How To Get Website Visitors To Buy On Their Very First Visit...

...without discounts, gimmicks, or outrageous promises!! ??

eCommerce should be easy.

Drive people to your online store, entice them to browse your products with seductive copy, beautiful images, engaging video... and then watch them BUY.

Simple right?

Then why is it soo hard to get them to buy on the first visit?

According to a study from Episerver, 92% of consumers will visit a brand's website for the first time and not make a purchase.

And if you're spending money on ads to drive traffic, then you know how frustrating it is to have people visit your website for the first time and leave without buying.

According to Digital Strategy Consultants, online shoppers make 9 visits to a retailer's site before they buy. That's up from 7 visits on average 3 years ago.

The reason for this trend has to do with the number of eCommerce stores coming online every day.

More stores = more choices...

...more choices = more confusion

And a confused mind always says NO!!

So it's no wonder that when someone visits your website for the first time, they are not in a buying frame of mind. They have questions and concerns that need to be addressed before they'll commit to buying.

So, the question is HOW do you get them to buy on the first visit?

The answer is simple... you don't let them leave.

Lock the door to the store and don't let them leave until they buy something. We've all experienced this with brick-and-mortar retail stores.

You visit a store and start browsing, and out of nowhere comes this really nice person (salesperson) who starts chatting with you. The salesperson asks you what you like... if you're buying for yourself or a friend... how much you wanted to spend... what you think of the latest fashions... etc.

It's human engagement with a knowledgeable, friendly person in real-time who cares about you. And before you know it, you're checking out with a pile of stuff you never knew you wanted when you walked in.

So, how does this transfer to the digital store?

Easy...

You have a live chat agent start a conversation with them in real-time while their browsing.

This is called 'proactive chat'.

The agent engages them by asking all of the right questions, and the information they gather then allows them to make appropriate buying recommendations... accompanied by links to product pages where they can place their order.

As a fallback action in the event that the consumer does not buy the first time, the agent can offer an incentive to come back and buy within a limited time.

Keep in mind, the vast majority of consumers online are polite, nice people. And they will be very receptive to someone who is offering assistance. Just like in the brick-and-mortar retail world.

Can you imagine what impact real-time interactions like this could have on your sales online?

Let's take a look...

CASE STUDY - Survival Gear Subscription-Box Turnaround

I was consulting for an eCommerce store that sold very high-end survival gear with a monthly subscription plan. Consumers were given 3 levels of membership starting with a low-priced entry-level plan up to an expensive elite level option.

Every month, the customer would receive a new box of curated survival gear.

At the time I was hired, the business was doing about $1,000 per week in new subscription sales, and had a cancellation (churn) rate of 70% within 60-days from origination.

My client had two objectives – break through the current weekly sales level of $1,000 and reduce churn.?

Prior to hiring me, his entire marketing strategy consisted of running more of the same ads, offering deeper discounts, and overwhelming his subscriber list with as many as 5 emails per day.

However, none of this did anything to move the needle on sales.

After spending some time experiencing his customer journey in real-time, I recommended that we test putting a live chat agent on his website. Someone who could be there in real-time to answer questions and solve problems.

He said that he’d tried using a chatbot once and it didn’t work.?In fact, he said everyone hated it so he got rid of it.

I explained that this was not a chatbot but a REAL person. And that in addition to answering questions and solving problems, they would SELL sell his subscription boxes. ?

He agreed to give it a try by running a 30-day test with a live agent.

We went with JetSpring to manage the process...

They got his knowledge base built quickly and trained their agent to:

• Respond to a chat notification on the website within 7 seconds
• Answer the most frequently asked questions
• Access his Shopify account to provide order information
• Resolve customer issues and problems
• Handle complaints
• Make appropriate recommendations to buy

With JetSpring’s chat icon in place, we launched with a LIVE chat agent on his website.

In the first full week with JetSpring’s agent, he did $6,000 in new subscription sales (up from his average of $1,000)... and his weekly sales hit a high of $10,000 by the end of the 30-day test.

But what was equally as significant was the drop in his churn rate...

His churn rate dropped from 70% to below 40% by the end of the 30-day test period.

That’s what the data told us.

What we learned from reading the chat transcripts was really important...

Over 90% of the people visiting his website needed more information about the subscription boxes before they’d be willing to buy.?

And that’s where the JetSpring agent came in.

She started conversations with website visitors in real-time that gave them the information and confidence to buy on their first visit.

And sales went up.