Tell them the Bare Necessities

Why do so many visitors to our website leave without saying a thing? We might think our products, services or prices are the main culprits, but more often than not, it’s our messaging.

Many businesses owners have gone to market with excellent products or services and when things don’t go as expected, they change the very thing their business is based on; their products or services.

But more often than not, those products or services were perfectly fine. In fact, they might have been perfect, and what was missing, was clarity in their communication.

Tell them only what is absolutely necessary

If every business were to tell their customers about every minute detail regarding what they do and how they do it, we would have a lot of confused people walking around (actually, that might explain a few things).

Communicating too much, however, has the opposite of the intended effect. We might think, the more we tell them, the more they’ll understand. Sounds logical. However, the more information you unload on people, the more you confuse them.

Our messaging needs to be filtered so we tell people only what is absolutely necessary for them to quickly understand what it is we do and how we can help them.

Here are three things you should look at within your communication. Are you making any of these mistakes?

Understanding unlocks dialogue

We, as people, don’t buy the best products or services at the best price. That’s what we think we do but in reality, we buy the product or services that we understand the quickest (from brands that we feel understand us).

Being so close to our business and industry, we often forget how our audience sees their problem. We know their problem inside out and we know the solution we offer fixes their problem, yet the clarity in our minds is lost when translated into our words, be it on our website an email or face-to-face.

The language that we use and the assumptions that we make creates a fog around the clear picture we think we’re painting for them. Going in too heavy on detail leads to overwhelm, at which point their self-preservation kicks in and they’re gone.

The fix? Tone it down, pull it back, resist the temptation to talk the face off your audience. Simplify your message. Use short sentences and clear language and they’ll be more likely to request more.

They are the prize draw, not you.

Ok, so less about you, more about me. This is the single most common communication mistake that companies make. Straight away they jump into themselves, their abilities, their accolades, their awards, their history, purpose, values, vision, mission, their mascot?

Imagine going on a first date, and the person sitting opposite you takes control of the conversation and talk about themselves for the duration of the date.

Let’s take physical attraction out of the equation (which may have outside influence) and it’s safe to say, you wouldn’t be going on a second date. You would find them self-absorbed and you’d be a little disappointed (privately) that they had no interest in asking anything about you.

Now, obviously, the obnoxious date is of the opinion that they are the prize draw here. But that’s their fundamental error.

It’s only when they turn the spotlight away from themselves and put it on their date with questions about who they are, what they love and how they see the word, do they become the prize draw.

To bring this back into context, it’s not all about you.

Even if you have the best service, the best price, the best complimentary back scratcher, but you make it all about you, your date will feel unimportant and you won’t get a second bite at the cherry.

Open a loop that they’ll want a resolution for

In 1920, a Soviet psychologist by the name of Dr Zeigarnik, conducted a study that compared memory in relation to complete tasks and incomplete tasks. She had found that incomplete tasks are easier to remember than successful ones. This is now known as the Zeigarnik effect.

This essentially means that our brain will hold on to things that need a resolution (an open loop), better than those that don’t (a closed loop).

When we speak to our clients, we need start opening more loops that raise questions related to the solution you can provide to solve that problem.

Whether that open loop is painting a picture of the feeling after their problem has been resolved, or raising the question of the impact of the continuation of the problem without a solution, an open loop has a far greater chance of being remembered.

Conclusion

Likely, there are various reasons for your visitors are not sticking around on your site or your brand isn’t getting the traction you’d hope for.

One of the most inexpensive yet effective ways to shake things up is by clarifying your communication. Make it easy as humanly possible to understand what it is you do and why your audience should care. If you get that right, you’ll buy some much-coveted attention from your audience.