“Persuasion” and “Conversion” Buzz Words

In the wonderful world of Advertising, Agency’s typically adopt or pick up “buzz words” in order to bamboozle clients.  This is done to make them sound as if they are at the leading/cutting edge of the advertising world with the hopes to secure more business.  The web is no different. 

We at Exceed Online and Alkemi New Zealand are now seeing and hearing everyone use terminology such as “Persuasion” and “Conversion”, to achieve the same.  What’s funny is the “buzz word users” truly don’t understand the meanings of each term nor do they understand how to apply each to a client’s website and strategic marketing principles. 

For those of you who have these words shoved in your face, please read on.

In its simplest form, the act of persuading visitors relates to the ability for a website to pull visitors through a series of informative steps (the visitor buying process) to the point where the visitor feels their needs are being met, a solution to their problem is being achieved, and/or the visitor feels they will benefit if they proceed to acquire the product or service you are offering.

The act of conversion begins once the visitor decides they want to become your customer by purchasing from you.  The conversion process is very linear and starts as soon as the customer selects the “Buy Now” button.  The conversion process is your shopping cart.  You can spend a lot of time refining the shopping cart; however, you will only improve the performance of your website marginally.  The serious gains are made in improving the persuasive momentum of your website.

Most websites face persuasive issues, not conversion issues.  If you have someone speaking this kind of language, the next question you should be asking is, “How can these issues be resolved?”  If they are unable to answer that question, I recommend running in the opposite direction as fast as you can.

Do not fear, Exceed Online and Alkemi New Zealand, can come to your rescue when you are ready to face this problem head-on.  Be aware, this is a highly specialised field and is not for the faint of heart.  With the help of the Future Now team both Exceed Online and Alkemi New Zealand utilise their unique skills to tackle the persuasive elements of a website. 

To improve the persuasive elements of your website requires consideration of Bryan Eisenberg’s (from Future Now) interpretation of Maslow’s hierarchy of “Buyer Needs” :

1)  Functionality.  How easy is it for the visitor to determine if the product or service can solve his/her problem and meet their needs?

2) Accessibility.  Can the visitor easily acquire the product or service i.e. is it affordable? 

3) Usable. Is the product or service user-friendly, does the website clearly communicate how the product or service works to fulfil needs?

4) Intuitive. Does the sales process on the website match the visitors buying process?  “Does the Web site feel intuitive and natural based on his/her buying preferences? Is he/she forced to endure unnatural buying modalities to realize his/her need?”

5) Persuasive. Does the visitor believe he/she wants the product or service?  Does the visitor truly understand if the product or service fills the need or solves the problem?

I think I should stop there.  This article is not intended on educating you on the complexities behind persuasion and the conversion of traffic on your website.  It was written more to warn you.

There are pretenders out there in the New Zealand Advertising and Consulting business community.  Be careful who you talk to!  If you get in with the wrong crowd, it will cost you a lot of money, and precious time:  time which could be spent gaining advantage on our competitors.