A colleague recently told me
about a frustrating experience visiting a website that was suggested to her on
Facebook. She clicked on a picture of a dress she liked but instead of being
taken to the site, a pop up appeared asking for an email address. Then the site
asked her to create a password. Then it asked for her full name. At this point,
she got frustrated and left the site without even browsing for a single item.
It’s common for potential
customers to find sites via social media suggestions from others they know or
trust. In fact, a social media suggestion is a powerful way to build a customer
base because the customer feels like they are making the choice, much like they
would in choosing to visit a physical store because of a friend’s suggestion.
And in my colleague’s case, it
worked! She was interested in what she saw and the fact that her friend made
the suggestion encouraged her to learn more.
The most important lesson in my
friend’s story is that you can drive consumers away before they ever become
your customer if you don’t manage the process correctly. Sites should allow consumers
to browse before forcing them to create a profile. Even if the browsing
experience is limited, the site should at least give customers a taste of what
they can expect in order to entice them to become customers.
The currency of the new economy
is information and asking for too much too soon can create an insurmountable
barrier to attracting and ultimately converting new customers.
As PossibleNOW learned in our
recent research, customers vary in the amount of information they’re willing to
provide online. For some, it’s not a big deal to supply an email address to
gain access to a site or even to provide a full name. Others are wary of
providing anything until they have had ample time and opportunity to browse and
view information on their own.
Not every consumer that stumbles
upon your site is going to end up buying from you or will even be interested in
receiving communications from your company. Collecting information from every
visitor to your site without an understanding of what they are actually
interested in or what they care about is a mistake. Doing so means that you can
only send these customers marketing messages that won’t feel appropriate or
personalized.
It would have been far better for
the site my friend visited to have allowed her time to browse around. By using
the data gathered during her visits, this site would have gained enough
information to start establishing a relationship with her. Companies must learn
to be patient by allowing the customer to take the lead in when and how they
choose to provide information.
Eric V. Holtzclaw is Chief Strategist of PossibleNOW. He's a researcher, writer, serial entrepreneur and challenger-of-conventional wisdom. His book with Wiley Publishing on consumer behavior - Laddering: Unlocking the Potential of Consumer Behavior - hits bookstores this summer. Eric leads the professional services organization to strategically guide companies on the implementation of enterprise-wide preference management solutions.
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