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Online Sales: Creating a “soft close”.
By Administration | January 12, 2007
Article written for, posted, and indexed on www.wickedfire.com
This article is going to give some pointers on increasing your conversion through what’s known as a “passive sale”, “soft close”, or “passive close” in the sales industry. Though internet marketing is nothing like offline sales, there are certain elements of the traditional sales process that you can replicate online with great success.
Step One: Identifying Yourself as NOT a Salesmen
No one likes to be “sold”. When someone feels as if they were just “sold” on a product or service they are much more likely to experience buyers remorse, and if the product/service offers a refund policy they may even take advantage of it. Obviously, this is not good for your profit margins.Now, you want to create a persona for yourself that is both true, yet untrue at the same time. For example, if you were selling lawn care products, you may want to label yourself as a “Route Coordinator” as opposed to a salesman. This does a few things for you:
- It removes the “sales” feeling and image. This will make the buyer more likely to purchase, opt-in, or continue with the sales process.
- It gives you extra credibility, even if you don’t actually deserve it. The fact remains that you’re still a salesmen, but the customer doesn’t need (or want) to know that.Going back to our Route Coordinator example, you are still a salesmen (selling new lawn care contracts), but the customer sees you as doing the company and them a valuable service (perhaps offering a discount if they help you fill your route). You still get the sale, and the customer is less likely to feel “sold”.
- The customer will become more receptive as they are not in their “sales mode”, and are much more likely to actually listen to you. When you walk into a Best Buy and you are approached by a sales rep, what is the first reaction that you have? 99% of people immediately respond with “Just looking”, and some even leave. This is because they know that you are going to try and sell them something if you are the sales rep. Approaching them more passively, and saying something as simple as “Those are really fantastic TV’s, but I wouldn’t buy it right now. It’s a bit overpriced” opens the lines of communication, and creates a common ground between you and the consumer: they don’t want to pay too much, and you want to sell them something. If you can get them listening to you, that’s the first step.
We can apply those three points to internet marketing through our online tone and overall “feel” of our sales copy. When I am writing (for myself or for my clients) I try to emulate how I speak. I ask myself questions, such as “how would I react to this?” or “how would I want to be approached?” when I am writing.This style of writing is called “empathetic writing”. Writing this way keeps your prose fluid, and your sales copy will sound less like a sales copy as a result. Trust me, that’s a good thing.
Step Two: Building Up to a Soft Close
Obviously the point of your sales copy is to create your desired result, be it a lead generation or an actual sale. You see this most often in the form of a hard close, or “asking for the sale”. Now, I’m not saying that asking for the sale is a bad thing, but for many products and many personality types it may result in a lower conversion rate.This is when empathetic writing pays off the most. Read the two statements about lawn care below. Which one would you be more apt to continue the sales process for?
- “… and you’ll find noticeable results within just a few weeks! Order now and we’ll even take 15% off of the final price since there’s less overhead from this website! We’ll send our applicators out just two days after your purchase! Click here to order”.
- “… our results are noticeable after just a few weeks and, because of our lower overhead, cost less than ever before. Visitors from this website are offered a full 15% off as a way to say “thanks for trying us out”. Please be sure to send us pictures from before and after our treatments so that we can add you to our growling list of satisfied customers. Click here to book your first application.”
Now, both statements are saying the exact same thing, yet one places more emphasis on “ordering” and one places emphasis on consumer satisfaction and booking the application. One sounds more like a sales pitch than the other.In practical sales experience, the second statement has been shown to perform better- in some cases, quite dramatically so. How can you use this type of sales writing to your advantage?
- Never use immediate action words or phrases, such as “buy now”, “order now”, “purchase now”, etc. Now, obviously you should be testing what works for you.Instead, use phrases like “book your application today”, “download your product instantly”, “purchase here for express shipping”, etc.
- Place your emphasis on the benefits, and not the deal. For a lot of products the consumer could care less about the cost (so long as they’re fair). Instead, focus on the benefit and hint at why they should act now.Instead of “purchase your bottle today” or “buy now to get 15% off”, try phrases like “same day shipping when ordered from this website” or “we offer new clients a 15% discount as a way of saying “welcome to our family”, etc.”
- Be positive, but not too positive. Coming off like your product is the best thing since sliced bread will deter sales as people will know something is up.
- Anticipate objections and handle them during the sales process. If you know that a customer might feel uneasy about ordering an expensive watch online, ease their worries by reassuring them that it’s a quick, painless, and efficient way to do it. For example, “We understand that purchasing a high end time piece online for the first time can be a worrying experience riddled with uncertainty. That is why we do everything that we can to make the process as quick and painless as possible, and our list of satisfied customers shows it. If you need to contact us for any reason, please call us at XXXXXX or e-mail us at XXXXX. As always, we offer XXXXX warranty and XXXX technical support.”
Step Three: Creating the Close ItselfSome people need the “click here to buy” button. Others will see it and bail. So, how can you create an efficient close that will capture both those customers?Simple- create the soft close. By this point in your sales copy you should have already:
- Identified yourself and explained what you are and what the product is.
- Visualized and identified any major objections.
- Built up the foundations for the soft close.
- Clearly stated the benefits or value.
The soft close is all about delivery. You still want them to buy, and if they are at this point in your sales copy they probably want to buy anyway. The trick is to make them complete the process without them being conscious of having been part of any sales process at all.For example:
- “Our applicators are given their new orders every morning. Click here to book your first application. Please be sure to have any sprinkler systems put away and that you make a note of any plants or other parts of your lawn that may be damaged by our process. Our applicators will be there within 48 hours.”
- “Our usual process, from application booking to the actual application itself is less than 48 hours. Click here to book your application. Please make a note of the date and time that you have requested. You will receive a confirmation phone call from one of our route coordinators confirming your appointment date and time.”
Both of those deliver what you want: the customer orders, yet it doesn’t actually say “buy me!’.Compare those statements with something like:
- “Purchase your lawn package today. Our applicators will be by within 48 hours of your purchase date. Please make any special requests known to our service department.”
Though there is nothing “wrong” with that close, it’s still asking for the sale. A hard close asks for the sale. A soft close assumes it.
Conclusion
It can take quite a bit of practice to develop a suitable “soft close” sales copy, so be sure to test, test, and test some more! Please keep in mind that not all products are suitable for a soft close, so make sure that the product you are promoting or selling is one that may benefit from it.
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