Best Buy's Personas Irritate Blogger

I was recently pointed to a post from March on The Consumerist stating that Best Buy was behaving poorly by developing personas of their most profitable buyers.

Those of us that know the power of Personas won't be surprised that Best Buy does this. In fact, I wondered what took them so long.

Read my take on the "controversy" and view their personas on the NEW Conversion Scientist blog.

Best regards,

P.S. Did you get a chance to check out the ConversionCast? Do you want a ConversionCast done of your home page or landing page? Simply submit your page and we'll let you know.

Our Newest Experiment in Conversion: The ConversionCast

Technology and opportunity can create an exothermic reaction.

When you're in the science business, things can get quite dull for long periods of time. Much of the time, you're just waiting for an experiment to end, washing test tubes, or inhaling the fumes from the Nitrous Oxide experiment.

And then WHAM. You mix a couple of ingredients just right and you're scrambling for the fire extinguisher. What is left behind is often a ball of melted glass and metal.

But, on rare occasions what is left is something of beauty and usefulness.

Such is the case with the ConversionCast. By carefully combining one part Live Conversion Review and one part screen capture software, and several crayons, I've created an explosive mixture resulting in the passing of knowledge at an alarming rate.

Our first ConversionCast is up. It isn't perfect, but we'll get there. After all, I'm a scientist.

P.S. The ConversionCast is hosted on the New Conversion Scientist blog. What do you think?

Win Customers by Filling in the Blanks

When we don't anticipate our visitors' needs and only present features and benefits on our site were asking them to fill in the blanks about how our solution solves their problem.

Every visitor is trying to solve a problem. Period.

Tell your visitors how they will will solve their problems with your product, and they will turn into buyers.

Your competitors are afraid to do this. In this post were going to explore some new ways of looking at your visitors so that you can speak to their problems.

You Don't Have To Solve All Problems

Businesses are afraid to talk about specific problems because afraid they might miss some. The thinking is, "we can't anticipate every need so we will let the reader figure out."

So, is it your decision to solve nobody's problems because you can't solve them all?

Be Smart About Who You're Targeting

Since you can't solve everybody's problem you've got to be smart about whose problems you are going to address. Here are some questions that will help you select the right customers to target.

• What is the most common problem your visitors are trying to solve?
• Who are the most profitable prospects coming to your site?
• Who are the easiest to close?
• Which customers have the longest lifetime value?

Every business will have their own definition of the right customer. Of course you should only consider prospects that will be coming to your Web site.

If you can solve their problems, tell them

Now you can dive in and tell your visitors exactly how you're going to solve their problem. Don't ask them to fill in the blanks. Draw a clear line of reasoning between their problem and your solution. It's no longer necessary to simply describe your features and benefits. Tell them how your company is going to give them what they want at a price that is more than fair.

Don't Wimp Out

As you create content that is specific, compelling and invites people to act, you'll inevitably feel that you're being too specific. Don't wimp out. If you start to worry about what your less important visitors will think, you'll find yourself creating the mishmash of ineffective, unfocused content that will give you exactly what you don't want: more traffic for your competitors.

Your bravery in the face of specificity will pay off.

As this series progresses we'll talk about the tools you'll need to uncover your key visitors' stories and identify the content they'll need to feel confident taking action on your site. We'll also talk about how to avoid the organizational pitfalls that can lead to ineffective content.

Don't miss a post.

photo courtesy satty4u via sxc.hu

Let Joe the Plumber Give You Control of Your Site

John McCain gave us a powerful tool for making decisions that you can use to create a Web site that converts traffic to customers.

McCain introduced us to "Joe the Plumber" in the presidential debate this week. McCain used Joe to illustrate his debate points more clearly and effectively. So powerful was this device, that Barack Obama couldn't help himself. He began talking about Joe too.

Now everyone is talking about Joe the Plumber, using him to frame discussions and, ultimately, to help them choose how to vote.

In this post, I'm going to tell you why this tool -- called a Persona -- is so powerful, and show you how you can use your own Joes to pick the online strategies that work for your business.

It's Not About Demographics

When McCain introduced us to Joe the Plumber, he told us very little about him.

• Joe is a plumber. His name is Joe Wurzelbacher.
• Joe is male.
• Joe wants to buy the business he's been in for "all these years."
• Joe works ten to twelve hours a day.
• Joe had an encounter with Barack Obama.

How can an entire country relate to Joe the Plumber without detailed demographic data on him? We don't know any of the things that marketing consultants tell us we need. We don't know his age, ZIP code, marital status, family size, buying habits, or his boxer/briefs preference. Yet, today he is galvanizing discussions in the media, pundits and voting public.

How could you harness such power in your decision-making process?

Put Joe to Work on Your Web Site

Think about the customers that are most important to your business. Why are they coming to your Web site right now? What problem are they trying to solve?

When you know this, you know what they want from your Web site.

Add some more detail. Are they a man or woman? What do they do for a living? Are they in a hurry or will they take their time on your site?

Suddenly, all of the decisions that your Web site requires become much easier to answer.

Take a moment and picture one of the customers for your business.

What headings and offers would get their attention?

What kind of information would they trade their email address for?

Could your Web site provide a service to help them solve a problem?

Let Joe Give You Control of Your Web Strategy

Joe will help you avoid one of the biggest mistakes businesses make: letting the designer and Web developer create their site. You will be able to make many more decisions when you change the way you ask the questions.

