How to excite your customers…and generate sales
Sick of trying to do this and getting nowhere? Well we’ve all been there and it’s soul destroying. But…get it right and it can be a tried and tested formula for you that works and generates sales EVERY SINGLE TIME.
To make your customers purchase from you they need to be excited about what you’re trying to sell them. They need to do more than just see it, and they certainly need to see it more than once.
Has this ever happened to you? You put something out there as a preview/sneak peak and you get a great response. You have customers commenting like ‘Oh can’t wait for this, will definitely buy one/some’. Then you launch and make 2 sales. Where are all the people who ‘loved’ your product? Where are all the ones who said they were going to buy? It’s confusing to say the least. But I can bet you one thing…I would bet that the execution of your launch was poor. Either this or your product is awful, but I doubt that. So how do you go about getting them to convert?
Firstly, we need to go through something that you need to understand before you do anything else…
When selling to your customers, when exhibiting anything to them, when talking to them etc – you ALWAYS need to show and tell them what they WANT. And never what they NEED. Because ‘need’ means nothing to them. We’re all human and I know for sure I buy what I WANT and then what I NEED and in that order. Obviously I’m not talking about your weekly big shop or nappies for your baby – yes you 100% need those. But all the little ‘nice to haves/we can actually survive without them’ type of purchases are purchased because you WANT them. By all means talk about the benefits of your product but the real excitement and desire to purchase something comes from your pull towards it. Ever wanted something so bad that it feels like you need it? Well that’s what I’m talking about.
There are various ways you can create this feeling with your customers and we’re going to cover some of them here. They’re not to be treated in isolation, have a think about what would suit your business best and if that’s every single one of them then go for it.
1. Building the Hype
This is literally everything and includes social and email. The 2 should work in tandem and you should always have a clear plan for how you’re going to talk about a new product, what dates you’re sending what emails, making certain posts etc. Work back from your launch date and tease it on social and emails from 2 weeks before. What you want to be doing here is building the hype as much as you can.
This is absolutely huge for any big promotions or sales you have coming up, especially Black Friday which for lots of brands is now the biggest event in their calendar along with Christmas of course. You can schedule all of this in advance too which makes it even better.
2. Tease anything new
It’s amazing how your product actually sells when you talk about it. Of course it does Sarah – yes sounds silly I know but I see lots of you launching products when you’ve hardly even spoken about them before hand. Or…I’ve not seen anything on them and this leads onto something else that’s vital. Did you know that for roughly every 7 times you mention something on your social, your followers might only see it once? So what does this mean you need to do…well when you think you’ve flogged something too many times, keep going.
3. Your offer
Without an offer or a hook it’s more difficult to sell. And I don’t just mean for something brand new I mean generally too. These days customers expect them and not only that but there are some currently circumstances that you need to consider. I’m writing this in May 2022 – prices are at an all time high, inflation is the highest it’s been in 13 years, electricity and fuel is costing households a significant amount more each month, food prices are crazy AND there’s a war between Russia and the Ukraine. Not to mention the last 2 years of COVID. And what does all this mean?
Well your customers are parting with their pounds very easily. And when they do they want to feel justified in the decision they’ve made. They no doubt don’t NEED your product but they really want it. However, they should be saving their money. But you have this really good offer on and they’ve wanted what you’re selling for so long now. So they’re going to buy it, because, at the end of the day they’ve got a good deal so surely it’s ok. Been there yourself? I know I have. Without a deal right now, you’re going to struggle. Just made sure it’s profitable for you.
4. Your content
Not the C word again, but yes it matters. Your customer doesn’t just pop up when you have a new product to launch or you’re trying to drive sales. They need to be kept interested and intrigued along the way. They need to trust your brand and feel a connection with it. They need to feel like they’re your people. And that can only be done with the content you put out there. It needs to make them love your brand even more, it needs to appeal to their emotions, the challenges they face and the things that bring them joy in life.
The brands that do this well really know their customers – but that’s a whole other conversation. But I will say one thing on it…after a heavy time of the last few year and a rise in the use and interest in TikTok, most people are seeking some type of entertainment right now.
5. Urgency
This is huge! You see a sale on a product or brand you really love. For me this is usually Zara or for my husband it’s a brand called End Clothing. Let me explain why for both of them. I love buying clothes for myself and my kids from Zara and they never discount. My husband has a thing for expensive clothes (yes I know!) and these brands never discount. Twice a year Zara have a sale that sells out in all the sizes I want within a week and now and then End Clothing send an email to their VIP customers with 20% off (which is huge when you’re buying a £150 shirt) just for a weekend. Both of these brands trap us in each time because we want to buy from them before the offer expires.
Let me explain another. I have some places I like buying from like ASOS for example. Now this covers the general topic of ‘offers’ too and I’ll touch on it here briefly. I always check if there’s an offer on at ASOS because there usually is, they operate an on and offer period on loop. This doesn’t make me think any less of them and I don’t see them as a ‘discount’ brand, that’s not their USP. But back to urgency…when I do get that email telling me about 20% off it drives me to go on their website and probably buy things I don’t even need because the offer is only on Friday-Monday and I don’t want to miss out.
Another way to create urgency and I find this really effective – have you been on website before that has a little countdown on the product page along the lines of…
Order within the next 4 hours for delivery tomorrow? Well that’s because it tends to drive the sale and increase conversion. Try it out…
6. Quantities are limited!
Urgency isn’t just related to discounts either – creating the hype and then stating there are only so many and when they’re gone they’re gone is also super effective. You don’t need to declare how many you have and you don’t need to go into detail. But let me tell you – if you customers are hyped up knowing quantities are limited and then they see you sell out. Next time they’re going to want in! Have a think about it.
When they see you ‘always’ selling out and then you put out there that email subscribers will get first dips they’re going to sign up for sure! Another KPI ticked off your list.
Creating excitement is absolutely key for any e-commerce brand, creating entertainment for them and driving them to purchase should always be your focus.
Let me know how you get on. And remember – each time you put something out there, ask yourself why? Ask yourself why is this important? Why is this good? What is this what my customer will want? And make sure you can confidently answer before going any further.
Sarah.