“Ugh! I can’t believe I made this dumb mistake! I wonder how much business I’ve missed out on because of it…”
Who wants to bash some bad advertising? 🙂
I’ve just spent a significant amount of time looking at a small business website. It’s for a business you wouldn’t recognize, in an industry you likely don’t care about, in a town in the middle of America you’ve likely never visited.
But there are some big lessons in what they’ve done wrong — and how they could improve it…
I have my reasons, but I’m not going to give you the website address or tell you the name of the business.
That’s okay though.
Because the mistake they made — that I want to talk about today — is universal enough that I think you’ll recognize it in a moment…
They have a pretty website.
It was designed by a respectable web design firm.
It includes lots of nice colors.
The website has pretty good descriptions of their services. They use “reason why” copy that highlights the value of the services and products they offer.
The menu structure makes the site reasonably easy to navigate.
And if you want to get ahold of them, there’s a contact page with their address, phone number, and a contact form.
Sounds like a lot of local businesses.
In fact, if you go to 90% or more of website design firms, it’s likely a pretty good description of the website you’ll get.
And to the casual observer, there’s nothing “wrong” with the website.
It’s not in-your-face.
The graphics might be a little dated, but they’re within the acceptable range for their industry.
There’s nothing to be bothered by, nothing to be provoked by, nothing to dislike.
And yet, I guarantee you the website is generating a tiny fraction of the new customers that it could be.
Why is this website failing?
In short, no offer. No call to action.
Yes, there’s a vague “contact us” statement at the bottom of many of the pages (though not all).
The website visitor is left to decide on their own what step to take next.
While they’re given a reason to want the products and services, they’re not given a reason to reach out, raise their hand, and tell the business directly that they’re interested.
Put yourself in the mind of a mildly-interested prospect…
We’re not talking the rabid buyers who’d walk across hot coals to buy.
We’re talking about the vast majority of prospects — much less visitors to the website — who are interested enough to be doing some research… But not necessarily motivated to buy yet.
When given good information about a product or service, a mildly-interested prospect will murmur to themselves, “Hmm… That’s interesting. I should remember this is here.”
And then they’ll click away. At which point they’re likely gone for good.
It’s the same thing as happens with print brochures.
In fact, a good description of this style of website is an “online brochure.”
A prospect picks up a brochure, scans through it, grunts contentedly, and takes it home. When they get home, they put it in a pile on their counter, with today’s stack of mail. And it gets lost in the pile.
Three months later when they discover it, the interest is gone.
It’s why in direct mail, brochures never work as well as brochures with sales letters included. And why sometimes a brochure can be scrapped altogether in favor of a good sales letter.
Because brochures — including brochure websites — are information mechanisms. Not action mechanisms. They don’t generate business results.
Instead, you need to think about what the next most likely step should be for a mildly-interested prospect.
They read your service or product description. They’re with you. They think you probably offer a good service. One that they may want to avail themselves of some day.
What’s next?
Well, the website I was looking at was in a business where they couldn’t quote prices on their website. The services were customized to each customer. The pricing was variable.
In a situation like that, the customer is probably wondering what the service costs. They may have some unanswered questions after reading your “brochure” copy on your website.
And so the next most logical step is that you offer a consultation. You’ll tell them the price as part of the consultation, yes. But also you’ll answer any unanswered questions, share more about the process, and in general help them make their buying decision (even if it means not buying from you).
So, instead of leaving them hanging with a vague call to action to “contact us” at the end of the copy, make this simple offer.
“Call us for your no-obligation consultation. We’ll fill you in on the full details of the process and its time line. We’ll give you a quote for what your total investment will be. And we’ll answer any questions you have at that point. Our number is ###-###-#### and we’re open from 9 AM to 6 PM.”
If the rest of your copy is already pretty good — and frankly, most small business copy doesn’t suck when it comes to talking about their products and services, it’s just not as good as it could be — then adding an offer like this will substantially boost the new business in through the door.
If you have an entry-level product that you want to sell — something fitting most new customers — you can also make a direct offer for that product in the call-to-action. (This, versus the variable-priced service.)
Is this the best formula for a small business website?
Maybe, maybe not. But in general, most copy on small business websites totally falls short when it comes to asking for action.
It’s more akin to a brochure than anything resembling direct response.
And while it does a good job of describing the products and services, it doesn’t motivate action.
So the simple act of coming up with a low-risk, no-risk, or no-obligation offer — even for a consultation — will do wonders toward turning website visitors into prospects and customers.
And copywriters… Want to look like a hero to your small business clients?
You won’t do it by writing a better headline.
You won’t do it by writing flowery prose.
You won’t even do it by writing a sales letter for them.
You can do it with something very simple. Offer design. Calls to action. Basic direct response mechanics.
Attach a tracking mechanism to it (can be as simple as asking why they’re calling today) and let them add up all the new clients and customers they’re getting thanks to you.
The breakthrough will be obvious.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
