Understanding how consumers are using the Internet to interact with small business today is an important aspect of your marketing for your business.
Most businesses enjoy local business so we’ve put together some latest research findings to help you understand the latest in consumer thinking.
- Over 85% of purchasers have use the Internet in the last week to research products that are for sale.
- Mobile search on smart phones and tablets now exceeds desktop searching.
- The recent Google Panda update of July 18 reveals that over 25% of websites that are not mobile friendly have been de-ranked and are now harder to find on mobile devices.
- The majority of online users use online reviews to make spending decisions.
- Don’t be concerned if a person only access is your website once as 65% of consumers visit website is more than one is often up to 10 times.
- Consumers will trust businesses have anywhere between two and 10 reviews.
- Over 60% of consumers will trust a local business if it has positive customer reviews.
- Less than 25% of consumers don’t believe that bad reviews influence their decisions to purchase.
- Interestingly less than 28% of consumers indicate that price is their main decision in purchasing.
- Over 75% of online users move to other websites when prices were not displayed.
- Over 50% of online users expect basic services like payments and bookings capability from websites.
- Customer is ready to buy generally check what they want to buy on up to 5 websites.
It is evident from this recent research that online reviews of your business plan important role for consumers to understand your offering and for them to make purchasing decisions that may affect your business. Responding to customer reviews is also important. How you respond to negative reviews is also critical in the customers mind.
We have seen a monthly increase in consumers using booking capability and payment systems online and this is borne out by recent survey results showing that consumers expect small businesses to provide these basic services that other industries provide.
Understanding when to reach out to customers on your website is important and of consumers are not targeted at the right time then the potential to lose the sale is lost. The product offering must be clear and concise followed by the option to purchase or to make a buying decision.
Having a clear strategy for customers to buy from your website is absolutely critical with the majority of consumers using the Internet to research what they want to buy.
Salespeople need to lift their game
Selling used to be an art. With online consumers having unprecedented access to research on the products that they are purchasing, often they are better informed than the salesperson they are talking to in the retail store.
Salespeople can no longer rely on the ignorance of customers when it comes to understanding product features. Customers also have access to be able to purchase products from just about everywhere so that salespeople cannot use old school selling tools to try to convince people to buy as they have plenty of opportunities to buy that product they are looking for just about anywhere.
Salespeople also need to research their own to make sure that the products are competitive. Customers will often confront salespeople with more specific product knowledge on the product that they want to buy so salespeople have to be doubly committed to understanding the products that they sell, the alternatives the customers have to buy and ensure that they have the unique selling proposition at hand to be able to close the sale in their stores.
The Internet can be the salesman’s friend often providing information to clients that laboriously would have had to be provided by salespeople. Salespeople should take advantage of the fact that the customers are well informed and deliver a unique proposition for them to buy.
When purchasing a product or service, the consumer is not “hassled” by a pushy salesman on the Internet. They can ask questions check pages research or specifications read all the reviews for the product they wish to buy online easily.
One of the biggest mistakes that salespeople have always made is not understanding the customers generally are ready to buy: with access to online information customers are not only ready to buy but they are also well researched meaning that salespeople need to adjust the sales tactics for them to succeed with Internet savvy customers.
It’s not about the price
There is plenty of belief the people purchase solely based on price but recent research on Internet purchasing trends that this is not so. Local businesses with good reputations are still winning the sales battle and especially when it comes to service and ongoing support for products a relationship still has to be created with a store somewhere.
Do not assume that visitors to your website are not ready to buy. Are you giving them that chance? Making it easy for them to buy your product or service ensures that you are competitive in an increasingly online selling environment.
