Progressive engagement vs Direct call to action

Most websites that sell something (products or services) use a direct call to action.  Here's my product.  Buy it now!

Direct calls to action aren't bad, but along with the content revolution, many consultants are advising companies to use progressive engagement.

The concept behind progressive engagement is simple.  Instead of asking for a bunch of information upfront, you get a little bit with the first engagement, and then progressively collect more as the consumer's trust in your company presumably increases.

Here is an example of only collecting an email with the free "intro" ebook, and collecting additional information when the same user tries to download the "advanced" ebook.

Progressive engagement is designed to capture and track potential customers who are still in the discovery and evaluation phases of the traditional sales cycle. (Discovery → Evaluation → Purchase)  Direct calls to action only focus on purchases.  

I think progressive engagement is a great way to see who's interested, determine their current stage in the sales cycle, and measure their commitment and trust.  BUT, with that being said, you can't abandon your direct calls to action.  

Your website visitors are all in different stages of the sales cycle and have different purchasing habits.  Some need a longer, much longer, runway than others, and some have been waiting for years to find someone like you.  If you fail to have a direct call to action, it is the digital equivalent of slipping into the friends zone.

If you don't ask for the sale, they'll end up asking you for advice about another company.

How the social web has changed business

Facebook has over 1.2 billion users, Twitter has 500 million users, YouTube has almost 500 million unique visitors each month, Google+ has 343 million active users, LinkedIn has over 200 million users, and the list goes on.  With this many people in just (1) place, social networks have an obvious impact on business.  They are a great place to find, meet, and interact with your customers, but that's not all.  The social web forces transparency.

In the old days, before the social web, when everyone used a fake name and birthday on their email and mySpace account, the world of business hadn't changed much.  If you made a major blunder that the news picked up, it would be heard far and wide, but in general, it was business as usual.  If you managed to upset and lose the business of a "social butterfly" you may lose other business, but only that which was closely or geographically tied to this person.

In the social web, every misstep for a business is magnified and published to thousands, maybe even millions of people.  This creates a level of transparency that forces honesty and authenticity within a company.  The smart companies have already noticed this, and are using it to their advantage.

The social web isn't just a hangout for people and a billboard for businesses, it is changing the way all of us interact.

How has social affected your company?

Building websites for people

We use to build websites for machines.  Now, we build websites for people.  Yes, the end user has always been a person, but the web experience is changing.  It's an important paradigm shift to think of your website as being built for your users.

For those who have been using personal computers since before 2000 you might remember DOS (Disk Operating System).  It was really phased out in 1995 but Windows still had a partial interface with it until 2000.  Before 1995, in order to use an IBM machine, you had to know how to use DOS.  It wasn't overly difficult, but it wasn't natural either.  DOS gave way to full interface operating systems that didn't require the user to "code" anything, there was a button, a link, and a graphic for everything.

Unless you are a programmer who still edits your production code using vi (just finished making an edit myself) it might be hard to imagine not having a button and graphic for every task you want to accomplish.  For those born after 1995, they have never known anything else.  

It use to be okay to make your users do a little work to get the most from your website.  Google, and every other search engine, use to let you use logical operators (< > = + - || & '') and various keywords to construct a targeted search query.  Google quickly realized that this kept a large subsection of their users from getting what they wanted, relevant results.  

As with Google, websites no longer need to make the user do the work.  This means we can start building websites for people, and not for machines.

The process for building a website use to start with the company's business.  What information does the business need in fill an order, tie into the CRM, make decisions, etc.  

Today, the process for building a new website starts with the customer.  What information does the customer want, what information will they give, and what inspires them to take action.

One thing that's great about conversion rate optimization is that it gives us a structured framework to systematically rebuild your website for your customers.

Barneys New York vs The Dollar Store

There has been a recent trend on the web of presenting 1 idea at a time.  The thought behind this movement is that you don't want to overwhelm the user by asking for too many things all at once.  Instead, if you present one topic or call to action at a time, the experience feels more conversational as opposed to attacking someone with information and ads.

Some companies have taken this concept to the extreme with HTML5 and responsive designs so you can only see 1 thought at a time.  impressapenguin.com is my favorite example, and it works for this topic.  But, most websites are set up like a digital store front, you come in and learn about the company or browse their products.

This movement in the digital store world, is the equivalent of walking into Barneys.  I come from a working family, so when I walk into Barneys or any high end boutique store, I feel awkward.  (I'm sure the sales associates feel my presence is awkward as well.)  The excessive amount of space and lack of selection just isn't something I'm use to.

The opposite end of the spectrum is The Dollar Store.  You can't expect to be able to pass someone in the isle, and you'd get dizzy if you tried to look at every product on the shelf. 

