B2B Talk to Me
B2B Talk to Me
Tell Me About Your Service
You want my business to sign up for your fabulous service. You have a link, but
Oops!
You forgot to tell me what you do and how it works.
I’ve been looking at a number of Software as a Service (SaaS) sites in the past few weeks. I’m just astonished at how many make it very difficult to find out what the service does.
Place your overview front and center…and above the fold. Don’t make your site visitor search and search and search for what it is you actually do. Yep, your benefits may be earthshaking but tell me how it works. Even a few bullet points would help.
Here are a few recent experiences:
*explanatory video marked “this video is private” — that tells me a lot
*no navigation bar or menu icon — four online searches to find an overview
*four-slider navigation to get to basic description — pretty pictures with hidden information
Or, a website with little information which is difficult to find with no menu/navigation bar. Buy here, with no differentiation to business as to why the monthly fee based on user count but starting at a minimum of 10 users, is different from the free version, or how it is secure for the corporation’s proprietary intellectual property. There is mention in the Agreement (yes, I found it) of intellectual property rights protection after the fact. So, oops! we didn’t mean it and now let’s have an international lawsuit because they are based overseas.
Today, I saw a SaaS ad for a service I might use. What came first? Sign up with my name, email address, business name, phone number before they told me what it did. And I’ve seen signup forms that were longer and just short of the location of my firstborn. All this just to find out what the service is. OK, I was game, because I really wanted to know. I submitted my form and got to the website. AIEEEEEE! A tiny click-through to…another tiny click through. This wasn’t a joke. This was the introduction to the product with no overview.
Who Visits Your Site?
It’s probably not the decision maker. Your first contact may be someone who is working within a cumbersome and antiquated system who wants a solution. They will need all the ammunition they can muster to sell your service to the decision maker. Give it to them. You’ll make more sales.
Target your content to not only your buyer but other folks as well, especially if your sales folks are giving you feedback that that’s where they’re getting stymied. — Rand Fishkin
Get A Clue
Conversing with customers is a two-way street. Organizations/businesses/entrepreneurs need to think of a website as the beginning of a conversation. Answering a question is the way a business responds to that questions in dialogue. If they are not thinking that way, the website will not work. Every way possible to engage prospective customers is a new avenue to conversation. Thinking the one-sided I sell this…Buy my product way doesn’t build a conversation which leads to an experience of expertise, authority, and trust (E.A.T.). Instead, what happens is a non-experience, no dialogue, non-engaging, and brief experience for a visitor who goes somewhere else, even if your product or service may be just what they need.
If you are selling to businesses consider all the people who will visit your website. Target pages and articles to different stages of the buying decision. First and foremost, tell even the most casual visitor what it is you do.
#b2bmarketing #contentstrategy #UX
https://medium.com/@ZaraAltair_34664/b2b-talk-to-me-2a055031395f#.ymunln3y0
Tell Me About Your Service
You want my business to sign up for your fabulous service. You have a link, but
Oops!
You forgot to tell me what you do and how it works.
I’ve been looking at a number of Software as a Service (SaaS) sites in the past few weeks. I’m just astonished at how many make it very difficult to find out what the service does.
Place your overview front and center…and above the fold. Don’t make your site visitor search and search and search for what it is you actually do. Yep, your benefits may be earthshaking but tell me how it works. Even a few bullet points would help.
Here are a few recent experiences:
*explanatory video marked “this video is private” — that tells me a lot
*no navigation bar or menu icon — four online searches to find an overview
*four-slider navigation to get to basic description — pretty pictures with hidden information
Or, a website with little information which is difficult to find with no menu/navigation bar. Buy here, with no differentiation to business as to why the monthly fee based on user count but starting at a minimum of 10 users, is different from the free version, or how it is secure for the corporation’s proprietary intellectual property. There is mention in the Agreement (yes, I found it) of intellectual property rights protection after the fact. So, oops! we didn’t mean it and now let’s have an international lawsuit because they are based overseas.
