Forget Everything You Ever Learned About Ecommerce - it's All Changed!

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Forget Everything You Ever Learned About Ecommerce - it's All Changed!
by Andrew D. Hyder

What's the first thing people do when they have a question in a "brick and mortar" (non-Internet) store? They go have a conversation with the person behind the desk (i.e. the Customer Service Rep or CSR) right? What's the first thing people on your web site do when they have a question or can't find something? Do they disconnect their dialup and then call you? Do they leave your site? Do you even know what they do?

There now exists a deeper psychology on how people interact on the web, and it is flying in the face of everything you thought you knew about ecommerce. People who are contemplating a purchase on the web directly, or who are using the web to make a buying decision out-side of the web, have unique patterns of behavior that you as an e-commerce professional MUST know. Lets look at one of the most important concepts:

All prospects go through the following 7 steps when making a purchase, (1 is the beginning and 7 is the final sale).

1. First gets the idea to buy something (product or service) to help them or fill a need.
2. He/she starts an informal web search with search engines to find out how much info is available on the topic.
3. Talking about the idea when talking to friends and associates looking for recommendations.
4. Heavy-duty research fact finding, to educate oneself about it, (actually reading web sites, and advanced searches).
5. Finds names and brands, starts to narrow choices by the process of elimination, (decision is coming soon).
6. Makes the decision to buy but not necessarily from WHOM, while waiting for the timing to be just right.
7. Actual sale - money changes hands.

Human nature demands that we as buyers always want to make the best decision possible. Marketing should get the attention of the target market and FACILITATE their decision making process (the steps above) and lower the risk of taking the next step in the selling process.

Since there are 7 steps in the buying process, the law of averages guarantees that most of the people who find your web site will be somewhere between the 1st and 5th steps. Does your web site address the needs of people in these steps? Does it FACILITATE the education process FOR your prospect? Who would you buy from: (1) a company that helped you to make an informed decision by clearly laying out all the research that you would have to eventually find on your own, or (2) a company that simply asks for your order (your money)? Does this make sense to you?

Does your web site reason with people as a lawyer would - to a jury - making it clear that you are the only obvious choice to buy from and do business with? Does your web marketing do the following? If not it should:

1. Interrupt
2. Engage
3. Educate

Interrupt

To interrupt you must get your qualified prospects to pay attention to your marketing. This is accomplished by identifying and hitting your prospects hot buttons (interests). This CANNOT be accomplished by using the same words everyone else uses, or words anyone of your competitors COULD say.

Does good graphic design facilitate your prospect's decision making process? Not really. Not on its own. Your message must wake up and engage your prospects in a unique way. It must interrupt your prospect with something that is important to them. Use power words that are not often used. Never use words that everyone uses, like "lower prices", "most professional", "best service", highest quality", "family owned" and "largest selection". These and the many other platitude phrases (tired, commonplace and literally anyone else can say them) may have been unique at one time, but now everyone is saying them, therefore it is important for you NOT to say them. When your prospect is going about their day, the platitude words or phrases are not powerful or different enough to differentiate you from anyone else. DON'T USE THEM! Tell your prospect something that will GRAB them and that says exactly what they are looking for.

This means that you must say the right words to the right demographic. In other words, don't try and sell snow to an Eskimo. They already have plenty of the stuff, and it's the wrong product for an ad in "Eskimo News". :-) However if you happen to sell "Ice sculpting" equipment you have the right demographic, and while everyone else is saying "ice sculpting" you might want to say "5 sickeningly easy steps to becoming an ICE SCULPTING MASTER". This grabs the reader's attention and makes a promise to educate, while being different enough to interrupt the reader. The word "sickeningly easy" is something you can be sure that your competitors are NOT saying. After your education process -which essentially would teach them how a master ice sculpting using YOUR tools, you will become the only obvious choice to buy from.

Exercise: What are the 3 most important things to your prospects? What are they interested in? (this should not include "price", as its no longer necessary for you to have to compete on price only). Also this should not be what YOU think they are it should be what your PROSPECTS actually think they are. See yourself in their shoes.

1. _______________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________

Now, take this information and notice the words that you used. Will these (or synonyms of these) words sufficiently interrupt your prospect to be drawn further the next step of your marketing?

Engage

Today there are some very unique ways to engage a visitor/prospect. For the sake of your time let's focus on the best methods as opposed to the myriad of wrong ways to do it. Then we will move on the the 3rd step - "Educate".

Once you have grabbed the attention of your prospect or "Interrupted" them with the right ad/web site message, you must then bring them in to the "Engage" stage. To engage your prospect is to give him/her the promise that the information and education they seek is forthcoming and that this (thanks to you) will facilitate their decision making process. The engage stage is an "Ok I'm here, you have my attention, what's next" stage. You must at this point quickly show your prospect how you/your web site/your process/ will facilitate the decision making process - that they would have to find on their own - had you not been so kind as to put it all together for them. In other words - you are going to do ALL the work for them and make their education incredibly easy.

