A Lesson On Email Marketing And Purchase Behavior

I recently started focusing again on email to help me spread the word and ultimately take my marketing to the next level.  I was introduced to a concept by an industry leader many years ago that I want to share with all of you in today’s post.  

The concept is called the “purchase decision process” and was taught to me by a leader in direct marketing.  Essentially the concept is simple, understand enough about your prospects buying behavior to map out the process they go through when making a purchase.  For example, where do your customers start the purchase process?  Research? Referrals? What happens next?
 
Email is a great way to learn about the purchase decision process of your niche as well as take advantage of it for the benefit of prospect and company.  What I mean is that if you can help consumers by laying out a process they are comfortable with and prefer, you will experience less resistance when attempting to make a sale.
 
Likewise, your prospect will actually enjoy the process of evaluating your offer and making a purchase.  This provides a win-win for both parties and can significantly influence conversion rates.  Some tips I can share with you are:

1.     Capture email information at the beginning of your online conversion process.  When individuals bail out of your funnel, auto send an email with an opportunity to contact you about their interrupted purchase and give them a way to easily return to where they left.
 
2.    Create a follow up communication plan that moves them through the purchase decision process one step at a time.  The follow up emails do not have to be numerous, just aligned to their purchase process.
 
3.    Test your creative, offers, purchase process communications, and so on.  Continually work to improve conversion rates.
 
If you think about the purchase decision process of your prospects, can you clearly identify each step?  If not, spend some time thinking about the process and how you can help consumers move through that process quickly.
 
Set up auto-responders that take advantage of your knowledge from the moment users abandon your site.  Capture email address up front in order to make this viable.  Follow these simple rules and you’ll see site conversions improve.