Today, I saw a SaaS ad for a service I might use. What came first? Sign up with my name, email address, business name, phone number before they told me what it did. And I’ve seen signup forms that were longer and just short of the location of my firstborn. All this just to find out what the service is. OK, I was game, because I really wanted to know. I submitted my form and got to the website. AIEEEEEE! A tiny click-through to…another tiny click through. This wasn’t a joke. This was the introduction to the product with no overview.
Who Visits Your Site?
It’s probably not the decision maker. Your first contact may be someone who is working within a cumbersome and antiquated system who wants a solution. They will need all the ammunition they can muster to sell your service to the decision maker. Give it to them. You’ll make more sales.
Target your content to not only your buyer but other folks as well, especially if your sales folks are giving you feedback that that’s where they’re getting stymied. — Rand Fishkin
Get A Clue
Conversing with customers is a two-way street. Organizations/businesses/entrepreneurs need to think of a website as the beginning of a conversation. Answering a question is the way a business responds to that questions in dialogue. If they are not thinking that way, the website will not work. Every way possible to engage prospective customers is a new avenue to conversation. Thinking the one-sided I sell this…Buy my product way doesn’t build a conversation which leads to an experience of expertise, authority, and trust (E.A.T.). Instead, what happens is a non-experience, no dialogue, non-engaging, and brief experience for a visitor who goes somewhere else, even if your product or service may be just what they need.
If you are selling to businesses consider all the people who will visit your website. Target pages and articles to different stages of the buying decision. First and foremost, tell even the most casual visitor what it is you do.
#b2bmarketing #contentstrategy #UX
https://medium.com/@ZaraAltair_34664/b2b-talk-to-me-2a055031395f#.ymunln3y0
Had exactly the same issue with a guy who shared his software site with me right here on the Plus, Zara Altair.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't so much that the site didn't explain the service, it's just that it came with that carrot "Free Trial", but nowhere - I mean nowhere - was there a link either on page or in the navigation to its compatriot, "Pricing."
If SaaS providers aren't 100% transparent, I'm outta there.
There are so many people pushing their products today, I want to know in an instant how much their product's gonna cost and how it will benefit me.
Good call!
Jason Darrell Yes, pricing. That, too.:) I don't understand why the basic information is so hidden. You are right. If a prospective buyer has to go deep digging to find basic information it is just as easy to go to a competitor who is more transparent.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Zara Altair, clearly many are clueless on this.
ReplyDeleteOleg Moskalensky Astounded by how many!
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem, Zara Altair, is sheer volume of what businesses have to deal with online, ie all these 'gurus' that bombard them with best 5 this, and ideal 7 that, and about Adwords tips and Analytics in-depth and all of that has a certain amount of usefulness, but not until the basic stuff you talked about in your post is done first, ie if you don't have a well-done site - don't go hunting of tips on Analytics or how to avoid Bounce Rates etc... all of that is totally useless.
ReplyDeleteBut it is what it is and some don't even care and the ones that do are overwhelmed and drowning in this sea of 'helpful' tips and recommendations.
That's why I think in the end, the best thing businesses can do is actually locate a potent individual or company and use them to go from A to Z and not waste a ton of time following this tip or that tip. If you hire an individual/company, like yours for example, certainly they may not get exact same ideas and recommendations as someone else's, but it doesn't matter... if it makes sense and produces results - that's the only thing that counts.
And of course it's not only about the knowledge of the subject and competence (although it's very important), it's also about the attitude of the vendor... you want to hire someone you can work with, get along with and actually concentrate on the work and results, not on someone's ego issues (something I found many 'gurus' can't seem to shake, interestingly enough).
You and I should do a hangout on this topic sometime... :)
Oleg Moskalensky The 21s and the 40s make no sense to me. Who is going to remember, much less implement, those long lists?
ReplyDeleteYou are on for the hangout. Name a date!
Oleg Moskalensky are you ready to find a time?
ReplyDelete