For example, which of the following questions is most likely to result in the right decision?

"Should we do a blog?"

OR

"Would Joe read a blog if we had one? If so, what kind of content would he want to see?"

This puts the power back in your hands and ensures that the people creating your Web site deliver for your customers.

I'll show you how to create and fill out your own personas as this series progresses. Don't miss a post.

Next time we'll talk about why visitors to your Web site don't "get" what you're clearly telling them.

Photo courtesy johnnyberg via stock.xchng.

Is Your Site a Traffic Trampoline?

Do you hear it? "Boing, boing, boing boing." That is the sound of traffic bouncing off of your site. It's the sound of search advertising dollars jumping off into the ether. It is the sound of a Web site that doesn't convert traffic to leads and sales.

It is the sound of good prospects finding your competitors.

Don't worry. You can fix this, and with this series of posts, I'm going to tell you how. Stay tuned, and I'll show you how to:

• Know what kind of site your customers need
• Implement strategies that give visitors what they need
• Give you the best practices for converting visitors to customers

Your Site is Different

The first thing you need to realize is that your site isn't like every other site. Your customers don't want the same things from you that most Web sites offer. They're trying to solve a different problem.

Fortunately, I can tell you what pattern your Web site matches. From there it's relatively easy to know what you should be doing to keep visitors from bouncing like a bad email.

Finding Your Site Pattern

I'll spell it out for you here: There are five basic kinds of Web site, and I guarantee that your site fits into one of them. They are:

1. The Brochure or Sales Support Site

2. The Portal or Thought-leadership Site

3. The Classic eCommerce Site

4. The Considered Purchase Site

5. The Site is the Product Site

Do you know which of the five your site matches?

You Don't Get a Vote

The truth is, you can't know which type of site you should have because you don't get a vote. Your visitors determine what pattern you should follow. They're the ones trying to solve a problem. They're the ones who know what their looking for.

If you can put aside what you think you understand about your site for just little a while, you'll soon be given new eyes with which to make decisions. You'll soon understand what you need to do to stop that irritating sound.

Boing, Boing, Boing.

The Series Continues

I'll next talk about why your demographic research won't help, but show you what information you do need to understand your visitors.

Subscribe to this series now and you won't miss a post.

photo courtesy samagee85 via sxc.hu

Why Would This Site Have a High Conversion Rate?

Recently, a group of about 50 us got together and reviewed Web sites, looking for ways to increase their conversion rates. This was part of Laura Alter's regular Austin Internet Marketing Meetup.

It's a good group. Get on the list.

After working through five sites, the Radiosity 3000 site ended up having the best potential, in my opinion.

You wouldn't know it to look at it.

The site was built and is maintained by Mark Chutich, the owner of Radiosity and one of the guys who does installations. He's not well-versed in HTML nor design. He has no budget for the site. But, Mark has an advantage over his competitors: the knows his audience.

Here are some reasons Mark's site kicks ass.

No Lame Stock Photography

If your site relies on stock photography of anonymous, beautiful, happy people, you're just not trying hard enough. Most designers would call the stick house drawing on Radiosity3000.com "unprofessional," but it communicates all the ways that the product can be used at a glance.

As a responsible marketer, you can't really make the case that pretty, smiling strangers support your brand better than images that convey meaning--even if it isn't highly produced.

There is no better way to build your brand than to help people understand how they can solve their problems with your product.

Take a look at the image of this non-model reclining on a hot tin roof. This is probably the bookkeeper at Radiosity, and the picture was most likely taken with a point and shoot camera.

Does this one image leave any doubt in your mind about how well this product works?

Lots of Problem-solving Content

The site is flat as a board, and once you get past the home page, you will find an abundance information to help visitors make a decision.

For the property owner there are examples of how the product is used in roofs, walls and attics complete with pictures.

There is a "Contractor Page" that details what equipment is needed to apply the product. With FAQs, mixing instructions, and a list of retail outlets, visitors have the opportunity to move all the way through the buying process--from Awareness through Consideration, to Purchase.

Isn't this what we all want to happen?

Support for Conversion

For Radiosity, the purchase is made offline. For Radiosity3000.com, conversion occurs when the visitor contacts a contractor, or a contractor contacts a paint store that sells the product.

The site actively supports both.

In addition to a list of retailers that carry the product, the site offers a searchable database of installers indexed by ZIP code. That's right. Mark has a Web 2.0 SaaS (Software as a Service) site.

Be embarrassed if you don't offer something like this to your visitors.

Be glad you don't compete with Mark Chutich.

Focus Your Time and Budget

There are a number of things I would change about Mark's site. I am aware, however, that better copy and a more a professional design may actually reduce conversion. As a scientist, I can only hypothesize and test.

We're instrumenting Mark's site to see how well the site actually converts. Nonetheless, you have to question some of the decisions we make every day across the Web when designing our sites:

1. Design is the most important aspect of our site and is the place to start when building or revising.
2. We need a multi-tiered navigation scheme with fly-out menus.
3. It takes a big budget to create compelling images for our business.
4. Our Web site is a collection of pages, not an application.

The immediate ROI of knowing (and profiling) your visitors is that you don't spend your marketing budget on stuff that won't move the needle on conversion. I'm happy to introduce you to your visitors and help you decide where to invest.

P.S. Would you like me to review your site for blocks to conversion for free?