28 Jan From Curious to Customer: Creating Great Online Content that Converts
From Curious to Customer: Creating Great Online Content that Converts
Launching a sought-after product or telling a compelling story engages curiosity – but how do you convert an online “window shopper” into a paying customer? It’s all about the content that drives the customer journey to the “purchase” stage and beyond, where they become a loyal customer and even champion your product or service.
A sales funnel helps you identify where leads become paying customers. The top of the funnel represents the big pool of individuals who see your ads via social media, web searches, email, or other marketing channels. As prospects move down the channels – from viewer to buyer – they work their way to the bottom of the funnel. Gathering data using Google Analytics (or other digital analytics tools) helps you identify where your customers move from gawker to consumer.
Smart Insights reports an average 3.3 percent transaction rate from total sessions on your eCommerce site. That means for every 100 viewers, only about 3 people take action by clicking “purchase.”
The Daily Egg identifies four stages of a conversion funnel as:
- Awareness – This is your hook, just a few seconds to catch their attention with an ad, image, video, or compelling copy. “Oh, that looks interesting.”
- Interest – Prospects will spend a few more minutes engaging by watching a longer video, clicking on your website, or scrolling through your social media feed. “I want to know more.”
- Desire – To get them to this stage, show the customer how your product or service solves a problem. Don’t talk up the features, but the direct benefits to the customer says The Daily Egg. Include a call to action. “Is your digital storage a disaster? Hire XYZ to preserve your precious memories.”
- Action – This is where the prospect loads their cart and clicks “buy.” Make sure your eCommerce site, call to action, or “get a quote” page is user-friendly. Customers tend to drop off easily if a page is cumbersome. In this phase, customers can also become advocates for your brand, as they provide word-of-mouth and online referrals.
How to Create Online Content that Converts
Start with quality content
For your hook, make sure your story is engaging, your product or service is clear, and you include language that solves a problem for your customer. Outbrain suggests finding:
- What common problems they encounter
- What frustrates them
- What gets them excited and happy
Use visuals – photos, gifs, videos, infographics – to grab attention. You don’t need expensive photoshoots or video campaigns to create content that converts. Personal is replacing professional-level production. Include a “call to action” whether it’s to view more products, sign up for your email list or a “buy now” button. Also, break up your text with subheadings and graphics. Finally, use SEO keywords in headers, paid and organic social posts, product descriptions, and throughout your webpage.
Read more: How to Write Content that Converts
Use both paid and organic social media
Hootsuite advises that using both paid and free social media marketing is a wise investment: “Paid and organic social are different beasts best harnessed for different goals.”
Organic, or free, social media includes the posts on your feeds like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. You’ll reach a percentage of followers (of your page or hashtags) and more broadly if they share your post. But there’s no guarantee that even all of your current followers will see your content due to tricky algorithms.
While there is an overlap of providing quality content that serves both new and current followers, the targeted nature of paid social media ads can exponentially increase your ROI if done well with the long-game in mind. Hootsuite offers this formula to calculate your social media return on investment: Value/investment (people hours, ad budget, etc.) X 100 = social media ROI (as a percentage).
Organic reach, however, has been steadily declining due to saturation, and paid social media (aka advertising) allows you to reach a larger, more targeted audience. For example, you can target ads based on geographic location or users who are following similar accounts to your business. If you want to test your ad copy or visuals, run A/B testing (aka split testing) before a bigger spend to see what generates more leads. Paid social allows you to connect with new customers who are not already following your page.
Read more:
Organic vs. Paid Social Media: How to Integrate Both into Your Strategy
Beginner’s Guide to Successful Facebook Ads
How to Create a Cost-Effective Instagram Ads Funnel: 4 Tips
Gather contact information & optimize email marketing
Ensure your website offers an easy way for customers to provide their email address. This moves them down the funnel from “aware” to “interested.” Offering a freebie – like a discount, free shipping, a quiz, or a download – can help you capture more email contacts while gauging which ones generate the most interest.
When emailing your list, Crazy Egg suggests appealing to all stages of the funnel to cater to your whole audience. Some on your list may be repeat customers, while others have never purchased a product. Offer education, value, and a path to purchase in your email marketing. Segment and do split tests to see what resonates.
Read more:
8 Effective Tips to Get More Email Subscribers by Increasing Conversions
How to Grow Your Email List With Facebook Ads
Create valuable website content
While data and experimentation are vital to a robust marketing strategy, quality content continues to be king. Like social media, your website needs to have four important elements: a clear product or service, a problem solved, a call to action, and an easy way to contact you (bonus: a non-fussy form to collect their contact info).
Ecommerce sites specifically need on-page optimization for your buyers. Your sales pages should also include SEO keywords, not only your About pages. Additionally, using internal links to other pages on your site with compelling text keeps them on your site. Tell your story in a variety of ways, use exciting clickable language and provide a clear path for interaction.
Read more: The Most Effective Ecommerce Lead Generation Tips and Strategies
From paid social media to email marketing and landing pages, Threadgill Agency can help your business boost your digital marketing strategy that converts onlookers to customers. Together, we can create valuable, SEO-driven content that connects with your clients, then analyze what’s working and what’s not. Read about our client successes and contact us to begin your digital marketing strategy session today.