So, what's selling online all about then? What are the basics we need to understand in order to have a chance of success?

I'm not aware of any such survey, but I'd be very interested to hear how people summed it up in one word - ‘communication' might well top the list, marketing would figure highly I'd guess, and related terminology too. Brand would also figure, as would reputation and trust, but for us there's one word that summarises the process and encompasses all of the above, and more - PERSUASION.

Much is written about online marketing, but something that caught our eye a while back - about 4 years - was the approach of a company in the US called Future Now. The Eisenberg brothers had formulated something they called Persuasion Architecture, where they would develop very detailed ‘personas' in relation to a specific task and then evaluate the angle of approach to that task of each persona. The resulting understanding of the thoughts, motivations and actions uncovered in this interaction could then be incorporated into the subject website or marketing plan with greater success than a ‘one size fits all' type approach.

The evaluation and testing would be ongoing, regarding the website as very much a living, evolving thing.

This has been the basis for our model from day 1 as opposed to the ‘visitors first' approach that had been dominant. Did I say ‘had been'? I'm sorry to say that it still is, but we're doing our bit to change that...

Where's Paul McKenna when you need him?

What I'm not going to attempt here is a detailed look at how to persuade an individual to do something - that is entirely contextual and way beyond the scope of this blog. Instead, I just want to take an overview of the process somebody might go through in buying something online and see where the persuasion factor comes into play.

Unfortunately, hypnosis isn't an option. In this medium, the user is in control. They are free to shape their own experience, free to decide where to go and what to read. They must be persuaded, not necessarily along a neat, tidy, predetermined path, but to an end-point by words and pictures arranged in different orders, and hopefully will be persuaded to buy from you and not one of your competitors.

Just to put that into perspective: every time somebody buys from one of your competitors instead of you, they grow stronger and you weaken...

For the purposes of this blog I'm going to break this down into 3 sections that broadly cover the process of somebody:

• deciding that they want to buy an item,
• deciding it's the right item for them,
• deciding they want to buy it from one particular website, and then actually going through the process of ordering it and taking delivery.

You'll see that this isn't exactly a ‘linear' process, there's a bit of zigging and zagging involved but at each turn, persuasion is required. I'm going to take a quick look at where and how it impacts.

I'm going to skim this in the first instance - yes, there will be some assumptions made but I'll do my best to summarise my thinking. I'd run out of time/space otherwise. What we will do, however, is revisit all the complexities contained within this overview in subsequent blogs.

Let's shop!

So, stage 1 - as an example: ‘I want to buy something to help me get fit'. Let's say I settle on a rowing machine.

I'm not going to look at the search process here, nor to go into detail about the character, or persona, of our shopper. These 2 factors would, undoubtedly have an influence on process and outcomes but we can do without this analysis today.

The first choice somebody has is where to look. Things that might influence the choice of where to browse are where a company ranks in the natural listings, or indeed the PPC ads, and the copy contained in the search result. There may be image results, Google Base results and vertical results - lots of choice.Eye tracking has continually shown that it's good to be in the top 3-4 natural slots on the SERPs, then you need good copy to persuade somebody to click it - something that may get overlooked, but overlook copywriting at your peril! Even at this early stage in proceedings you can see how big an influence it has.

The second influencer is going to be whether it's a brand somebody knows, likes and trusts. This applies to both the product itself, and the seller. Has the marketing machine done it's job? What's our shoppers experience with the brands involved?

Important, but predominantly ‘off-site' stuff, I'd argue.

Third, there's the look and feel of the site clicked through to. This is a massive one, absolutely key. The decision here will be made within a matter of seconds, sometimes instantly and often without the shopper even being aware. In itself, this one decision is a big subject for another day.

Already 3 key decisions, and 3 instances where the shopper will need persuading at some level.

Which is the one for me?

Now, there are a multitude of rowing machines I could possibly buy, so how do I decide which is the right one for me?

This is where a lot of e-commerce sites struggle to keep the persuasion going. Sometimes there isn't a great deal of product info, but all the product information in the world sometimes doesn't help a buyer decide if it's the right product for them. Navigation and filtering should be comprehensive and allow users journey to ‘unfold' in front of them, but instead of simply giving somebody a straight choice it should be accompanied by buyers guides to highlight differences between different types. In this case, would our shopper be better off with a water rower, a fan rower or a magnetic one? A nice video would go down a treat at this point, or a call to action that prompts somebody to ‘call for advice'.

