Web designers use tricks all the time to encourage eye movement around the page. Such as making the font size of text bigger and/or a different color, adding animation or sound to a graphic, create a call-to-action graphic that draws the attention of the visitor with some sort of free incentive. These tricks are not new and have existed for years before internet marketing or the internet for that matter existed. These tricks or lets call them techniques are still being used today because they are affective. So what is the point of these techniques? If your answer to this question is, to direct the visitor to perform a certain action by either ordering a product, calling a phone number, or opting into an email form, then you would be correct.
So what happens when the techniques you have set up to drive the visitors attention to lets call it a call-to-action form or graphic does not work. Well this happens all of the time, that is why average conversions on the internet are between 3-4% rather than lets say 30-70% which is the average for retail store walk-ins.
Well what is difference between a website and a retail clothing store. Both places have information and usually a catalog of products or services. The one thing that is different which makes all of the difference in conversions is how each visitor is greeted. When you walk into a retail clothing store you are usually greeted by a customer service agent who helps you find what you are looking for and answers questions. That is the problem with most websites! There is no person who can direct you where you need to go and who can cover the most commonly asked questions.
What some websites are starting to do now to remedy this gap of communication is they are adding a website spokesperson to the home page of their website to greet the visitor and to direct the visitors attention around the website. Websites that are employing this technique are seeing huge gains in their conversion rates! The best part is, it is not expensive nor is it a recurring cost such as you would have with a customer care agent who greets people at the front of a clothing store. The virtual customer care agent can be a spokesperson for your brand and be used over and over again for every single visitor who arrives to your website.
I have a long and successful background in sales and marketing and I can tell you first hand that adding a website spokesperson to your website will drive up your sales and increase your profit margin. I hope everyone has enjoyed my little speech here about online sales and the logic behind adding a website spokesperson to your website.
