Understand Customers Need

In a few years, this is what your site looks like (at a bare minimum)

The “traditional” marketing funnel we hear so much about is almost over. The end of a traditional funnel for eCommerce is usually represented by the time someone clicks through to a product page. For some products, this can take days or weeks to materialize. For others, this may not happen for months or years.

Why you should care?

The fact that you have to wait is not going to be a problem anymore. As more of the world moves online and more of us have the Internet at home, companies will need to adapt. This means changing how they get to customers and whom they get to. These shifts will start now and increase in velocity over the next few years.

There are a few basics that are required for this shift.

• More consumers need to be able to browse products in their preferred languages. This means building websites in multiple languages.
• The number of people looking for what you sell must increase. It’s not just about traffic, it’s about conversions. We all know that “conversions” is what companies are obsessed with.
• We need to see more consumers. We need to see more transactions, more conversions, and more revenue.

The good news is that it’s now easier to do this because of the Internet. If you want to grow your brand, you need to focus on your content and write content for customers not for BOTS.

You may have heard me talk about the three main elements of content: context, knowledge, and experience. While context is about the customer, knowledge is about educating the customer, and experience is about putting the customer into the product.

Context!!

• When we say context, we are talking about things like what is your brand all about. Why do people like your brand? Why should the consumer buy your product or service?
• How do you know that if a company starts selling your product or service, you will get traffic?

The answer is simple. It’s because the person whom you sell it to has bought your brand. They know you, they have been to your website, and they know that you are a good brand.

Let’s look at the example of a car manufacturer, to understand your customer better.

Imagine you are a car manufacturer and you start selling cars. Before you can get sales, you need to have people know you. The way to get that is to have a very strong brand.

What do you need to have a strong brand?

A strong brand needs to be true. It needs to be real. It needs to be consistent. This brand is not your brand, it’s the customer’s brand. The brand is one that the customer has built for the car manufacturer.

You will have a similar brand for your car service station. You need the customer to think of you as a brand that will help them every day.

You need to do things to make the customer trust you and know that you will help them, not just for one sale, but every day.

How do you make a customer trust you?

For the last 40 years, what has happened in advertising is that people have just tried to market to the customer. But, customers don’t really want you, they want what you stand for.

Customers buy your products and services because they trust you. They buy your car because they trust you. They buy your car service because they trust you. If the customer doesn’t trust you, what is the point of being in business?

Brands are very real because people get to know and trust them.

The truth is that people buy products and services that help them have better lives. When they buy a car, they expect to get reliable vehicles with good quality service. When they buy a service station, they expect the service to be great.

When you build a customer’s brand, you’ll become the brand they want to see every day.

What the customer wants is help to make the most of their lives. You need to show them the kind of help that you will give them every day.

Do you know what your customer wants from your business?

You have to ask yourself, “what is the customer looking for?” What are they looking for in the way you serve them? You can have a great service station, but if you don’t know what your customer wants from you, you will never be successful.

How do you get to know what your customers want?

Do you have a strategy? Do you have a plan? Do you know what will make them trust you and come back for service?

You need to think, what are they looking for? Is there someone that can answer this question for you? Do you know?

The fact is, the customer does. They will tell you and they are always right. They won’t lie to you. You have to see it and you have to understand it. You have to do more than just read it. You have to experience it and you have to know it for yourself.

People aren’t looking for something to sell them. They are looking for some help that will help them have better lives.