September 11/18, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 7
By Jim Augustus Armstrong
(First of two parts)
In 2016 Synchrony Financial did a major-purchase study that focused on the path to purchase consumers take when they buy big-ticket items. The company found 85% of consumers begin their path to purchase online, 70% then visit a brick-and-mortar store and 82% make their purchase in the store. According to GE Financial, this entire process takes 79 days on average.
Therefore, if you want to win the path-to-purchase game, your website should do the following:
- Create differentiation to make your dealership overwhelmingly obvious.
- Have a strong call to action that moves prospects along the path-to-purchase in your direction.
- Capture prospects’ contact information.
- Do follow-up marketing and stay in front of prospects throughout the path to purchase.
Let’s take a look at why most flooring websites do not accomplish these four things.
Failure to create differentiation. How many flooring dealer websites have you seen with the business name at the top, photos and/or lists of products (sometimes with teaser prices) and company and contact information?
I call these “Name, Rank and Serial Number” websites. Superficially these sites vary, but most of them say the same thing, which creates no differentiation from competitors.
You see, all prospective customers searching online have one question: Why should I buy from you instead of your competitors? Most websites do a poor job of answering this fundamental question.
A weak or non-existent call to action. Most flooring websites are basically electronic brochures. They give product and business information, but do not have a strong call to action. Your website should compel visitors to take specific action that propels them down the path to purchase in your direction and away from competitors.
Failure to capture contact information. You’ve invested money into your website. Chances are you have paid an SEO company to improve your rankings so people can find you. You have also probably invested large sums into pay-per-click ads. However, most consumers simply poke around for a minute and then leave, never to be heard from again. You’re only giving yourself one shot at these prospects’ business, so most of the money you invested driving them to your site is wasted. If you capture their contact information you will have the opportunity to stay in front of them throughout their path to purchase.
Failure to do follow-up marketing. The goal with follow-up marketing is to transform a single website visit into unlimited opportunities to stay in front of prospects and drive them toward your business. Because most flooring websites do a poor job of capturing visitors’ contact info, there is rarely an opportunity for follow-up marketing.
What if there was a single solution to all four of these website problems? Well, you’re in luck, and I’ll reveal it in the next installment.
Jim Augustus Armstrong specializes in providing turnkey marketing strategies for flooring dealers. For a complimentary copy of Jim’s book, “How Floor Dealers Can Beat the Boxes and Escape the Cheap-Price Rat-Race of Doom Forever,” visit beattheboxestoday.com.