After you have interrupted your prospect and let them know that you will be giving them the information they seek, they should be willing to "click" to your web site (for online advertising) or type your url (web site address) into their browser, (for offline advertising). Most visitors do one of two things within the first 30 seconds of arriving at ANY web site. (1) they look for what brought them there, (2) they look for a phone number to call (to avoid the pain of having to sift though your (a typical) web site. What happens if they cannot quickly find the information they seek or your contact (phone) information? THEY LEAVE!

There are for the first time in history new types of Artificial Intelligence designed for the web that truly interact with web visitors in a startling way. What is the ideal environment for humans to become ENGAGED with data, technology and more importantly your web site? In a word - DIALOGUE! This is a humanlike experience as soon as the visitor HITS your web site. What is the most obvious thing wrong with most web sites, or to a greater extent with the web experience? Isn't it the ability to interact with a "human" as people do out side of the web?

Today there are Virtual (software) Customer Service Representatives (VirtualCSR's) that can actually have a conversation with your visitors just as you would communicate with a prospect in person. This is different from voice recognition technology, where people speak into a microphone. This is the ability for users to "chat" by typing to a "character". This amazing shift in ecommerce developed by companies like Subjex.com represent a mode of web site navigation that is completely natural for most web surfers, but completely unnatural for web site owners who generally have never heard of such a solution.

What all people already know - is how to carry on a conversation. Using this as a starting point, or a lowest common denominator, is where VirtualCSR's begin. They take the most inexperienced user and keep them as far as possible from an unnecessary learning-curve. Iterative (bi-directional) dialogue allows the user to learn things about your products or services not in the "technology" of learning the web site navigation that delivers the information (intrusive second technology).

Many companies now use a "live chat" interface for web prospects to ask their questions. The problem with "live chat" is that it is a *one-to-one* communication process, and as the name implies requires a live person (you or your staff) to "baby-sit" it 24/7. While one operator can have several conversations going at the same time, he/she still has to respond individually to each question of each visitor. This requires a MASSIVE amount of either your time, or someone you must pay to do it. Compare this with a VirtualCSR in which your prospect is actually talking with the SOFTWARE itself, and ONLY when the software doesn't know the answer does it then ask an operator. These systems can have thousands of simultaneous conversations because there is a *one-to-MANY* relationship with users. Best of all once an operator answers a question the VirtualCSR knows the answer forever, and therefore becomes progressively smarter and more self-dependent requiring less and less operator time.

This means that the longer you use a VirtualCSR on your web site, the smarter and more independent (automated) the system will become. Over time the system will lower your costs and increase your sales. How can a system like this increase your sales? It can do this by pulling your prospects through a marketing formula or script in its dialogue. The system will take users through YOUR unique education process. Best of all these Virtual systems will cost you less than $30.00 per month, (a fraction of their actual value to you).

Educate

If these first two steps (Interrupt and Engage) are specifically applied to your web site, and handled properly, the education process is easy using a dialogue interface like a VirtualCSR. The process typically looks like this:

1. Visitor is "interrupted" with a search engine link, banner, radio, television, or print message that gets them to your web site. The message may also "engage" them as well.
2. Your VirtualCSR further interrupts, and reinforces the message that got them to the web site. The virtual character then takes over the "Engage" process.
3. The system welcomes the prospect and in some way makes the promise that information they seek is forthcoming - though dialogue conversation (what they expect offline) that will facilitate their decision-making process about your products or services.
4. Your system then "pulls" your prospect through a series of leading questions (and answers) moving the prospect into and through the "Education" phase of your sales process. Using your unique script (which I will show you how to write) your VirtualCSR reasons with your prospects to the point that the inevitable and undeniable truth IS - that you are the best and only choice to buy from. Veteran sales people call this process using "Trial closes".

Trial closes are the little things we get our prospects to agree with along the way that build our case stronger. "Do you see how using this [Widget X] will do [this or that] for you?" This gets them agreeing (shaking their head yes) to you even before you make the actual offer to buy something.

Using support links that your prospects can click on to get more information and supporting reference material is extremely important. With your VirtualCSR you can support HTML links directly in your dialogue. This conversational approach gives people who are in any one of the 7 steps of the sales process (mentioned at the beginning of this document) the same opportunity to follow along. Those who don't understand you, or those who want proof and references, can click on words that you have made into hyperlinks. Also we do not want to bore people with details or an over simplification of things they already know, therefore the HTML hypertext link gives them the CHOICE to see more information and be on the same page mentally. Therefore use reference links with "more information" to allow prospects to dig deeper into your arguments that they need more information on. This will further facilitate the process of your prospects EDUCATION, and further put you in the position of the only logical choice to do business with.

