March,
2010
Do you want
to build profitable relationships with your prospects and customers?
Well, in B2B there’s only one place to start. That’s with your offer.
Make an
offer your prospects simply cannot refuse - an offer that is so compelling they
stop what they’re doing right now to make that call, click on your link, or
fill out your response card.
But too
often, you see emails, web pages and letters that slip up on the tiny details.
And in direct response it’s the little steps that add up to the big
conversions, and serious ROI.
Try these
for starters:
Keep your offer simple
Stop your prospects
in their tracks by making your offer easy to understand at a glance. Think about when you look at an ad. You don’t
hang about, do you? Well, when you make an offer, your prospects respond in 1-2
seconds flat! Delay is your number one
enemy.
Avoid
offering your prospects too much choice. If you’ve got an industry report, a
white paper and a case study to offer, think about packaging them together as
an Information Kit. As well as sounding more enticing, tests prove that if you
offer three things separately, response goes down.
Try to make
everything easy on the eye. And I don’t mean neat and tidy. That’s a proven
response killer too. But make your title,
benefits and graphics nice and clear, and use bright colours that work. Why are
all the “Download Here” buttons red, orange or blue? Because they work!
Give your offer credibility
Not
long ago, a software client told me over the phone that he didn’t want any “Ra
Ra” copy on his website. “I’m not selling chocolate bars here,” he said.
Well,
quite right, I thought. You can say it about all B2B copywriting .Vague claims
of superiority simply don’t wash with a business audience.
That’s
why relevant information offers work so well in B2B. They add real value to a
business user’s daily life. They can relate to your prospect’s daily work
problems, help them do their jobs better, and sit on their desktops as
checklists they can refer back to.
This
is also why it’s always worth including testimonials in your offer promotions. They
create a halo effect around your offer because they come from respected third parties
and satisfied customers. Think of
testimonials as guarantees, doubly important on the page, where there’s no face
to face selling going on.
Engage your prospect with plenty of detail
Give your
prospects a reason to believe in your offer. In your promotion, don’t be afraid
to supply all the key details of your webinar speakers, or white paper content.
Fill it with all the benefits they will get for responding to your offer.
Above all,
keep on selling right to the end. After
all the hard work selling your offer the last thing you want is for your
prospects to bail out of your response card or landing page. They could get a
phone call, an incoming email, or they could simply get cold feet. Don’t let
them off the hook. Remind them of the key benefits of your offer.
Finally, always remind prospects they have nothing to lose by
responding to your offer. Make it easy to respond. Remove all obstacles. This is why we supply
business reply envelopes and make simple requests for basic data only on a landing
page.
Need
help with structuring and developing your next offers? Fire an email to simon.rudge2@virgin.net or give me a call on 020 8943 2472 during office hours. I’ll be
delighted to help.
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