Responsive Messaging 101: Your Guide To Converting Attention to…
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Digital Marketer
Marketing Strategist
Content Writer
Struggling to increase your website conversions? Here’s a comprehensive guide on how you can lead your customers down the path to purchase seamlessly and efficiently.
Responsive Messaging 101 SW Original Handbook
So, you’ve got a website that’s getting steady traffic. Great!
But why is it not converting?
For context, effective websites average at a conversion rate of 2.35% to 5.31%, regardless of the industry.
How do you achieve this?
The equation is pretty simple:
Conversation-based marketing funnel + Responsive messaging = Conversion
Easy, right?
The challenge now lies in implementing the steps that will quantitatively convert attention to sales.
CHAPTER 1:
Understanding The Conversation-based Marketing Funnel
Marketing funnels are generally visual representations of your online sales process. It’s your virtual path to purchase. Like this one:
Source: Arthur Nicodemus Borges
A conversation-based marketing funnel is more specific. It provides target audiences a more personal experience by implementing meaningful conversations at each stage of the buying process.
The goal, however, remains the same. You want customers to purchase. The sooner, the better. And this funnel is designed to do just that.
In the illustration below, you’ll notice how conversations bridge the gap between each of the five stages of the funnel.
Let’s break this down:
Connection
When a potential customer realizes they need something (aka a pain point), their first course of action is to go online – usually via a Google search or through social media.
For instance, you are a writer (or a marketer), and this is your pain point:
This is called a contextual search.
As an online entrepreneur offering services that can address this pain point, you want to be on top of the results for searches like this.
There are a couple of ways to go about it, but one key thing you can do is optimize your web content.
Optimizing your web content means making your content more appealing to search engines, and consequently, to people, aka potential customers.
You can use strategic keywords on your site’s page title and meta descriptions. Or you can write pillar content (a long and thorough blog post) that addresses your target market’s pain points. (This assumes you’ve profiled your customers and you understand their behavior. More on that later, so keep reading.)
So, if you have optimized content and end up in these search results, your potential customers will discover your website, ads, or social media posts. Now you’ve established a connection.
Attention
Now that they’ve found you, they will refer to your website, blog, or social channels for a solution.
If they like what they find and their concern is addressed, then you have their attention.
Of course, you want to keep this attention. And you do this through relevant and high-quality content. We call this responsive messaging. (Again, more on this later.)
Following our earlier example, your solution would be to teach them how to create more compelling copy. It can be in the form of a blog post or a how-to video with concise messaging like:
“Tired of your usual copywriting that doesn’t seem to convert?
Revisit your buyer persona and make sure there is an audience-messaging fit.”
And when you do, don’t just stop at one or two posts or videos. Pique their attention and keep the conversation going. You can:
Provide avenues where your customers can interact with each other, such as forums; or
Create surveys or quizzes that can help assess their specific needs and help you help them.
Interest
At this point, it’s safe to say that you have their interest.
Now is your chance to convert them into a marketing-qualified lead (MQL). An MQL is a lead who has engaged with you and could become a customer if managed correctly.
You can do this by getting them to sign up for your newsletter. If they take you up on it, your next step is to send them an email nurturing sequence on messaging, customer-centricity, and audience-messaging fit.
This would ideally last for 2 to 3 months, at the end of which they should be inquiring about your done-for-you (DFY) service.
Once they’ve inquired about a DFY service, you can quickly link them to a landing page discussing a related (and value-adding) service that you offer.
This is the path to converting them into a sales-qualified lead (SQL). An SQL is someone ready to talk to your sales team.
Here is an example of newsletter content that addresses a topic of interest for our above-mentioned imaginary writer (or marketer):
While this is ongoing, you should have a social media campaign that directs them to existing and relevant conversations across social channels you own.
It will make them feel part of a community where they are seen, heard, and valued.
Purchase
If you have an actively engaged customer, then it’s time to make that final push to purchase.
You need to drive them back to your website and lead them to the landing page that discusses your products and services and, if applicable, packages.
Be as transparent as you possibly can. Make it easy to purchase your product or service. And specify everything that they can expert post-purchase.
Going back to our customer above, here is an example of a website that provides crystal clear explanation, specific details, and a compelling call-to-action:
This is how you practice customer-centricity and responsive messaging at the point of purchase.