Most people are more comfortable in a department store, where there is plenty of room and selection.  This is one reason that Walmart has continuously widened its isles and reduced the number of vertical shelves; it's an attempt at an upgrade from bargain store to department store.  

I'm not saying that the wide open websites with a single idea above the fold are all bad, but I believe you should cater to your audience.  If you need your visitors to have extra focus or they don't want to be distracted, a super clean, responsive website might be the answer.  If on the other hand, you're Amazon and are competing with Walmart, there's nothing wrong with using the extra space to up and cross sell your customers.

Does your web design match your customers?

The difference between B2B and B2C

B2C (business-to-consumer) companies are generally the first to embrace new practices on the web.  One of these "new" practices is having a friendly, engaging website that focuses on the customer and winning their business.  In the B2B (business-to-business) world, there is still a lot of skepticism that what works for consumer products won't work for them.

There are some key differences between B2B and B2C sales: 

• Trust / Risk - If I hire the wrong developer to build my personal website, I'll regret the decision and pay for it in time, money, and stress.  If I hire the wrong developer to build our company's website, I could pay for it with my job.
• Number of people involved in the decision - When selling something to another business, you seldom have just 1 person involved in the purchase decision.  This is because the people who control the budgets aren't generally the (only) people who will get their hands dirty doing the work.
• Speed of sale - The higher risk and extra people dramatically reduce the speed of B2B sales.  Some industries take months to close a single sale.

Even with all the above differences, B2B sales are remarkably similar to B2C sales.  At the end of the day you are still selling to a person/people.  The psychological aspects of disclosing information, enjoying an experience, and building a relationship are all the same.

Traditionally, B2C companies made shotgun sales.  They'd shoot their propaganda into a flock of birds and hope to knock a few down.  B2B companies have always had/needed a longer runway.  They spend more time getting to know the customer and building trust before they make the sale.  For a B2B company, a successful sale and post sale relationship magnifies the trust between the client and the company.  This is why repeat business is so easy and fruitful for B2B companies.

The "new" practice on the web of having a friendly, engaging website is not a "new" concept, it is the digital form of the B2B sales funnel.  B2C companies have realized that if they can create that same pre-sale relationship, they can create very fruitful life-long customers.

So, if the "new" digital revolution is actually B2C taking a page from the B2B playbook, why are B2Bs so reluctant to jump in?

Does your website help build a relationship with your clients?

Design doesn't matter

When looking for things to change/test on your website, design doesn't matter.  This isn't to say that design doesn't impact the performance of your site, but that design isn't the heart of your problems.

Design is a form of art.  For any work of art there are three basic components: Subject, Form, and Content. For a website, the subject is generally your company or product, the form is structure or organization of the website, and the content is what (hopefully) people see and read.  

In order to be "appealing" a well designed website strikes a balance with the seven principles of organization: Harmony, Variety, Balance, Proportion, Dominance, Movement, and Economy.  Each one of these organization principles works together to make the design of the website more attractive.  But a good design, as defined in terms of art and appeal, doesn't mean a good website.

When you shrink your column widths, it isn't that the design of your site was terrible, it is because the original layout wasn't reader friendly.  When you change the design and style of a call to action widget, it isn't that the original design didn't work with the site, it is because the original design gets lost and doesn't stand out.

An aesthetically pleasing design is very important, but the keys to increasing your conversion rates are clarity, ease of use, and function.  The message, objective, and next steps need to be clearly defined, the site has to be easy to use and navigate, and it has to work.  

If you are thinking about testing a new design, try to determine the underlying problem that a design change will fix.  If you can't identify the problem or there isn't one, your new design won't likely do any better than the original.

Constant feedback builds confidence

I'm not sure if it is our human nature or a societal development aimed at survival, but we are not a self-assured animal.  Even the strongest willed humans are constantly looking for signs and encouragement that they are on the right path.

This is important for businesses and websites because so few do a good job of providing constant feedback.  If a customer has to ask about the status of a project or a user is left wondering how many more forms they have to fill out, you have created an uneasy experience.  Because most people shy away from confrontation, they will trudge forward, hoping that the situation will soon fix itself, while their experience of your site suffers.

Many common user experience developments have been created from this understanding of the need for constant assurance. Most long forms or buying experiences have "the progress bar."  Many forms feature instant feedback on important fields.  And when you "like" a video on YouTube, they instantly fake the count by adding 1 to whatever count you see on the page.  

These advances all serve to give the user confidence that they are almost done, have chosen a good username, or that their vote has been counted.  This works for forms and action items on your site, but what about during the evaluation or research process?  How do you assure people that they have found the right solution?

Each business is different, but your landing pages and in-depth product pages should give your visitors the same sense of assurance.  Depending on your business, you can use product reviews, testimonials, case-studies, client lists, associations, or guarantees.  The key is to view these items as customer experience improvers that tell visitors they are in the right place.

How do you build confidence in your visitors?