How to convert a visitor into a customer
Introduction
Converting a visitor into a customer is the height of success in any tech marketing or smarketing campaign. Sometimes you might think that products sold online are easier to sell than services sold online. However, that is not so true. The end game is defined by the product, the marketing pitch, and the competition. A good marketing pitch will sell an online service as fast as a good e-shop will sell a discounted product. There is no trick to success; it is all down to how you manage words for services and graphics for products.
At the end of the day, selling or making the sale is about dialog. It is about persuading the visitor that you are their best shot. However, once you have a customer, you will need to provide the service or product and need to back up the sale with good service, a good product, and an excellent customer service relationship.
The Holistic Approach
A successful campaign requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account every aspect of the service or product being sold. It also takes into account that a returning customer is more valuable than a one-time buyer. A successful campaign is backed by a successful company. There is no point in making a great sales pitch, converting millions of viewers into customers, and then not providing a product or service. This will kill your company rapidly. One of the reasons why China is suffering from a bad image is due to the millions of scam companies offering great products but selling fake or even dangerous alternatives.
The holistic approach states that you must have an integrated marketing, selling, distribution and customer service operation working together to maximize productivity, reach and quality at all times. While converting a visitor into a customer is different for services and product sellers, the infrastructure for both is identical.
The Identical Infrastructure Parts
Marketing Plans
Web presence and SEO
Supply Chain/Distribution and Returns Providers
Payment Partners
Customer Service (BPO)
The Different Infrastructure Parts
E-Shop for products
Wholesalers for products
VoIP and Chat with Service Providers
Social Media Mix
Technical Support for Products
In this article, we will concentrate on e-shops and e-commerce as well as how chat helps service providers succeed with online sales.
e-Commerce/Shops
There are three types of online product selling sites, company shops, e-commerce sites and social media boards. Online shops are site-driven, which means the company has an online shop and sells its products online via the site. E-commerce sites are like wholesalers and malls where you can post your products on their site and sell via their market share. Amazon is a classic example of a western e-commerce site, and Ali-Baba is an example of an Asian wholesaler. Ebay is an example of an online social media board where individuals and companies can sell products.
It is recommended to sell on every available platform, as this spreads out a company’s reach and maximizes their sales online. With products being posted on every site, in every language, and every country, local manufacturers can reach billions of potential customers. Examples of products being sold via multiple platforms are clothing, electronic goods, hotel rooms and air flights. Companies will post their products as well as allow open accounts on sites such as Trivago, Expedia, and Booking.com for travel options as well as Amazon, Ali Express and Lazada for consumer products. What makes the consumer product sites so successful is not just their prices, but also their logistical support. Amazon nearly crashed due to bad logistics and that is the crux of any good commercial platform. Commercial platforms provide a marketing mix and an efficient distribution center to meet demands.
Freelancers and Service Providers
There is no centralized e-commerce site for engineering and production work companies. It’s rather interesting, but all the companies who are online specialize in selling end products. Maybe in the future, sites such as Amazon will open a category for online service providers such as plumbers, electrical engineers, and metal workshops, however, for now, the only way these companies can market their services is to find as many local website marketing boards and of course manage an online-focused marketing profile. For individuals that provide a professional service, online freelancer sites such as UPWorks and Freelancer.com can act as a platform. Linkedin is a useful tool for marketing professional services. Some sites provide a centralized list of all local services that have started to spring up, but they are not truly helpful since they are too anonymous. Successful marketing comes with high page visits and if you place your advert on a thousand sites that receive two hundred local services and have ten page visitors a day, you will get 0 (Zero) hits. So don’t waste time on low-frequency sites. It's better to spearhead with a localized AdWords campaign.
Globalized Services
While plumbers, electricians, and painters come under localized service providers, there is a whole niche of online service providers that can offer globalized services. Lawyers, Accountants, Industrial and Mechanical Engineers are but a few of the engineering and academic professions that can provide online services without visiting the client's site. Globalized service providers fall under the freelancer categories when advertising, but unlike local contractors that need to provide an on-site service, these professionals can offer online services. This changes their approach to online marketing and there is no restriction to advertising to a wider demographic group.
Associated Symbiosis
Until recently, groups of professionals that do not compete with one another, such as an industrial, mechanical, and chemical engineers from different parts of the world meet up online and form a symbiotic group of service professionals that provide an online service. This is also true for web marketing, web development and even creating core engineering groups for large projects that demand the use of more than one same science engineer. These groups multiply their online presence from being so diverse, as each one advertises their group individually. Each one brings a customer that will be able to use the services of another group member, thereby increasing the reach of each member through active participation in the group.