Perhaps the biggest fear any of us have is 'fear of the unknown'. This
applies as much to buying on the net as to anything else. Buying from
someone new, who you do not know by reputation or recommendation, is
always a frightening experience. Is this a genuine company? Will they
misuse my credit card information? Am I being ripped off? All of these
will run through your mind - and will very often be enough to stop you
buying.
It's not a problem that affects all companies. It is possible that
everyone in the world with access to the net, has heard of Amazon.com.
Amazon have reached the point where they encounter NO buying resistance
as a result of unfamiliarity, even from net 'newbies'. But how do the
rest of us, without a billion dollar budget, overcome this fear?
The lesson was learned some time ago in direct ('snail') mail, and you
have almost certainly seen the solution practised ON YOU.
Quite simply, if you have a new unfamiliar company, or product, you
overcome this 'fear of the unknown' by repetition. You continue to mail
the prospect until your name is familiar to them. It's as simple as
that. I know that I have fallen for this particular technique, buying
a financial product on something like the ninth time that the company
mailed me. I'm sure you can think of examples as well. The only question
is 'how often can you afford to mail them' - and we answered that in the
last article on 'How much should you spend on advertising?' - you can see
a copy of that article on our web site.
HTMail have just released two new services that will not only help you to
overcome this 'fear of the unknown' with your prospects - but also start
a dialogue with them before they become customers.
HTMail's new 'Re-mail' service - enables you to re-mail a list of people
that you have previously mailed at half price!
By reducing your mailing cost for follow up mailings - we can help you to
establish a relationship with your potential customers. You can see how
this works at http://www.htmail.com/sub/re-mail.html
We have also released our 'Ask a question' service.
You may be familiar with the 'Feedback report' that you receive
when you send a mailing with HTMail. This feedback report allows visitors
to your web site to let you know what they thought of it, whether they
intend to purchase, and so on. The format and questions on this report have
changed recently. You can see a sample report at http://www.htmail.com/sample.html
and how the questions visitors answer are presented here.
Well, now you can add your own question to the standard questions that
visitors are asked, and find out those things that you really need to know.
(You will find full details on our order form.)
So how do you make use of these new facilities to increase business?
With 'snail' mail, you will often see exactly the same mailing sent out
over and over. The Internet is a lot more interactive, and demands a more
interactive approach.
After your first mailing, you will have received a lot of helpful information
via your feedback report. This may lead you to make changes to your web site,
and should certainly highlight any areas of concern that your visitors had.
Your re-mailing should address these concerns. Make sure that you change
the text on your re-mail to let your prospects know that you have mailed
them before and listened to what they said. Explain again, but briefly,
the key points of your offer. Direct them to look at some part of the web
site that is important but that they may not have considered on their first
visit. In other words, start to interact with your prospective customers.
On a further follow up mailing you can continue this same technique.
Interact, become a familiar name, and the buying resistance will fall away!
The 'Ask a question' service can actually help this process. The question
that you ask can become part of the interaction (e.g. 'Have the changes
that we made to the web site made navigation easier?'), or it may be aimed
at increasing comfort and familiarity!
Asking a question can make a prospect more comfortable with you, how?
Consider this: You want to find out if your price is right. Don't ask
'Is our price too high' as you will always get the answer 'yes' and gain
nothing. Instead ask 'Please enter the address of any site on the net that
is selling these products at prices lower than ours'.
There are three possible results from this question - (1) You will get the
address of a competitor selling cheaper - very valuable information that
you may need to act on. (2) The prospect will realise that you ARE selling
these products at a lower price than anyone else they know. Positive
thoughts about your company increase. (3) The prospect will realise that
they don't KNOW anyone else selling your products online - You become their
ONLY source of these products online. As you can see - all positive for you!
So, even questions can build your prospective customers confidence in you -
and don't forget - "Familiarity breeds comfort" on the net!
Dave Broadway
March 2000
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