ISEdb.COM

Providing a little (or a lot) of information can go a long,
long way to building a good relationship with your visitors. That, in turn, can
lead to more sales and significant business growth. Unfortunately, many online
businesses go with the less is more philosophy. As such, this leads to less
user satisfaction and in turn, fewer sales.

How more information helps your
business

More information demystifies
the product or service and allows your customer to have more accurate
expectations. By giving information in a way your visitors can understand you
allow them to make a decision that is best for them, not just best for you.
When customers make decisions on no or incomplete data, you may get the sale
NOW, but you’ll lose the long-term benefit of that client. The gain of $100
will ultimately be at the expense of $1000.

More information creates less
resistance in closing the sale. It’s better to have a customer
make a decision that’s ultimately not the one you wanted than to struggle with
the decision from lack of knowledge. More information essentially greases the
wheels. Once greased the wheels tend to, but not always, move in the direction
of the one giving the best and most complete information available. Customers
are more likely to buy from those in which they can establish expectations vs.
one where the expectations, regardless of how great the product is billed, are
hard to pin down.

More information puts more
responsibility on the person getting knowledge. Nobody likes for
an angry customer to come back to them with “you didn’t tell me…” If you
are upfront with both pros and cons, benefits and possible side-effects, this
puts the responsibility of the decision solely on the customer. That does not
alleviate the seller or service provider of any responsibility; they still have
to back up everything they say in their sales material. But full disclosure has
a way of protecting you from unwarranted expectations.

More information allows for greater input and
feedback from the customer or client. The more open you are with
your customers, the more open they will be with you. The information they
provide can be crucial to fix potential problems, provide a better service,
find new ways to please customers, and a host of other things. Customer
feedback is an essential part of a business success. Customers will be more
open with their feedback if you are more open with them.

More information creates less
confusion as to what, if any, the customer’s responsibilities
are. This is especially true in the service industry but the same can be
applied to products. Does a product need to be assembled or treated a certain
way? Is the customer expected to do anything in order to ensure longevity?
These are all important questions that should be answered before the sale is
made. This not only ensures the customer knows what they are getting but also
cuts down on returns. In the service industry, preventing any confusion is
essential to ensure that the services you provide get the results that are
expected.

More information creates less
worry in the mind of the customer. When customers are not worried
then they make decisions quicker and easier, which leads to more sales. For
those that rely on long term customers, giving them less to worry about will
ultimately mean less customer support calls and emails. It’s great to be able
to help customers whenever they need, but if that need can be reduced or
eliminated with a bit of information, your time will go into other areas that
foster business growth.

Real Life Example

This post came about because of an incident I had last week,
one in which I would have been better served by having more information than I
was given. I recount this story just as a way to put a finer point and give a
real life example about how more information helps everyone.

Several weeks ago my dentist told me I needed a root canal.
I had been having problems with my teeth after a filling and they hadn’t been
to be able to fix it. So after several visits, they finally referred me to
another dentist to have a look. After I left the dentist office, I realized
that my dentist did do root canals, but for some reason they were sending me
out to another dentists. I didn’t quite understand why so I went to the other
dentists for my appointment. Turns out, they said I needed a root canal too.
OK. But, big problem, they don’t accept my insurance.

So I shopped around for another dentist that performs root
canals and accepts my insurance. I found one and set an appointment.
Interestingly, that dentist also told me I needed a root canal, but since mine
was of the more difficult variety I needed a root canal specialist. There it was, the missing piece of
information. The dentist my primary dentist referred me to was a root canal
specialist, not just any Joe blow dentist that happens to perform easy root
canals.

Had I known that it would have saved me time and it would
have saved the third dentist time as well. It also would have saved me $30.

As GI Joe says, “Knowing is half the battle!”