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Home | About | Contact us | Links Your Unique Selling Position Product Update and Newsletter In the previous newsletter we discussed Niche Markets, a key factor in the success of an online business. In this ezimail we talk about your unique selling proposition (USP) or lack of it. If you do not have a good niche product then you absolutely must have a great unique selling proposition. Having both is better! What is a USP or Unique Selling Proposition? Would you bother buying from a business that's just "there," with no unique benefit, no great prices, selection, service or guarantee? Or would you prefer a business that offers you the greatest selection in the country or one with every product discounted to less than the competitors' price or one that sells just top of the shelf products with the same quality guarantee of service. The reality is your visitors don't give a hoot about you, your product, or how hard you have worked to make it available. The simple fact is, they don't think about you at all. They have only one question when they hit your site: What's in this for me? You have only seconds in which to provide an appropriate answer. Talk of you, your company, or your product, regardless of
uniqueness, will only bring a click on the Back button. Soul-searched
words about the benefits your company or product offers will also bring
immediate exit. Without carefully creating a clear, strong and
appealing USP you will lose potential customers. Coming Up With a Killer USP Creating Your USP You also need to know what your competitors offer. You
can't compete if you don't know what you're up against. Take the time to
check out what they are doing. Do some research, you might be surprised
what you might or might not find. Great offers, free shipping, contests,
free customer support? USPs work a lot like logos. "It's finger-lickin' good" says Kentucky Fried Chicken's USP. "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands" promises M&M's. A USP shapes and reinforces your company's brand and identity. It says what's different about you from all the rest. As an example, lets assume your USP is that you have better selection and follow-up service than any other competitor. There are several ways to integrate these qualities into your mail, communications and website. For example you can state the selection USP on the main page: "We Always Have 2000 or more different products available with no Less than 56 different models and 13 attractive formats, in prices ranging from $21 to $2100." Or, if good service at an affordable price is your USP, use this as a model: " 'Try Hard' Car Detailers will wash and detail your vehicles twelve times a year, once a month, and all it costs you is $21 a month, billed quarterly." Also remember, like a niche market, you will not appeal to everybody. Indeed, some USPs are designed to appeal to only one segment of a larger market. There is a big difference between the upmarket 'premium' client and the bargain hunters. Its unlikely you can reach both. How can you ensure that you are in the hearts and minds of your customers after the sale? Here are a few good approaches. Go back to the five ingredients of success. One of these is the employment of excellent customer relationship management skills immediately following a sale. Call or email your customer. Make the customer feel important and special. Repeat your USP and remind the customers why they purchased from you and reassure them about their wise decision. This post-purchase follow-up is essential, regardless of how frequently you resell to that customer. You enhance the customer's loyalty and value to your business by following up after the sale. At the very least, a follow-up call or email drastically reduces or eliminates cancellations, returns, refunds, complaints, adjustments and disputes. As a web surfer yourself, you will know that other Internet surfers, like you, have the attention span of Homer Simpson after a few Duffs. You have just seconds to capture their interest before they hit that dreaded 'back' button and have a beer instead. Believing you can capture attention or sales through elaborate use of graphics and animation is a mistake. A large number of ezimerchant sites use some pretty plain templates but are enormously successful. So, don't slow your business down by using excessive graphics. Another popular Internet faux pas, is to make your visitor dig into your site to figure out what your USP is. I love the saying 'give the monkey the banana.' Why make your customer go hunting for the product or your USP. Make it as easy as possible for them with good navigation to easily find the product and the USP right the front. Visitors to your site want benefits and solutions. The goal of your home page should be to define that as quickly as possible. That would include a headline that stimulates a response followed by one or more short paragraphs that define your benefits. To find your USP, answer these three questions:
Challenged?
Okay, that's about it for this newsletter. However I will
be coming back to you very shortly with some quick tips on optimising your
site for search engines. As well as some great case studies.
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