How to Get Customers to Your Site: Part 4 of 7

Tuesday, September 06, 2011 By Matt Maddox No Comments

If the last tip seemed counterintuitive, then this one will seem aggravatingly obvious, but shockingly subtle. This tip was one I learned from personal experience back when I was a door-to-door light bulb salesman was, “That’s nice, but we’re just not interested.” You have to be interesting to your customers!

How can I be interesting to my customers?

It’s simple, be interested in them. They are the whole reason that you have an online business and are successful (and if you aren’t successful yet, they are the reason you will be). Make sure that you take the time to understand and interact with your customers in a positive manner. This usually involves things like market research and interaction on social media sites.

When customers visit your site, give them the opportunity to give you feedback. You can either do this by having a comments box, but since that doesn’t allow you to quantify, you should also use an online survey service to get your customer’s feedback. There are lots of these sites that will allow you to collect data fairly cheaply. Zoomerang is one of my favorites, but there are several out there. Do a quick Google search and start your research.

Generate Positive Feedback

You will want to do this through the questions that you ask. These questions will place the customer in a position of authority and will direct them to give you positive feedback, if you word them properly. As an example, you could ask, “As you have made purchases online, what are some of the most positive things you have noticed?” Again, you’re giving the potential customer a sense of authority but at the same time you’ve already established a positive tone to the question by asking for positive recollections they’ve had. You are also limiting the discussion to online purchasing, and that subtle notion will make it easier to think about making a purchase online. You are also asking the customer for his or her individual wisdom, or advice. It makes them feel empowered and worthwhile and they will usually reciprocate because you’ve showed an interest in them and let them express their story. (And how many people don’t like talking about themselves and their experiences?)

So as you formulate your questions to elicit positive responses, make sure that you do your best to have the feedback mechanism on your site. Why? That will ensure that a customer stays on your site longer and longer. This will not only get your name to stick with the customer, enhancing your overall name recognition, but it will dramatically increase the chances that the customer will make a purchase.

Incentivize Your Customer’s Feedback

So how do you get the customer to take the time to give you feedback? I’ve found that the best way to do this is to offer some sort of incentive. This can range anywhere from a coupon for a purchase on your site, or a bonus offer to compliment a purchase made on your site. I’d probably go with a discount on the purchase and save the bonus offer for a different type of sale. Why? If you offer a discount on a purchase they are far more likely to buy soon after they comment, which is the whole reason you have the site in the first place.

Try this tip out if you already have an online business and see how well it works in the next month. Keep track of the responses and make sure that you take time to analyze and implement the suggestions if they are have substance to them. If you do this you can make sure that your home based internet business can get customers to your site and keep them coming back, allowing you to make money online!

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