“Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you” – Mark Cuban
Most companies would have a wide range of products and or services, and would strive to ensure that they maintain high quality and provide top class customer service too. This should mean that the company would not need to convince customers to buy from them and not from its competitors, right. Wrong. The reality is that there are thousands of companies selling similar or even same products as your company. Hence, unless your company can ‘stand out’, potential customers would not convert to becoming actual customers. The fact is customers do not buy products because of the features – they buy when those features represent some long and short-term benefits for them. Moreover, these benefits should not be generic – they should be unique to your company. Products with generalized benefits can be bought from anywhere / any company in the market – so customers would not bother buying only from your company, but from your competitors too.
If a company is to convince customers to buy from them, it must offer what their competition cannot or does not offer – this forms the company’s unique selling proposition (USP). Every company needs a USP, which would be its ‘claim to fame’ and be the reason that customers would begin buying and continue buying, overstepping the competition. However, having a USP would not be enough unless a company can couple it by showing customers that there is immense benefit to them if they buy your products. It would necessary to consistently create awareness about and educate customers on the benefits and advantages of its products as opposed to and in excess of those offered by their competitors.
Along with benefits, to convince customers to buy from your company, to ensure that the quality of products and services is top class. Great quality speaks for itself, persuading people to buy more without too much effort from the company. In addition, customers would be happy enough to let others know of your company and its products – a great advertisement for your company – free of cost. The idea is not to leave your customers guessing about the benefits or the quality of your offerings – show it to them upfront and reduce the amount of effort they expend in doing business with you. A sure shot way to convince customers to buy from you and not from your competitors.
As news of your company and its offerings spreads, your company would be able to gain more customers faster. In addition, customers who are already using your company’s products would come back for more because the products delivered on the benefits they promised. The recall would be faster and more often, if the messages used to convey the benefits were simple yet lucid – free from jargon and yet drawing out emotions. While putting down a list of benefits, a company must remember that it should highlight only a few, since listing down too many could confuse and overwhelm customers. It is a known fact that ‘confused’ customers tend not to buy or choose a different company altogether to make an association.
In order to convince customers to buy from you and not from competitors, ensure that your company is completely transparent and honest in its dealings. There should be clear and adequate descriptions for products and or services, all costs revealed upfront, policies clearly mentioned, and every detail minutely specified, to enable customers to make informed decisions. Ensure that your company puts down everything that customers need to know in language that they will understand – free from superfluous words and exaggerations. Do not make promises that you cannot keep on a sustained basis – meaning that your company does not promise things simply to get them to buy the first time. When customers discover that the promises were only part of the initial ‘honeymoon phase’, they would become disillusioned enough to leave. Instead, a company must strive to build and sustain relationships with both the long-term and new customers and build a strong ‘army’ of brand ambassadors, who would take over the promotion of the company.
To convince customers to buy from you consistently, give them more than they expect or believe they can get. Everyone loves the surprises that bring them more than they asked for – and customers are no different. “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better”- Jeff Bezos. This is perhaps how every company must treat its customers – invoking those positive emotions, bring out exuberance and excitement, and making them feel truly special. When customers associate all these happy emotions with a brand, it becomes very difficult for competition to steal them away – irrespective of what they may do. To stand out and appear distinctive from the others, be thoughtful and constantly keep happy emotions stirred up in your customers. They will love you for it and would stick with you no matter what and be willing to pay even a premium for your company’s offerings.
As mentioned, clarity is extremely important in business relationships. There must be no grey areas – policies that usually appear clouded such as shipping, billing, return – must be spelt out and provided in written. These must be made available to the customers at the time of buying, posted on the company’s website, and each person in the company must have a copy of these terms and policies to avoid ambiguity and inconsistency when speaking with customers. If free shipping is something that would be important for a customer, ensure then that they get it if possible, else they must be told upfront that your company charges for the service. Do not let them guess or be in for any rude shocks, once they do make a purchase. Whatever the policies of your company, ensure that they are simple, easy to understand, and easily accessible – make it extremely simple for customers to buy from you, and they will stay with you for a very long time.
One of the most important things for customers when doing business with a company is that the information they share – which are usually personal details and confidential data – they expect that the company keeps this information secure and safe from misuse and being shared. This means that a company must have a solid and robust privacy policy, which must be shared with customers before they actually provide their details. Your company must inform them as to why your company requires the information, what it would be used for, and how your company will ensure its safety. If customers trust a company with their information, and invest time and money, they deserve to be taken care of and that their private information will remain within the confines of the company. A company that is unable to do so, leaves itself vulnerable to highly litigious situations, that do not end well for them – and so a privacy policy is not just meant to protect customers, but also ensures the safety and reputation of the company.
Whatever your company does and irrespective of the industry it operates in, it should be able to convince customers to buy its products by becoming a trustworthy and reliable ‘partner’ for them. When you can show your customers loyalty, they reciprocate with loyalty, profitability, and brand advocacy – the strongest pillars for the success of any company.