Of course, this is not the end. After purchase, your next priority is after-sales support.
It’s natural for new customers to have plenty of questions, and you must be readily available to answer these questions and support them at every step of the way.
Some helpful hints:
Be responsive on social media.
Include a contact form or a live chatbox on your website.
Ensure that email inquiries are answered at least within 24 hours.
Remember: The quality of customer support they receive will determine whether or not they will become repeat customers and, in the long run, brand advocates.
Repeat Purchase
They’ve purchased from you, and they loved it!
They are now more likely to repeat a purchase.
According to Alex Schultz, Facebook’s VP of Growth, the average repeat purchase rate is 20% to 30% of customers every month. Although the numbers may vary depending on your industry, this can serve as a benchmark for measuring your conversation-based marketing funnel’s success.
The great thing about repeat purchases is that it gives you guaranteed sales but with far less effort required.
All you have to do is nurture your relationship with your newly won customers – through good old, excellent customer service, and responsiveness.
You’ll notice that we’ve been talking about responsive messaging in all of these stages, which is what the chapter is all about.
CHAPTER 2:
Responsive Messaging
First off: What is responsive messaging?
As the name suggests, it is a communication approach that revolves around your customer by prioritizing their needs and interests.
It is also commonly called customer-centric messaging because it aims to create a strong connection between your target clients and your brand. You want them to pay attention, engage, purchase, and become repeat customers.
It applies to all marketing touchpoints, especially your online assets – from website and blog to social channels and e-mail.
But why is responsive messaging so important, you ask?
Simple. Because it drives conversion!
If you have a genuinely engaged customer, they are more likely to go through the whole conversion process we’ve tackled above.
Here’s an example of responsive messaging that targets our earlier model – the writer (or marketer) who needs help with compelling content.
Look at the way Alex manages feedback. He responds to it in a simple and engaging way, not copy-pasted from a template.
It’s this kind of engagement that keeps potential customers hooked to what you are offering.
But does it work?
Yes, it does!
According to Deloitte, customer retention drastically increased as 80% of customers become loyal to a responsive brand. In comparison, companies that practice a customer-centric approach become 60% more profitable compared to businesses that do otherwise.
How do you become customer-centric?
When we talk about responsive messaging, we emphasize the importance of being customer-centric.
But what does it mean? Is it just a marketing buzzword people throw around to sound like they genuinely care?
Well, not really. Essentially, it means putting your clients at the core of your business.
But isn’t that what everyone is trying to do anyway?
Yes – but not everyone is successful at doing it.
Many businesses say this in their mission-vision statements or ‘About Us’ descriptions, but in reality, it doesn’t always reflect at an operational level.
In the truest sense of the word, customer-centricity means creating a positive experience for your customers from the moment they find your content on search engines or social media up to the completion of your service.
When it comes to messaging, it means creating content that is tailored to your audience.
Specifically, it means creating a customer-centric messaging strategy following these three steps.
Build your customer’s profile.
Visually, it looks something like this:
What do you need to consider to be able to create a customer-centric message?
There are three primary elements you need to consider to come up with a successful customer-centric messaging strategy.
First is, of course, the customer’s profile.
Try to ask the following questions:
Who are they?
What do they believe in?
What do they need and want?
What are their common challenges?
To help you get started in coming up with a concrete idea of who your customers are, you may refer to this infographic:
Source: SocialMediaToday
If you have been in business for a few years, you can initiate profiling your past customers– whether they became loyal clients or just tried out your services once, to see what they have in common and start from there.
But if you are just starting to promote your business, go easy and start by listening first. You can use forums, social media groups, or websites, such as Reddit and Quora, to get a good grasp of what your target customers discuss.
Once you have collected and analyzed the information, you can define their pain points and interests. From here on out, you can plot the topics for your content across all marketing platforms.
Examine your brand and identify your unique selling points.
By answering these questions, you can refine your messaging to align with your customer’s needs. It establishes a direct connection between their search queries and your content.
It also makes your points of conversation with your potential customers more straightforward because you can come from a place of genuine understanding. You’re not randomly churning out information that has no value for your customers.
Using a Venn diagram, here’s how it would look if you mapped it out:
Source: Shopify
Assess where the market is headed.
News flash: Customers evolve. So do their needs, challenges, and preferences.