Let's say our shopper settles on a fan rower, either due to a buyers guide or video being helpful, or simply appealing in some way, a celebrity endorsement, or because that's the type in a gym to which they once belonged, and that's what they're familiar with. They might go for the same brand too - must be good if the gym has it. The latter is not so much a case of being persuaded that one type is more suitable than another, but a buyers guide should aim to help somebody with no knowledge of rowing machines whatsoever, and would be a wasted effort if not formulated from that perspective.

Okay, so product type chosen, now I need to apply my budget and then do another product specific search. Note that there's the possibility of a bit of site-hopping here. There's no guarantee that our shopper will buy from one site even if they've researched on it, but the chances of doing so will be greatly increased if the site in question pays good attention to all the other persuasion factors at all the right stages.

Pick a seller.

A product search brings 3 results, all very similar price. Which site to buy from?

This is where the persuasion really needs to begin...

There's the site on which the research has been done, then there are 2 others lined up on the tabs.

One of the product pages might stand out - all very clear and nicely laid out, but what might be the biggest pull is a review section.

Reviews are great, we all know that reviews help people to make decisions and buy stuff. Reviews, without doubt, are persuasive - either one way or another. A review should be measured in your analytics as a micro conversion, and you should work hard to encourage people to write them because (in case I haven't mentioned) they will help you sell things.

Reviews are as good, in fact better than the buyers guides I mentioned earlier because they're written by real people like you and I who have been through the process. They are a major aid in persuading and reassuring the buyer that the product in question is indeed right, or possibly not right for them.

In the case of the latter, there's an opportunity for an admin or other user to step in and recommend an alternative product, which in turn may stimulate a further question or comment from a customer or potential buyer.

You can see this kind of interaction happening on our Current Body site.

We'll call that stages 1 and 2 dealt with then - product settled on, and sure that it's the exact right product.

Don't make me angry - you wouldn't like me when I'm angry...

Stage 3 - there are still 3 tabs open on the browser...does our shopper stick with this one? Which one is going to be the easiest to buy from - which is going to be the most persuasive?

When I talk about being persuaded I am also implying that it's possible to be un-persuaded, or put off. This is something lots of e-commerce websites do very well!

The term ‘friction' sums it up well. If a shopper encounters too much of this on their journey to purchase they will either go somewhere there is less or no friction, or they will grin and bear it, perhaps due to a big price differential or delivery issue, make the purchase but may never, ever come back again.

Friction can take many forms. In the early days of the web it seemed to be there at every turn, and the word usability hadn't been invented. Things have got much better - there's a whole industry devoted to usability now - but without due attention being paid to context many sites do a fine job of talking somebody out of purchasing (I'm going to have great fun with this very point soon, and take a look at some examples of how not to do it).

Decision time - again. And again, and again.

So let's go back to the point where our shopper has or 3 sites open, all selling the desired product at a similar price.

Time for some subjective action - people like what they like, difficult to suggest that a site should look or feel a certain way, but information should be accessible, with a clear and logical path to follow, giving the user reassurance and confidence at each step.

In searching for and researching a product there will have been lots of decisions made, both conscious and subconscious that will have a bearing on which tab we settle on and ultimately buy from...

• Did the search result take me right to it, or did I need to navigate further?
• Did the on-site search bring accurate results?
• Was the product easy to find?
• Do the pages load fast enough?
• Do I like the site colours and font?
• Does the company seem professional?
• Was the tone of their ‘blurb' okay?
• Is the layout clear?
• Is the imagery good enough?
• Is all the info I need there?
• Did the site help me narrow down my choices and give me confidence to purchase?
• Did I get sidetracked or confused by up-sells and similar products?
• How much will it cost for delivery, and when will I get it?
• What if it's defective or if I just decide I don't like it for some reason?
• Can I speak to a human being if I need to?
• What experience have others had?
• Is it clear to me what I need to do in order to purchase?
• What does the checkout process look like? Will it be quick and easy?
• Will I be asked to register?
• Will I feel comfortable taking each action?
• Will I feel comfortable buying from this company?

