great job of explaining its products on its category pages. Take a look at the product page featured above. The company has several images that discuss Scrub Daddy’s unique FlexTexture, its 360 scrubbing, and its ability to stay fresh and clean after use. This makes it very easy for prospective customers to see the benefits of a Scrub Daddy over a traditional sponge, helping them make a more informed purchasing decision.
Like Scrub Daddy, be sure to tell your customers exactly what makes you stand out from the competition. After all, if they don’t know what makes you better, they might go to someone else! Showing what features make your products unique can also help lead to better and more informed purchasing decisions.
Make it very easy for people to contact you for more information
Regardless of how much information you publish on your website, people might still have questions or be in a particularly unique situation. This means that they are going to need more specific details from you. To ensure people can make fully-informed purchasing decisions, you need to ensure that it’s very easy for them to get in touch with you to ask questions or voice their concerns. Addressing them will then help you to capture more leads!
For starters, you need to ensure your contact information is posted on every page of your website — perhaps in your header or footer. You can create a page dedicated to your contact information, as well, but make sure that it’s always easy to access. Links to your contact information should be very easy to find, like in the header and footer on your website. You could also offer a live chat service or bot that answers basic questions. This will help ensure that people can quickly get questions answered without having to sit on hold or wait for an email response.
Let’s look at a business that does a great job of making its contact information accessible so you can get some pointers.
Sarah S. Shepard, LLC has its contact information available on every page of its website. For instance, as you can see in the image above, the company’s phone number and links to its social media pages can be seen in the website’s header.
Additionally, they have contact CTAs scattered throughout the page, helping ensure that people can get in touch the moment they have a question or concern about something they’ve just read. Once the user clicks a CTA, they’ll be directed to the contact page where they can send an email or make a call. By clearly providing the relevant contact information and posting multiple CTAs throughout their content, Sarah S. Shepard, LLC can ensure that people who are reading up on the business can quickly and easily get in touch, making them more likely to make an informed decision before committing to hiring this law firm.
Be sure that your contact information is easy to access from every single page of your website. This will ensure that people can quickly and easily get in touch with your customer service team if questions arise, helping them make better decisions for their needs.
Highlight your values so customers know who they’re buying from
Customers are becoming increasingly concerned about the values of the companies they buy from. This means that, in order to help your customers make informed purchasing decisions, you need to showcase your values clearly on your website.
If you place your values front-and-center on your website, people will understand the type of business you run right off the bat. You could, for instance, have an entire page outlining your values and guiding philosophy. Or, you could explain this in a video or graphic on your about page. This will help people to decide whether or not they want to buy from you.
Let’s look at a company that does a great job of showcasing its values on its website as inspiration.
Ben & Jerry’s, an ice cream company, is widely known for its political activism. The company has made various statements about American events and global politics, always making its mission clear: they want to make the world a better place. And, unsurprisingly, they highlight this clearly on their website. By making it clear where they stand on a variety of different topics, Ben & Jerry’s can help ensure that their customers know their values and can make a purchasing decision with that in mind.
Consider having a page on your website dedicated to your values. If people know where your leadership stands on different issues, they’ll feel more connected to your business and be able to make a purchasing decision that best suits their values and needs.
Summary
Helping your customers make informed purchasing decisions is a vital aspect of running a business. In this article, we outlined how you can do this by highlighting your values, making your contact information readily available, creating excellent content, and more.
With our tips in mind, start thinking about how you can help your prospective customers make better buying decisions!
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Author bio & headshot:
Adam Steele has been writing about digital marketing and SEO for 11 years. He’s consulted for businesses small and large, including several of the largest companies in the world. If you liked this post, follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn for more like it.
