You’ve put together social media and PPC campaigns to promote your product or service. You’ve sent out emails. You’ve built landing pages and sales pages.
You’ve got an email capture form on every page of your website. You’re offering a lead magnet/downloadable freebie or a coupon to get people to opt-in.
You’re doing everything right. Everything all of the marketing gurus and the blogs say you should be doing.
But no one’s buying.
No one is coming into your store, coupon in hand. No one is clicking your “Buy Now” buttons. No one is calling for an estimate.
“Why?” You scream. “Why aren’t you people buying? I’m doing everything right! You’re supposed to respond like Pavlovian dogs, according to everything I’ve read, and seen, and paid obscene amounts of money to learn the secrets I have to offer…”
Really?
Why should they buy? Is your customer poised and ready to buy anything and everything they see, hear about or try? Or is your customer overwhelmed, even jaded by the amount of advertising they see every day?
See, everyone, regardless of what problem they need to solve, has a point at which that problem is foremost in their minds. I like to refer to it as being that thing that is on their desk and ***ON FIRE!!!*** (Yes, the emphasis is deliberate. Because that’s how your customers feel.)
That’s the point when they finally come into your store or click your buttons, or email you to ask questions. Truth is, your customer may be genuinely interested. They may just not be ready to buy.
“But why?” I hear you pout. “Why aren’t they ready to buy? I do all the right things. Dammit! They should just buy!”
Yes, they should. But they have to be at the right place on their buyer’s journey.
The what?
The Buyer’s Journey
There’s something called the buying cycle, or the buyer’s journey. Everyone goes through this cycle (including you) every time they make a purchase.
It has 4 basic phases:
- Awareness: A potential customer becomes aware of your brand and your product.
- Research: A potential customer researches your product to see if it will solve their problem.
- Consideration: A potential customer weighs your product against others to determine if your product is a better solution than others available on the market.
- Purchase: A potential customer buys your product and becomes an actual customer.
Until your potential customer reaches the consideration and purchase phases, nothing you do will affect their desire to click that buy button or hand over their credit card.
Another way to think of the buyer’s journey is to look at it in terms of how “aware” your potential customer may be.
Gene Schwartz, legendary ad man and copywriter chronicled the 5 stages of awareness of the average potential customer:
- Unaware – Having no clue there is even a problem in their lives.
- Problem Aware – Knowing they have a problem but have no idea how to solve it or even where to start.
- Solution Aware – Aware there is a solution out there, but not really knowing what it is and where to find it.
- Product Aware – Knowing there are products and services out there that will definitely solve their problem, but not sure which one will work best for them.
- Most Aware – Knowing which products and services are available and having a good idea of which one will solve their specific problem with the most desired outcome.
The last two to three phases fall into the research, consideration, and purchase phases in the image above. Ultimately, that’s where you need to catch your potential customers in their buyer’s journey.
So what’s a savvy business owner to do? How do you lead your potential customers along this buyer’s journey and to your checkout page?
Funnily enough, you probably have all of that set up and ready to go. You may just need to tweak it a bit.
Becoming the Guide
It doesn’t matter how hard you try. If people aren’t ready to buy, they’re not going to respond to all of your advertising, follow-up and selected promotions. Your customer has to have a problem. They have to need something. And until they need something, you’re not the solution to their problem.
So how do you fan the flames of your buyer’s journey? How do you make things so hot that they just need to make that purchase or sign the contract to engage your services?
You guide your potential customers along every step of the buyer’s journey.
I’m going to get a bit geeky on you for a moment.
Joseph Campbell, the famous anthropologist, documented something called the “hero’s journey.” If you’ve seen Star Wars (preferably the original trilogy) you’ve seen this journey in action. This is what the buyer’s journey is based off of.
At the start of their journey, the hero must receive the call to adventure, refuse the call and then meet their mentor, the person who guides them along their journey to their final victory or accomplishment. In Star Wars (the original trilogy), the hero is Luke Skywalker. The guide is first Obi-Wan (Ben)Kenobi, then Yoda.
In the buyer’s journey, your potential customer is the hero. You are the guide.
Really.
A lot of companies make this mistake. They assume they are the hero in the buyer’s journey. They position themselves as the hero in all of their marketing, which turns off the buyer completely.