This is not an exhaustive or definitive list - the exact questions asked will depend on the character, or personality type, of the person searching. Some will ask more, more spontaneous types will ask fewer, but all in all we have potentially 25 conscious decisions in this process up to this point, and that's for each site that's in the running here.

Summary

So approaching 75 decisions will be made by our purchaser, and 25 points at which the user must be persuaded to follow a path by each seller. More to the point: 25 opportunities for the potential purchaser to become frustrated, or possibly even annoyed to the point where they decide to jump across to one of their other available tabs.

You'll notice that none of them relate to even the remotest conscious thought of a second purchase or future ‘relationship' but the decision to bookmark for future reference will have been made on all the sites in question too.

There really is an awful lot at stake here!

The holy grail is and always has been how to influence, or persuade people into buying your product. The first step is to understand the process, their motivations and, conversely, what leaves them cold.

Subsequent efforts should focus on an individual part of the process in order that it results in a positive change in the outcome.

Some define marketing as a process that makes ‘selling' superfluous. A bad website, therefore, is a stick thrown into the spokes of the wheel of the marketing bicycle if handled badly.

Current thinking seems to dominated by the ‘all websites are equal, and therefore success is dependent on visitor numbers' approach, and that a web company has, or should seek to have no influence over all this and it's all the domain of the business in question. Or, that sadly, nothing can be done to improve results.

Companies buy platforms and features - period. A web company should just provide the platform, possibly design too, and some SEO and that's it. Most don't seem to understand the concept of a service-based web partnership, one step on from consultancy where somebody shares their goals, and can actually really help them get there.

Recently, a similarly platform/feature-focused shoe retailer (CLUE: they trade alone...) with who we were speaking dismissed any possibility that their results could be improved because their product and final audience would remain constant.

Oh dear...we are no longer speaking with them.

To conclude...

2010 is, without doubt, going to be another tough one for retailers. With e-commerce being the growth channel it's important that its potential is maximised.

There's a whole industry talking about conversion, but we sometimes wonder who is really listening and truly understanding where efforts should be focused, and that somebody external to a business can actually help. There's a whole analytics industry, but that industry predominantly sells tools. The small number of CRO (conversion rate optimisation) service providers are still a very long way from being the norm.

Part of the issue could be that this industry is talking and selling directly to the businesses themselves. Data or web analysts are to be employed by a company and are not external, because ‘how could they possibly understand our business?'

Well, it's not actually that difficult if people actually speak to each other. What people like us (well, us) do understand well, however, is the web. There is no substitute for experience, and if we can get our heads together then we can combine a businesses knowledge of the customer and their product, and our knowledge of how to affect each of the points in the persuasion process outlined above.

With even a small improvement at each of the possible ‘persuasion points' outlined, fewer people will drop off and a business can go from zero to hero.

Massive effort and resource is focused on ‘brand' and retention, but in my experience it's hard to retain somebody if you've not converted them in the first place. No amount of loyalty points from Company A will make me buy a product if Company B has sold it to me so well that I won't go back to Company A again.

In a multi-channel environment I think ‘traditional' offline marketing channels should focus on the brand marketing, and the online channel's number 1 focus should be to sell. Ironically, for pure-play's and especially smaller businesses the website needs to be even better as it's quite often the first time somebody encounters a business. In my view, a website that allows the shopper to ‘glide' through effortlessly, with minimal friction should be an absolute minimum requirement and not something to aspire to one day. But, most fail at the first hurdle and are in the minuses to begin with. It then becomes that much harder to be successful without that solid foundation, and marketing will begin to question their efforts, or worse, start pointing the finger if they've done their bit but the closer isn't closing the business...

Truth is, all websites are NOT equal, and not simply because of the platform they're on or the bells and whistles they have. In fact I'd say that 90%+ of e-commerce sites are pretty poor because they fail to understand what they're there to do and don't do the basics well.

So, do whatever is within your power to ensure yours is in the 10%. A platform and it's features should just bring you to ‘0' (not to be confused with ‘zero') and then strategy (and service, if you outsource) should kick on from there.

Step outside your business for a minute and spend some time as a consumer. Pay attention to the cognitive processes involved and learn about your own business each time you turn on the computer and think about shopping, and then make a commitment and plan to continually work on improving the persuasiveness of your offering from start to finish.

Let me know what you think!