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A common theme with corporate sites, ecommerce and service oriented sellers I speak to is what I call “The lights are on but nobody is home” syndrome.
What is this sales-killing malady and how can you solve it?
Read on!
First, let’s look at what is supposed to happen:
- Visitor arrives
- Some browsing happens
- Reader finds something to buy
- Purchase is made
- Reader becomes customer
Look around Amazon or your favorite freelancer’s website and you can see how this would work in reality. Looking at a site that works well makes it seem easy and common sense. Problem is, while it should be easy, many site owners even with these great examples to learn from, do not realise they have somehow got it wrong.
What happens when this breaks down though is one or more of the steps is missed.
One common example is the blogger who wonders why they get lots of traffic but no consulting or freelancing gigs. The answer should be staring them in the face; they have missed step #3!
Their articles attract new visitors, who browse around … and leave. Why? At no point did they ever see that there were services to buy, let alone get any encouragement to purchase.
With ecommerce sites it could be the same problem, they can’t find what they want, or the interface is confusing. In my experience though, especially where an off the shelf ecommerce package is used, the problem is bugs in the purchase process. It is paramount that the entire sales experience is constantly tested from start to finish. Reports on abandonment need to be scrutenised. It could be people really WANT to buy but CAN’T.
The pattern? Neglect.
The very worst though, and where “The lights are on but nobody is home” got its name, are the many websites that are thrown up and left to rot. They look like abandoned storefronts in a ghost town from some old western movie. You can’t be sure if there are any human beings living behind the facade or not, but probably safest to move on.
Does any of this sound familiar? Please share your experiences in the comments.
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