Many browsers, few buyers? This may be why.

Here’s a story about a website.

It ranks highly on the search engines, and is visited by many people. However, few of its visitors actually end up making a purchase or even submitting an enquiry. Most just arrive and then quickly leave, without making a purchase or contacting the site owner.

The site owners are frustrated, and considering the possibility that websites just don’t work for their type of business. Before they give up on the website, they should read this article. It tells you about what makes website visitors tick, and shows how you can use that knowledge to transform your site.

Understand your audience

There are four main types of website visitors:

Humanistic – The humanistic buyer is a caring, people-oriented person. They want to do business with a company they can trust; one with ethical values such as a commitment to providing excellent customer service and value for money. They are also community-oriented, and will want to see what other customers think of your business.

Having a testimonials page is an excellent way of reassuring the humanistic buyer that yours is a company that treats its customers well. Writing about guarantees that your company provides is also a good way of appealing to them, as is stressing your company’s values (such as a responsible environmental policy).

Spontaneous – This person buys the sizzle, not the steak. If your company or your product excites them, there’s a good chance they’ll use you. How do you excite someone about your company? Here are a few ways:

•  Have a website that looks great.
• Include lots of testimonials from delighted customers.
• Focus on the benefits of dealing with your company, using confident and upbeat language.

As a starting point, ask yourself this:

If you were looking for a company that does what you do, what would excite you? And would your website excite you?

Methodical – Methodical buyers don’t like to rush into anything. They want to weigh up all of the facts before taking action.

The way you impress a methodical buyer is by providing facts about your business. They want to know specifically what you can do for them, and they want any claims you make to be backed up with facts. For example, rather than state you are experienced in what you do, you might want to state how many years of experience in the industry you possess.

Competitive – These people want to win. They want to know that someone else isn’t getting a better deal than them by going to one of your competitors.

You need to show them that you’re not just good at what you do – you need them to be confident that they won’t get a better deal elsewhere. To do that, you show them benefits of dealing with your company rather than with someone else – whether it’s your years of experience and great reputation, or your unbeatable prices.

But – and this is important – don’t do this by criticising a competitor, or you’ll put off the humanistic visitor (and you may also provoke your competitor to retaliate!).

Bringing it all together

It is worth going through your website, and asking yourself how well your site appeals to each of the above personas. And don’t forget that it isn’t just what you say that matters, it’s how you say it – both with words and pictures. It’s important that your website leaves your site’s visitors in little doubt that your company is a professional business that means business. Doing so will appeal both to analytical viewers and those who make emotion-based decisions.