5 Ways You Can Help Your Customers Make Better Purchases

You should do everything you can to ensure your customers always make informed purchases. Not only will this benefit the people who shop with you, but it will also be great for business, as it will ensure your customers are satisfied with their orders, leading to fewer complaints and returns, as well as better reviews. So, to help you with this, we are going to dive into five great tactics you can use to ensure your customers make better purchases that they’ll be happy with.

Provide customer reviews for as many products as possible

If used effectively, user-generated content can help sell more products for your business, and this is because people tend to trust personal recommendations over brands’ marketing. If you’re able to display customer reviews on your website, it could earn your audience’s trust and give them some extra information that helps them make the best purchase to suit their needs. For instance, reviews can help prospective customers confirm the quality of a product or whether or not a tool is suitable for a particular task.

To collect customer reviews, send out survey forms to the people who have recently bought your products to ask what they thought and whether they would recommend your business to family or friends. Another option is to create a feedback form and add it to your website, so people can go back to leave a review about your product after using it. To give you some inspiration, let’s take a look at how some companies are already displaying customer reviews on their websites.

GroomsShop is a company that sells gifts for groomsmen. And, on their website, you’ll see that they’ve found a great way to display reviews in the form of star ratings for each of their products so potential customers can see them as they scroll by.

This kind of approach to displaying reviews is very effective because, at a glance, it allows prospective customers to see which products have good ratings and the ones that don’t. And, with this information, it will be easier for prospects to make better purchases because they’ll be able to consider the opinions of past customers who have bought the products.

Glossier takes a slightly different approach when highlighting reviews from their happy customers. They are a beauty brand that’s focused on creating make-up and skincare products for all, and they make sure to highlight that diversity when displaying reviews from users of their products.

Take a look at this page where they showcase their lip gloss collection. As well as using a star-based rating system for their reviews, they also include real photos of a diverse customer base showing how people are using and enjoying their products. As they sell make-up products, this method is genius because it allows potential customers to see how they would look if they were to buy the brand’s products, thus allowing them to make better purchases.

When showing reviews you’ve gotten from past customers, the right approach will depend on the type of business you run. But, if you have a product-based business, you could use star ratings and short reviews as those tend to provide the information someone would need to compare their options. And, if you offer wearable products, consider asking your customers to attach a photo of themselves sporting your items when they leave their thoughts.

Publish buying guides and comparison pieces

If you want to help people with choosing the best products to suit their needs, you might want to think about providing buying guides and comparison pieces on your website. Buying guides are helpful pieces of content that allow you to simplify a buyer’s journey by providing details about what they need to consider before buying a product, such as their budget or the product’s features. On the other hand, comparison pieces are used to give prospective buyers information about a range of specific product options so they can pick which one is best suited to their needs.

When creating these kinds of content, you want to make sure you’re providing as much information as possible, because their main purpose is to educate your audience so they can make the best buying decision. Also, you need to watch out for the tone you use in writing these types of content, especially if you’re going to include your product as part of the viable options. You want to use an objective and neutral tone to ensure you’re providing clear and unbiased recommendations.

It is worth noting that creating strong content takes a lot of time and energy, which are two things you might be running low on as a business owner. So, if you’re not sure you’ll be able to create your own high-quality buying guides and comparison pieces, consider outsourcing the task to experts who can help. For instance, Verblio is a fantastic company that provides professional blog writing services, so they can take this job off your plate and deliver the results you’re looking for.

Whether you choose to write these guides yourself or enlist the help of an expert, it’s worth looking at some examples that are already out there for inspiration. So, here are some companies that are already publishing fantastic buying guides and comparison pieces to help their website visitors make informed decisions.

Best Nursing Programs is an online resource that provides information for prospective students who need clarity on how to choose the best nursing degree. And, on their website, they have a great example of a comparison piece, which is their post on the best accelerated BSN programs.

The post highlights 88 schools and lists out specific details about their nursing programs, the estimated tuition fees, graduation rates, and the locations of these schools. So, for people who have been finding it hard to choose a school where they can study nursing, this piece of content provides a lot of value. This is because it provides really helpful information that can help them compare the pros and cons of attending each school so they can ensure they’re well-informed before making such an important decision.

OKEX is another online brand who created a cryptocurrency price guide that provides users with historical price data for hundreds of cryptocurrencies. Users can access this guide to help with research before they make an investment.

Online dating can be a bit tricky, but the team at OnlineForLove.com does a great job of providing advice that can help people navigate the online dating world and choose the right dating site for them. One of their blog posts, for instance, is a piece that talks about the 5 best lesbian dating sites people can try out.

In the post, they mention PinkCupid, Her, Scissr, and other popular websites that help lesbians to have a good dating experience. They also highlight details like the demographic makeup of these sites, whether or not they work on mobile and desktop, and the membership costs. It’s a great comparison piece that will give readers factual and helpful information so they can choose the best site that suits their needs.

Blogwolf also has a wide range of buying guides that can help their readers to make better purchases. And one of the pieces they’ve published is a guide to the top 5 free Antiviruses for Windows 10 that can help people protect their computers from malware.

In the post, they outline five of their best free antivirus software like Avast, Bitdefender, and Kaspersky. They also go into detail about the features, as well as the pros and cons of using any of these antivirus software options. If someone is struggling to choose the right type of antivirus software to get for their system, reading this post would help to clear things up as it provides all the information needed to choose a good program.

