If you are a small business owner marketing and selling your products or services online, trying to convert website visitors into customers, I have some shocking news for you. Keep reading to find out more…

You can invest heavily in your online marketing in terms of money, expertise, time and effort. You can build an attractive, eye-catching website. You can enjoy massive success getting traffic to your website. You can have persuasive, engaging written copy. You can have high-quality products and services.

But even if all of these things are true of your business, most visitors to your website, even if they are interested in what you have to offer, won’t do business with you after their first visit. They won’t contact you. They won’t buy from your online store. To convert website visitors into customers, you’ve got to do more that get them to your site one time.

Now they may sincerely want to make a mental note to check out your site again in the near future. But there’s a good chance they will then get distracted and forget all about you.

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring these folks in order to put all of your online marketing focus on the small percentage of your site visitors who want to buy right away. By focusing only on those visitors who want to buy now, you are costing your company a lot of sales, including repeat sales, now and in the long run.

So pay attention to those site visitors who are interested but, for whatever reason, don’t buy or contact you the first (or second, third, etc.) time they visit your site.

What can you do about this problem?

Let’s look at three options you have:

  1. Keep in touch with these not-yet-ready-to-buy visitors until they are ready
  2. Give them solid, persuasive reasons to contact you or buy now
  3. A mixture of 1 and 2

Didn’t Convert Website Visitors the First Time? Keep In Touch With Them.

As we’ve already discussed, for whatever reason or reasons, most visitors won’t buy the first time they land on your site. They may be hesitant to open up their wallets. They may not yet trust you. The problem they are looking to solve may not yet be so intense and uncomfortable that they are really motivated to take meaningful action now.

If they visit your site and don’t take action but intend to later, there’s a good chance they never will. They are busy. They’ll get distracted. They may choose one of your competitors. They may totally forget about you.

Don’t let this happen. Build TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness) in as many of these folks as you can. In other words, you want your solution to be the first one they think about when they think about taking action on their problem.

How do you build TOMA?

To build top of mind awareness, leverage the power of free, useful content. Make sure it’s content that, even if they never buy your product, offers them massive value.

Also, employ email marketing, social media engagement, online communities, and retargeting to remind them of you. Build trust and credibility and set the stage for that moment when they are ready to buy.

Give Them A Reason To Buy Now

Don’t assume that just because they aren’t ready to buy now that there is nothing you can do to persuade them to change their minds. Think about and implement ways to get them off center and make a decision now.

Ever heard the acronym “WIIFM?”? It stands for “What’s In It For Me?”. And it is exactly what your visitors are asking themselves as they consider buying from you.

So, in vivid, compelling terms, tell them what’s in it for them. Talk about how they will benefit when they buy from you. Paint a word picture in your copy that is so inviting and compelling that they deeply and passionately want to be part of it.

Give them specific reasons to act now instead of waiting indefinitely. For example, offer a special, discounted introductory rate for these “on-the-fence” potential customers. But build in a sense of urgency. Put an expiration date on your special rate and stick to it!

Kindly and subtly imply that they will miss out, and will regret it, if they don’t act now.

Stay In Touch? Get Them To Act Now? Why Not Both?

Want to really boost your success rates when it comes to converting these site visitors who don’t buy right away? We’ve talked about keeping in touch and top of mind with them. We’ve talked about persuasively convincing them to buy now.

Why not do both? Regularly contact them (don’t be a pest) with the twin goals of staying fresh in their minds and persuading them to act sooner rather than later.

Online marketing is a challenge, to say the least. You have lots of competitors trying to woo the same customers you are. Try these tips, and subscribe to our  blog digest to help you win more of them.

Happy Selling!

p.s. Whether you are trying to stay in touch with your visitors to capitalize on that time when they are ready to act, or you are trying to get them to change their minds and buy now, you need the right marketing software working for you.

You need to harness the power of marketing automation to help you grasp opportunities as they are presented. You need to create campaigns that help you nurture leads and give them massive value as you lead them to conversion. You need software that helps you keep marketing opportunities from slipping through the cracks. Find out more here.