Let's take a look at how this would work in actual practice: First go to www.subjex.com and notice what happens. You will see an example of a VirtualCSR that will pop-up. If you have a popup blocker in your browser you will have to click on the picture of the girl character, otherwise she will automatically appear. Once she does, notice that you have a dialogue interface where you can actually talk to her by typing. Note that this implementation of a VirtualCSR is designed to sell "SubjexCSR" (or itself) however as you go though this example, imagine that this is actually how it could talk about your products or services.

Notice that she welcomes you and immediately begins the "Engage" process by telling you what to ask her next. The operator of this implementation has made the phrase "Ask me how I work" bold - using the back end training tool (software) called "OPS". This starts the education process, as it will do for your products. Now ask it "how do you work" and you will see the step by step progression of the education process. Of course (and this is really important) prospects can at anytime ask ANYTHING THEY WANT! This is what they do in real life isn't it? Of course it is! If your prospect gets tired of following your sales script, they might ask something else that is more important to them. For example, haven't you ever been in a "brick and mortar" store and had to interrupt the sale person so that you could get to YOUR point? We have all done this. This ability for prospects to get to their point (and get an answer) is what has been lacking from the web and specifically your web site. In the VirtualCSR example instead of asking her what she suggested - interrupt with something like, "What's the catch?" and then notice that she gives her pitch (education) on guarantee and free support. Also notice that she has given a clickable link to the actual order page, and a phone number for prospects that actually want a human on the phone. Technology should never stand in the way of what the user wants. If the user wants to talk to you on the telephone, it is important the technology be used as part of the escalation path not as a barrier.

Now ask her "how do you work" again and follow her direction on everything that is in bold. Notice that, while giving a fun experience (by being able to answer just about anything related to the context of the web site) she has educated you on the basics of the product. So hopefully you will agree that educating your prospect is all about giving them answers to their questions when they want them. So what about contextual questions? What about situations when your prospect asks a question like "What's the price" when you have many products? To be able to understand this question the system must be able to ask a question back to the user. Go ahead and ask the SubjexCSR the question "What is their name?" You must use this example because if you ask about price she assumes you are talking about SubjexCSR because it's the main product. Notice that she is now asking you a question, "Exactly whose name are you talking about? Now answer with, "Your name" and she will give you her name. Now ask her "What is their name?" again. This time answer her with "Your operator" or "Your operator's name". So you should be able to see how she can easily answer context related questions, to your prospects as they have the questions. Go ahead and play around with talking to her, (if you haven't already) and when you are done say "good bye" to her. Again she goes into a context "thread" and she attempts to find out what you thought of her, and your experience on the web site.

While we are on the topic, if you wish to try the software on a free trial basis for your own web site, just ask her "How do I get started?" and she will let you know.

What causes web sites to fail? Or worse have some moderate success which can and often does give the FALSE impression that what you are doing IS working? Simply put it is a LACK OF DIRECTION! You must take your visitor by the hand and lead them though your site or your unique education process just as sales people do outside of the web. The sales process does not change just because people are on the web, but for some reason business people have come to expect that prospects will - if left to themselves - figure out your value, your uniqueness, your navigation and your order process. They won't. Shopping cart abandonment rates are astoundingly high for sites that don't use dialogue.

Conversation logs are the single most effective way to know what your web prospects are thinking as they are navigating your web site. People have no problem telling a Virtual Sales Representative if they don't like something, and when they do (and even when they don't) your VirtualCSR will log every conversation for you to gain an insight on what people like and what they dislike about your web site, your business, and your offer. Most importantly you will learn your demographics NEEDS, WANTS, and DESIRES. You can't sell effectively to people that you don't know anything about. Conversation logs give you that insight, and are available in the managers section of your implementation.

This brings us to our next topic of what to actually say in your web site dialogue. Listen to yourself next time you are excitedly talking to someone (in person) about what is great about your business. This is what is called "your inside reality". This is what you know to be different, exceptional, or unique about your business. This is what sells people on your products, and this is what your VirtualCSR sales script should convey (educate) to your prospects. Use your dialogue to reason with people just as you do in person about your business value and uniqueness.

It's clear the online world is struggling to achieve greater sales and a better user experience while automating the whole process. Unfortunately most business owners believe that people will learn THEIR process because it is better or more artistic than the competition. Forcing users into a learning curve is irresponsible, and worse - unprofitable. Ecommerce should in fact reach out and speak the user's language, make the user's life easier and less complex. Companies that implement Dialogue as part of their web sites user interface will become the defacto leaders of their business niche and truly humanize their business.

Thank you for requesting more information about e-commerce. As a user of SubjexCSR, Subjex Corporation's goal is your e-commerce success, (i.e. you making money). We will share all our wisdom about selling online to our clients on an ongoing basis. As CEO of Subjex I would like to extend to you our support for your business, with our free trial of SubjexCSR. I want you to see (with out risking anything) the massive impact this system is going to make in your business. Go here: http://www.subjex.com.