DAY #12: ACCESSIBILITY MAKES YOU REAL (AND IMPROVES SALES)
Customers want to buy from companies they can trust. Companies they feel like they have a connection with. Companies that they feel they can reach out to. Companies that are there for them if the customers run into an issue. That’s why improving your accessibility will also improve your sales.
Being accessible tells consumers that your company is run by real people. They know that if they need to resolve a problem, they can just pick up the phone and call or email for help.
Try it, contact us 🙂
So, how do you improve your website’s accessibility?
Have a Prominent Phone Number
Add a phone number to your banner. Make it large, make it visible.
Many websites find that just adding a phone number can boost their sales by as much as 30%. For example, TheFlowr.com found that by adding a phone number, they boosted their opt-in from 46.04% to 53.96%. That’s a 17% increase! Not to mention a .5% boost in conversion rate.
If you don’t want to give your personal phone number out, talk to your phone company to see if you can get an inexpensive secondary line added strictly for incoming calls. There are also companies like Google that offer a phone/voice mail type service. With Google, you have a phone # assigned to you and can have it redirected to your phone or your assistant’s phone during certain hours. Then have it go to voice mail in the evenings. Customers dial your custom Google phone # and never see your real number.
Here’s the surprising thing about adding a phone number: people don’t actually call all that often. Yes, of course you’ll see an increase in phone calls. But more importantly, even the people who don’t call will buy more often. Just having a phone number on your site builds trust. It makes people more inclined to buy, even if they never dial that number.
Make the “Contact Us” Page Easy to Find
Businesses often place FAQs before the contact page to reduce customer service inquiries. This is a great strategy – as long as it’s still easy to reach a human being.
Make sure the “Contact Us” page is easy to find from anywhere on your site. Once they’re on the contact page, make sure it’s easy for them to initiate an inquiry. It’s okay to also have answers to frequently asked questions on the page, but make sure the contact form or email is easy to find as well.
Live Chat and Support
Finally, if you run a high volume website, consider testing a live chat setup. People often mistakenly think it costs a lot of money to setup such a system. In truth, these systems make money.
Generally speaking, 10% to 40% of people who initiate a chat will end up buying. The chat boxes can be big drivers of conversions. Yes, the service costs money, but the increase in conversions more than pays for the service’s costs.
If you have a high volume website, try running a small test with live chat to see whether or not it boosts sales. If so, scale up the system. Most live chat services will have people on staff to which you can pass off the actual answering of questions. You don’t have to staff it internally.
Always Respond Within 24 Hours
With the exception of holidays and weekends, always respond to inquiries within 24 hours. Hire more support staff if you find it difficult to respond quickly. Consider it a marketing expense. High quality service will result in more purchases in the long run.
Make your website accessible. It boosts sales. It builds goodwill. Plus, it’s just plain good business practice.
Your Assignment
- Make yourself more accessible.
- Add a contact page, phone number or live chat.
- Check the location of these items to ensure they are in highly visible places.
- If you don’t have time to manage additional support, hire an assistant to help.
- Start working on improving your response time.
- Even if you currently respond within 24 hours, are there other ways you can improve your support responses.
What We’ve Covered
Day #1: Examine Your Audience and Your Core Offer
Day #2: Optimizing Your Call to Actions
Day #3: Improve Your Lead Forms and Increase Signups
Day #4: Your Headline – Your Page’s Most Important Sentence
Day #5: Keep Attention With Strong Transitions
Day #6: Web Design Tips for Better Conversions
Day #7: Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment by Improving Your Checkout
Day #8: Boost Conversions by Managing Expectation and Relevance
Day #9: Master the Art of Creating Urgency
Day #10: Use Video to Boost Trust and Conversions
Day #11: Add Social Proof to Your Sales Process
Day #12: Accessibility Makes You Real (and Improves Sales)
Coming Up Next
Day #13: Tailoring Your Guarantee and Return Policy
Day #14: Getting Started With A/B Split Testing
Day #15: More Ideas for Better Conversions