As a business owner or marketer, you can’t predict the future, but you can gain a clearer view of what could be the next trends in your industry with enough information.
This is how you stay customer-centric – by anticipating their needs before they even express them via another Google search.
CHAPTER 3:
Customer Intelligence
Customer intelligence is the process of collecting and examining your customer’s information and behavior. This helps you build your customer profile, which you need for your customer-centric strategy.
In this process, you ask basic questions which we often tend to ignore in our eagerness to sell:
Who are they? What do they do for work? What industry are they in? Where do they live? What do they like?
Knowledge is power – and the more you know, the better equipped you are to be responsive and customer-centric.
Customer intelligence is a crucial pillar of responsive messaging, and consequently, of conversion.
It gives you a rational basis for determining your audience’s needs and interests. Without it, you may come off as raw or, worse yet, vague. You’ll miss out on the first stage of the conversion funnel, which is connection. And without it, you’re less likely to progress to the most crucial stage, which is the purchase.
Fun fact: Businesses that have successful customer intelligence can increase their conversions by 150% as they can make more sound, data-driven decisions.
How, then, do you build a successful customer intelligence database?
Collect data.
If you’ve been in business for a while now, then you may have enough to start with. Otherwise, you can always begin with a ‘quick survey.’
This survey should ask basic questions like why they availed of your products or services, how they learned about you, and feedback on the quality of your services, and so on. This is called direct feedback.
Incentivize their effort to encourage participation. Offer free delivery on the next purchase or a chance to win a gift card in a raffle.
Another easy way to collect data is via social media or review sites. This is called indirect feedback. These platforms provide raw and valuable insights.
Here’s a visual representation of what data collection might look like for you:
Map your customer’s journey.
Walk a day in your customer’s shoes (figuratively, of course) by mapping their journey to your brand. The visual output of this process is called a customer journey map.
Here’s how it may look:
Customer journey maps are an effective way to summarize and digest your customer intelligence data. It usually has six steps:
Need Trigger – the first step in which the customer realizes that they have a challenge which needs external support to address
Exploration / Research – customers look into possible solutions for their challenges through blogs, social media, and news articles
Shopping – they start delving deeper into finding sources that can help solve their pain points and start seeking professional advice or participate in discussions with fellow marketers or business owners who are facing similar challenges
Preparing for Consumption – comes up with new learnings that help them realize what they have been doing wrong
Consumption – they now have a new insight on what they should do to improve their situation and address their current pain points
Post-consumption – they may possibly join more forums, webinars, and get further into the available resources to increase their knowledge on the solutions to their challenges
This map gives you an idea of how the customer’s mind works. It helps you understand where you can come in to add value as an expert.
Analyze.
Once you have enough information, it’s time to analyze.
How you translate, and process data will form the basis of your sales and marketing strategies.
Many companies use data analytics tools to speed up their analysis process while ensuring that all information collected is accounted for and considered objectively. These tools can also identify patterns and automatically segregate customer groups based on their feedback.
Of course, you can also go the manual route. The downside is that it can be time-consuming, and there is always the risk of getting too emotionally involved.
Another way to go about this is to outsource a consulting agency that can digest your data and provide you with an unbiased and thorough analysis of your customers’ profiles.
Develop the insights.
These insights will guide your decision-making process throughout the entire funnel, from connection to conversion.
Insights should be actionable and adaptable to marketing tactics.
Important note: Insights are not set in stone. You can, and should, continuously develop and strengthen them as you go along and learn more about your customers.
What happens when you have solid customer intelligence?
You make informed and data-driven decisions.
Hit and miss strategies can use up time and resources, and worse, cause businesses to fail.
You can tailor-fit strategies for different customer segments.
It’s as if you are speaking to them directly. And this makes them feel connected and engaged.
You get happy and satisfied customers.
Don’t you just love it when a business gets you? Doesn’t it make you want to purchase again (and probably more this time) and convince your friends to do the same? This is the effect of customer intelligence done right.
You build a loyal customer base.
Customer retention is a common challenge among small businesses because of the many options available to customers in the market. Everyone wants to try the next most interesting-looking product or service. However, customer intelligence has proven to become a great strategy in improving customer loyalty.
By practicing a customer-oriented strategy from the point of connection down to the after-sales service, your clients are most likely to purchase from you again.
You drive conversion.