Finally, we have a great example of a buying guide from Wayfair, an e-commerce website that sells various household items and furniture. To help their audience make the best purchases, they’ve created different buying guides for the products they sell. For instance, you’ll find a mattress buying guide on their site that provides detailed information on what to look out for when buying a mattress, the different types of mattresses there are, and how to choose a mattress size.

Buying a good mattress isn’t always as simple as ordering the first one you see online. Sometimes, a lot of thought is involved and Wayfair is doing a great job of reducing their buyers’ stress by making all this information available on their site.

As you can see, regardless of the type of business you run — product-based or service-based — creating buying guides and comparison pieces is a great way to help your customers make better purchases, so you should definitely consider using this tactic on your own website.

Personalize the shopping experience with interactive tools

Personalizing the shopping experience for your customers is one way you can ensure that they’re happy with what they buy from your business. One of the ways you can personalize their shopping experience is by creating interactive elements like a virtual try-on feature or an online calculator that allows them to customize their purchase.

To give you a practical example, here’s how iCASH does a great job of personalizing its prospects’ shopping experience with an interactive calculator.

Normally, the process of getting financial assistance can be quite confusing and stressful, but iCASH has worked to make it more transparent and easy to understand with an element of personalization.

They’ve created an online calculator that allows people to select how much they’d like to borrow, how many repayments they would like to make and the Canadian province where they reside. Instead of just filling out a vague contact form and waiting for feedback, iCASH makes it possible for people to provide accurate information about the specific kind of assistance they need. This helps ensure that prospects end up with a service they’re happy with and it also contributes towards a better and more satisfying customer experience.

Another way to personalize people’s shopping experience is by providing a sophisticated search tool that allows people to customize their search for certain products or services on your site. Now let’s see how this might work by studying a website that is already doing well with this technique.

AutomotiveTouchup is a company that sells touch-up paint for vehicles like cars and motorcycles. On their website, they’ve implemented the use of a sophisticated search tool that lets people select details like the year, make, and model of their vehicle so they can see customized results about the exact paint that would be compatible with their vehicle.

Instead of having customers scroll through the endless products on their website, the company has created this search tool that not only personalizes people’s buying experience but also helps them make an accurate order of the type of paint they need to buy. There’s no guessing involved.

By implementing interactive elements like these on your site, you’ll be able to make sure that customers have a strong input in the products or services they buy from you. And this should greatly reduce the complaints or returns your business gets.

Provide images of your products in action

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, if you’re able to show images of your products in action, you might help some prospective customers make the right purchase. For instance, you could use photos of diverse models wearing your clothes, or feature images of people who look like your target audience using your products.

These tactics tend to be very effective because they help prospective customers to imagine what it would be like to use your products and, if they like what they see, they’ll have no problem going ahead with the purchase. Images like this can also help to prevent them from buying the wrong product. For example, an image of a model with a similar skin tone might help them to avoid buying the wrong shade of foundation, or a photo of a tradesperson using a tool for a particular job might show website viewers what it’s not suitable for.

Now, for inspiration, let’s take a look at an example of a website that is doing a good job of showing its products in action.

Warby Parker is an online retail company that sells eyewear like eyeglasses, sunglasses, and contacts. And, on their website, you’re greeted by the image of two people wearing some of the eyeglasses that are sold by the store.

You’ll notice that these models represent a key demographic of the company’s target audience — young adults who wear glasses. So, using this image on their site is a great tactic that can help prospective customers to see how they might look if they buy these styles. So, if you sell physical products that can be worn by models, you could also consider using this tactic as it’s a great way to let prospective customers see your products in action.

Write very detailed product descriptions

Product descriptions play a very important role in helping customers make better purchases. By creating detailed and accurate product descriptions, you’ll be able to help people make well-informed decisions on what they want to buy. This means you’ll want to include specific details about the product’s name, dimensions, fabric compositions, size, and other relevant specifications.

It can help to highlight the benefits of your products when describing them, too, so people will be motivated to buy. You should also try to use bullet points to outline your product features, as these are easy to read and more scannable than huge blocks of text. Now, if you’re thinking that you might not have enough time to write detailed descriptions, not to worry — you can always use an SEO copywriting service to get the job done for you.

To give you some inspiration, let’s study an example of a detailed product description.

Take a look at these A/O lug Chukka boots sold by Zappos. You’ll see that the company has found a great way to highlight the boots’ features while also letting prospects know about their benefits.

For instance, they talk about the shoes’ cushioned footbeds with EVA heel cups, but they don’t stop there — they also let people know that this enhances their shock absorption and provides supportive comfort. They also include specific details about the shoes, such as their heel height, weight, and platform height.

Also note that all of this information is written out in short bullet points, which makes it much easier to read, especially for people who might just be scrolling past different products on your site. If you haven’t been employing these tactics when writing descriptions for your products, you’ll want to edit them so they can be more helpful to your prospective customers.

Summary

As a business owner, you don’t just want to sell — you want to make sure that customers are satisfied with what they’ve bought from you. And, to help you do that, we’ve outlined some great tips in this article that will help you get started. From displaying customer reviews to personalizing people’s shopping experience or writing detailed product descriptions, these are all effective tactics that can help you get good results. And, if you’d like more tips, make sure you browse BlogWolf’s money making section for regular advice on how to grow your business and increase revenue.

Author Bio:

Alex Ratynski is a Content Strategist at Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner that works with agencies and marketers. The company focuses on helping businesses to improve their online visibility, so they can grow and reach their goals. If you enjoyed this article, visit the Loganix blog for more expert advice.