There are many “gurus” online who will try to get you to use (or worse, buy) their secret knowledge about online sales. Many of these tactics are for the consumer (B2C) market, but I’ve also seen them for the business-to-business (B2B) market.
Most of these “secret sales tactics” are counter-productive and unnecessary.
When it comes to your landing and sales pages, some time-tested sales techniques still apply. The reason for this is, people are still people and they don’t change that much. So don’t forget to use these techniques!
The web may be different as a medium, but your readers are often the same folks who read your direct mail letters, brochures and trade show handouts.
In other words, some of the sales & closing techniques used in print promotions also work online with a little adaptation.
Here are six classic sales techniques:
- Urgency - Give people a legitimate reason to buy as soon as possible. Make it a limited time offer with a specific date the promotion ends.
- Scarcity - Let your buyers know that supplies are limited, or that there aren’t many producers of your product.
- New - People always pay a little extra attention to something new.
- Free - An old but good one. Is there something free that you can include with the purchase? Perhaps 30 days of technical support, an information piece you normally sell, etc.
- Save - Everyone loves to save a buck whether personally or for their company. Does your product/service offer a greater total value than your competitor? Is it more reliable, so repairs & upgrades aren’t as necessary?
- Low Risk – Business buyers hate to take risks. The old phrase, “No one ever got fired for buying a Xerox,” comes to mind here. This is especially true when generating new leads. Getting people to trust you when you first meet is difficult, and unfortunately sales cycles for complex products seem to be getting longer, not shorter.
You probably don’t want to overdo it and make every sales or landing page look like a cheesy steak knife advertisement, but you should not ignore the power of these messages. Just make sure they’re used correctly.
The kicker about selling (offline or online) is that a large percentage of your leads will teeter just on the edge of buying, but put it off for some reason. They won’t buy.
So why not give these almost-clients a little nudge over the top? If the sales messages are crafted well, you’ll only increase your conversion rate. What I mean is, assuming your offer is still attractive, the addition of one of these sales techniques can provide the needed push.
Take a look at your current landing pages. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to make a direct sale, generating a lead or asking for subscriptions. Is there a sense of scarcity? Can you offer something extra the competition doesn’t? Can you reduce perceived risk? Are there obstacles to the sale you can remove before they come up in the prospect’s mind?
Try adding one technique at a time, maybe two. Then track the results until you have maximized your conversion rates for the page. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