Customer Responsive messaging derived from customer intelligence drives purchase and repeat purchase. They also improve referral rate, which is another stream for new business. In fact, you will note that personal product recommendations from past clients can improve your conversion rate by 150%.
CHAPTER 4:
Your Website As The Primary Marketing Tool
If you’ve come this far, it’s safe to say that you understand how important your website is.
And, the reason you’re still reading is that you want to improve it and maximize its ability to convert customers.
We all understand what a website does.
It heralds your online presence. It establishes your credibility as a legitimate business and as a source of reliable information. It lets you reach a global audience. It’s where your successful SEO tactics bring prospective customers to. It’s basically your online store/headquarters.
But how can my website convert more customers?
There are two significant factors to consider: copywriting and user flow.
Copywriting
How you “write” your website determines your potential customer’s level of engagement and interest.
Remember why they are there in the first place: They need help with something, and you have a solution.
It’s essential to have a clear and straightforward headline that will trigger the initial connection and encourage them to click on your website from among your competitors.
Once they are in, they will most likely be directed to your landing page.
The landing page is the first point of interaction you will have with your potential customers, and you have approximately a split second to grab hold of their attention.
You have to ensure that your landing page copy immediately addresses the specific challenge that they searched for. Otherwise, there’s a big chance that they will abandon your page and look elsewhere.
Here’s what an attention-grabbing landing page looks like:
As they navigate the rest of your website’s pages, your copy will drive the narrative.
It should tell your story, share relevant insights, clearly explain your products and services, and end with a compelling call to action. More importantly, it should be simple and easy to digest, so easy that even those who have no idea about what you offer will get it.
The tone should be just as precise – tailored to your target audience. A conversational approach is always best. The last thing you want is to intimidate potential customers.
User Flow
Customers want a seamless experience when browsing through your website, which is good user flow matters.
A user flow represents the path your potential customers may take to complete a task on your website. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a purchase. It could be sending a message via the contact form or subscribing to your newsletter.
Through strategic copy, the user flow will guide them from the landing page and through the rest of your website’s sections. The goal is to keep them on track and not lose them on your website while browsing or purchasing a product.
Your website’s conversion rate relies on how efficient your user flow is.
This is how it might look when mapped out visually:
Creating a user flow is like predicting how your customers will navigate your website. There should be no dead-ends or roadblocks that might discourage them from going any further. These small breaks in the process can create friction. And friction can lead to abandonment.
Now, it’s time to do a customer-centricity check on your website. Here are three fundamental questions for self-reflection:
Does my website speak to my target audience?
If you’ve done your customer intelligence work, the answer is probably ‘yes.’
Your website copy should be tailored to the customer you’ve mapped out during the customer journey process. Happy customers bring new leads to your conversion funnel, and it all starts with responsive messaging.
Does my user flow support my sales process?
Your user flow should help your marketing funnel as much as it supports your content. Keep in mind that the end goal is to convert visitors into (long-term) customers.
It might not always be a direct path, but it should always lead to the same outcome – promote purchase.
Is my website designed with the user in mind?
Before launching or relaunching your website, you will need to run multiple tests to experience what your potential customers will go through personally.
CHAPTER 5:
Let's Do It!
A quick wrap-up of everything we’ve covered so far.
To successfully convert customers, our mantra is responsive messaging. And responsive messaging is borne out of a customer-centric strategy.
To formulate this strategy, you need to build customer intelligence, create good user flow on your website, and follow the conversation-based marketing funnel.
Something like this:
So, How Does This All Apply To Me?
We know that businesses have different objectives and target markets, driven by many factors. No one strategy applies to all.
We know that the primary goal in digital marketing is always to increase conversion rates – whether you are targeting more purchase completions or more sign-ups and leads.
Now that we’ve given you the rudimentary tools to start or revamp your digital marketing strategy, it’s time for some self-audit to see what or how much work needs to be done.
It’s a detailed process, but you don’t have to go through it alone.
If you need more help creating a highly converting website through responsive messaging strategies, get in a FREE discovery call with us! We’ll see how we can help address your needs in converting your customers’ attention to sales.
You may also subscribe to our blog and newsletter to get notified of our latest content to help you achieve your digital marketing goals.
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Posted May 20, 2024
Wrote this original content on Responsive Messaging, which is available as downloadable PDF and pillar content on the soxialweb.com website.
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