|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
The Art of Being Human
This isn't the first time I have written about the benefits of inserting a human voice or presence into your online communications. And I make no excuse for writing about this again. Site visitors crave the sense that someone is there, within and behind your Web pages, your emails and newsletters. Dealing with the bare technology of online interactions is a cold experience for many, or even most of us. It makes us feel anxious. Technology isn't warm. It has no heart. It neither understands us, nor cares for us. For many Web sites, whether for businesses or organizations, we simply plug in and play the bare technology - the super-duper means of information delivery. All the site visitor sees and feels is the design, the interface, the links and the clicks. The experience is about as warm and human as banking with an ATM machine. And then we sit in our expensive offices and wonder why it is that we get such terrible conversion rates on our sites, why so few people continue to open our emails or read our newsletters. Well, perhaps it's because we're bringing an 'ATM' style to the most interactive, vibrant, networked, warm and essentially human communications space imaginable. But what if you enabled your visitors to catch just a faint scent of humanity in your site? What if you did a few small things to show that your business is more than just a cold room, filled with servers? What if you showed that the heart of your business is about people, and not technology? Would that be such a bad thing? In fact, it would be a very good thing. Your readers, prospects and customers will feel relief, they will smile, feel reassured. And they are more likely to sign up, to register, to buy and come back. Can I prove this? No, not with certified, verified figures, charts and signed affidavits. But I have corresponded with and listened to so many business people who know very well how 'being there' and 'being human' has helped them online. They have seen how conversion rates, sales and levels of customer loyalty can rise and fall in response to the level of 'humanity' expressed through their sites. Here are a few, very simple examples of how different businesses have sneaked a little humanity into their sites and emails. - A second level page at 1800Flowers.com features a photo of the CEO Jim McCann, and a personal message to his customers. (You might consider this to be an unoriginal and mundane idea. Well, do you have an equivalent page on your site? Would it harm you to give it a try?) - At iQVC.com you can see how they have included images of and short messages from a variety of hosts and experts. (Are you too cynical to believe that visitors can really relate to paid 'hosts'?) - At Foolmart.com they use simple words and phrases that tell you right away that a 'real' person wrote that content. Have a look at the text for their Customer Service Pledge. See how the word 'leap' and the phrase 'burning questions' transforms this from corporate-speak to something very human and a lot more credible. It's not hard to take a few steps that will add a sense of humanity to your sites, emails and newsletters. You can do this with images, a few carefully chosen words or a combination of the two. And if that works for you, take an audit of all your online communications. Take a look at all the places where you could add a more human voice. Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his www.excessvoice.com/archive.htm">Excess Voice site. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his www.freelancewritingsuccess.com/">Freelance Writing Success site.
MORE RESOURCES:
|
 |
|
|
When Do You Ask For A Refund? Have you ever asked to have your money refunded after buying something online? Do you do this often? What are the reasons you've asked for refunds? Savvy marketers will try to find out why without making you feel you should not have asked. This would be valuable information to them. The Check is in the E-mail Have you ever had someone who owed your business money say, "the check is in the mail." Well now there is an answer to that old tired way of brushing you off and not seeing that check come in the mail week after week after week. Web Store - Why Do You Need One? Internet has opened a new era of business opportunities. Each day, thousands of new consumers are joining the Internet. Electronic Commerce Tax Jurisdiction and Principles of Permanent Establishment The principle of "permanent establishment" is very important for avoidance the conflict of law of matter connected imposition of taxation. In the absence of a permanent establishment, a country where goods or services are sold has no jurisdiction to tax the resulting profits. Drop-Shipping - A Great Way of Making Money Online Using the Internet to sell products and services to ever increasing number of net users is a good way to start your own business. If you are not taking advantage of this great opportunity you are just missing the boat! Consider this: e-commerce, contrary to popular believe, is thriving and increasing at a double digit growth rate. Electronic Commerce and WTO The Internet may not be useful for all businesses, nor do all have to develop an Internet information strategy. Some businesses are concerned with the start-up costs of connecting such as purchasing hardware and software, subscribing to an Internet connection or service provider, and training staff. 10 Reasons To Survey Your Visitors, Subscribers And Customers 1. To find out what type of content visitors want to see on your web site. Working With Drop Shippers Drop Shippers, the manufacturers or distributors who are willing to ship their products to your customers, bring a powerful benefit to ecommerce. Online businesses that engage in the wholesale-retail trade can cut down on all the hassles of shipping their products by simply establishing business relationships with drop shippers, and using them as part of their business model. Beginner Ecommerce Mistakes This is a short article because in the constraints of time and space preclude me from writing a 10 page article. Recently i built a ecommerce web site titled Cynscorion Products that sells knifes. Accept Credit Cards Online Without A Merchant Account It is often assumed if you want to accept credit cards on your website that you must have a merchant account. This is not the case. Do You Need A Merchant Account? Deciding when to get your own merchant account for internet sales can be a confusing and expensive venture. If you have a small to medium sized business and only sell a small amount of products then having your own merchant account may not be the answer for you. Something new in e-commerce: the Echo System Build How four partners build and manage an exclusive art posters web site by emulating the way the echo works. Imagine a top-notch photographer, some demanding visitors and an e-commerce site that wants to make money. The Internet Challenge In spite of the increasing attention on how the Internet is changing the business landscape, many small business owners are still struggling to understand its influence. But unlike the ceaseless blinking of the home VCR, the impact of the Internet cannot be ignored. 6 Steps to Attracting Black Customers Online by Jamila White, "The E-Commerce Diva"In the rush to keep up with technology, many African-American business owners are so busy trying to add the latest bells and whistles to their Web sites, get to the top of the search engines, and learn the latest database technology that they often forget this simple fact: people do business with other *people*, not computers. Understanding the importance of relationships is key to attracting African-American buyers online. Saving Money On Your E-commerce Site After building and transferring many e-commerce sites it still amazes me that owners of e-commerce businesses are still wasting money in three basic ways. For fear of stating the obvious, saving money is the same as making money $100 saved is $100 added to your profit margin. How Measuring Key Performance Indicators Can Improve E-Commerce Strategy - Part Two Why time spent on your site is importantAll websites regardless of type should measure this KPI, simply because all websites can use it as a gauge to see how compelling their offers are as well as check web site performance. It doesn't matter whether you're running a content portal or an e-commerce sales operation, time spent on your pages is an important metric to measure. Website Marketing: 10 Resourceful Things You Can Do With A Product That Doesnt Sell Do you have any product that has not been moving well?Would you like to learn what to do with it?Here are website marketing secrets to help you:1. Sell the reprint/reproduction rights to the product. E-Gold E-gold is a digital currency, used extensively on the Internet for making payments in exchange for goods and services.It is one of the first digital e-currency providers, having started in 1996. Online Merchant Account - Costs and Alternatives Merchant Account BasicsA Merchant Account is a commercial bank account established by a merchant to receive payment via credit cards. Three parts are required to accept credit cards. How To Accept Credit Cards Without a Merchant Account To increase sales on your website, you must accept credit cards. To process credit cards, you could apply for a merchant account through your bank or other financial institution.
|
|||||||||||||
| Interesting sites: site map - express lån- Rejse information- |
UBB Webdesign.com © 2008