Increase Sign-Ups on your Marketing Website by Overcoming Objections

Back in early internet times, people browsed the web carelessly. It was a vast world to be explored and you could explore it all from your seat. Due to this, a lot of people fell into the trap of downloading viruses, or giving away their bank information because of so-called “princes” in foreign countries wanting to send them money.

People are more cautious now. They understand the online pitfalls you can fall into and how businesses twist words to mislead, just so they can get a quick sale.

For this reason, customers want to make absolutely sure that the product that they are about to use or buy is reliable, trustworthy, and used by others. Customers will double down on the research of a particular product to make sure it’s track record is good and to know that it will actually help them solve the problem they’re having.

As soon as a customer lands on your website, they are looking for any reason they can to say no and move on.

Your customers are hesitating, and you have to show them exactly why they don't need to. This is where overcoming objections come in.

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How do you overcome objections?

There are a couple of different strategies that you could use to more likely to sign-up or buy through reducing the risk in their mind. If you've ever purchased a product with a 30-day money back guarantee or been swayed to buy after looking over countless positive reviews, then you know that overcoming worries that you have can be as simple as reading the right thing at the right time.

The idea is to add content to your website that talks customers out of their worries as they are just at the decision to sign-up or buy. It's at this pivotal point where a sale is either made or broken, and with a little bit more persuading the sale becomes a lot easier to make.

Here are some of the things you can add to your website to overcome objects:

• Social proof - testimonials or tweets from your customers who are having a great experience with your product
• Risk reversals - a statement that lets a customer know they can reverse their decision, such as a 30-day free returns policy
• Frequently asked questions - a list of the common objections that customers have with an simple answer for each one

These sections make it easier for customers to know that they are in the right place, and that they can trust you. Let's look into each one in depth now.

Social Proof

Customers want to know that they aren't one of the first people to use a product. They want to see a track-record of happy people who have already been there and done that.

In the same way that we will eat at a restaurant when a friend recommends it, we are a lot more likely to buy a product when we see countless great reviews of people who are already using it.

There are many ways that social proof can be collected and displayed, such as star rated reviews, a gallery of tweets, or just a testimonial card slider with a bunch of smiling customers. Either way, the decision of how you want to display testimonials isn't usually the hard part, it's collecting them in the first place.

If you don't have a way that you're following up on your customers for feedback and testimonials, then you're losing sales.

You can use an integration such as Hotjar or Intercom to get reviews or general feedback that can be used to either make your product better, or collect for your testimonials.

Risk reversal statements

A risk reversal is a small statement that helps reassure customers who are hesitating as they are just about to pay or sign-up. It's an easy way to tell customers that they don't need to worry, as they can take back a purchase, or in the case of a free sign-up, won't even need to pay to try out your product.

When any customer spends their money or time on a product, they are taking a risk, and you need to reduce that risk in their minds as much as possible. Make your product a no-brainer.

It's best practice to put risk reversals in close proximity to where a sign-up, purchase, or upgrade button is. This way, you're communicating with your customer right when they are having final doubts.

For a customer it can even feel risky to enter their email on a website and potentially waste time trying out a new product, so when you're not trying to take a payment from a customer straight away, focus on the ease of signing up.

Here are some examples of risk reversals:

• No credit-card required
• Try it with a 14-day free trial
• We offer a no-questions-asked money back guarantee
• Free returns on all orders over $40
• If it's not what you expected, email us to get a full refund
• No time limit on free plan

Frequently asked questions

When you deal with enough customers, you start to see the common threads of the questions and queries they have.

Adding answers for the frequently asked questions to your website is a double whammy; you're more likely to convince customers to sign-up, and you're less likely to get customers reaching out with questions they have.

If you're planning to add your own answers to questions that you think customers have, think again. It's easy for customers to tell when all of your questions are set up to shine your product in a positive light, such as "How long is the sign-up process? - Signing up takes less than 5 minutes and you don't even need to add credit card details!". Make sure all of your questions are coming directly from your customers, not you.

It's a good practice to keep a document or spreadsheet of all the questions you get from customers to evaluate which ones come up most often.

A frequently asked question section is usually found just above or below your final CTA or around your pricing. By having it in close proximity to where customers sign-up or upgrade, you're answering all the final why's, how's, and what's that they have as they are about to make that jump.

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Final Thoughts

No matter whether you're trying to get a new customer to sign-up, or trying to convert them from a free to a paid plan, they will have doubts. It's your job to let them know that you understand how they are feeling, and that they don't need to worry.

Remember to have a process to collect the kinds of common worries that your customers have, and to collect all the great testimonials that show your happy customers.

At this moment where your customers are hesitating, you need to show them everything you can that will help them understand why your product is a perfect fit for them.