If you want to get the customer, you are the mentor. Your job is to help the buyer to find their destiny. Which is ultimately your product or service. So channel your inner Yoda and learn to guide your potential customer to their ultimate destiny; becoming your customer.
Fanning the Flames of the Buyer’s Journey
I always joke with my clients that until their marketing needs are on fire on their desk, they don’t think of me. So I keep tossing matches at their desk until they pay attention. This isn’t far from the truth in terms of the buyer’s journey.
This is true for any potential customer of any type. Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar shop, an online retailer or provide a service (like I do) you have to consider where your potential customer is with their buyer’s journey and fan that flame.
Your potential customer isn’t going to come into your shop and buy a shirt until they need a shirt. That has nothing to do with you. You can’t casually spill wine all over their best dress shirt to increase their need. That would be rude and unconscionable, not to mention impossible in most situations.
But you can gently remind them of your existence (toss matches) until they realize that they need a new shirt. And as I mentioned before, you already have most of this in place.
Here’s how:
- Retargeting: Facebook, Google Search and Google Display Network all allow you to retarget ads to anyone who has visited your website. The allotted times vary, but each has a minimum of 30 days. This is a great way to keep your product or service top-of-mind.
- Email autoresponders: You should have a welcome sequence for every email address you collect. Emails can be as close together as once a day or as far apart as 3-4 days, depending on what you’re selling. Five emails is a standard sequence, but you can use more or less, depending on your buying cycle. Each email should guide your potential customer along their buyer’s journey.
- Nurture emails: Once a potential customer has gone through your email autoresponder/welcome sequence, they should be added to your newsletter or regular nurture email list. That way you’re still showing up in their inbox on a regular basis.
- Coupons and discounts: Your customer may not take advantage of the deal you’ve offered right now. But keep offering. Sooner or later, they’ll need your solution and take advantage of your offer.
Here’s a really important tip;
Help, Help, Help, Sell.
This advice was given to me years ago by Nick Usborne, a well-known web copywriter and marketer. He promotes the idea that to get customers, you have to give them something in return.
You don’t want to overwhelm your potential customers with opportunities to buy. This is a very common mistake and one that has caused me to unsubscribe from many email lists.
You must give to receive. Give your customers useful information. Give them a reason to trust you, your product and your brand. That way, once they’ve reached that point of comparison and purchase, you’ll be the one they turn to for that solution they’re seeking.
You have to build a relationship where your subscribers know, like, and trust you before most of them are willing to shell out their hard-earned cash on whatever it is you’re selling.
Help your potential customers do their research by directing them to appropriate blog posts that will convince them you’ve got the right solution to their problems.
Commiserate with them and show them how you’ve already solved the problem they’re having.
Become that trusted expert that demonstrates your knowledge about their problem and shows them the clear steps they need to take to solve it. (Including using your product or service as one or more of those steps.)
Giving your subscribers valuable information that they can use, even if it is part of your sales pitch, builds that relationship and helps fuel that fire.
Your Customer’s Need – On Fire
Sooner or later, your diligence will pay off. But you need to be patient. Someone may have downloaded your case study or coupon, but they may take a while to purchase.
The most important thing to remember in marketing is that people are incredibly distracted. They have a lot going on in their lives. Until you’re top-of-mind, they’re not going to pay attention to you or your marketing.
Meanwhile, you just keep flicking helpful matches at their desk until it does catch fire. Then you’ll get the results you’re looking for.
Nurture Emails Are One of the Best Ways to Flick Those Matches
Of course, the best and easiest way to deliver all of that valuable information I mentioned above is through regular nurture emails.
And while I’m certain if you were face to face with your potential customers, you’d be able to give that information easily, you may freeze up if you have to actually sit down and write something (gasp)!
Fear not!
The truth is, everyone has a nurture email type they’ll open, read, and buy from.
You just need to know which one is best to fan the flames of your subscribers’ need and desire. Then writing those weekly nurture emails will be easy as flicking those matches.
You can find out which nurture email type will ignite that fire in your subscribers’ hearts by clicking on the button below to take my 60-second quiz.
I promise, once you start that fire, it will burn until they absolutely have to buy to quench the flames.
This post was originally written in July of 2016 and recently updated with new, more relevant information.