(Creating detailed buyer’s guides is an effective way to influence customers’ purchase decisions and get a sale. Learn the best practices for creating one for your eCommerce website.)
Imagine spending hours perfecting the product for your eCommerce website only to notice no sales.
Frustrating, isn’t it? Arriving at a buying decision is not an easy feat for a modern-day customer. There are too many options at their disposal and unless your brand is able to capture their attention from the start, it is going to be a tough journey. An easy way to simplify the buying journey of your customers and positively influence their purchasing decision to make a sale is by creating a product buying guide. Branding agencies recommend creating such online catalogs to make it easier for customers to browse through eCommerce sites and get all the information they need to make an informed choice.
Here’s what you need to know about product buying guides before you approach creative agencies to put together one for your brand. This article also shares some best practices followed by leading web design companies when creating product buying guides.
What is a product buying guide and why does your eCommerce website need one?
To put simply, a product buying guide contains all the information that can help a prospect make a purchasing decision and become a paying customer. The information can be about the specifications of the product or highlight its functionality and benefits. While buying guides can be created for virtually any kind of product, high-value items such as appliances or furniture benefit the most. You can think of a buyer’s guide as a 24/7 sales representative who is available round the clock to your customers. The more detailed your guide, the better your chances of impressing the customer and making a sale.
Take, for instance, the appliance’s brand Dyson. Since it sells various styles of vacuum cleaners and other cleaning equipment, it has a buyer’s guide on the website which sums up each product. A customer can browse through it to find out the best product that’s suited to their needs. Having access to such information makes it easier for customers to make the correct purchase.
For a customer, a product buying guide also instills faith in the brand. It sends a signal that they can trust your brand as you help them arrive at a purchasing decision. For the brand, a buying guide accelerates the sale — you can provide the minutest details of your offerings and add relevant CTAs throughout to bring the customer closer to the checkout stage.
How to create a product buying guide?
Now that you understand the need for a buying guide, here’s how you can create one that delivers results:
1 – Know your audience
You cannot create a product buying guide in a vacuum. Knowing who is your target audience can help you to craft a better guide and include relevant information that’s likely to help them.
For instance, if your target audience prefers scoring a deal, it is useful to highlight how your product is competitively priced compared to other brands in the market. If you offer special discounts for a minimum cart value, you can also include that information in the guide. Adding the type of information, your audience is looking for increases the chance of them actually making a purchase.
Use the data available on Google Analytics or audience insight tools on various social media platforms to understand your audience better. You can also conduct customer surveys to gather more information about your target audience.
2 – Make your guide easy to read
Even if you include everything a prospect would like to read in a product buying guide, chances of them actually reading can plummet significantly if it is not an easy read. Remember that how you present the information is just as important as what you present. Here are a few things you should keep in mind:
- Always follow a template while creating a buyer’s guide. Start with an overview of the product to set the tone. Then talk about the different types of products available and how each of them can address the pain points of the audience. Follow this up with a FAQ section. Ideally, you should address all the questions a customer is likely to ask while making a purchase. For example, concerns about the warranty of an electronic item are widespread. The buyer’s guide is a good place to shed light on how long the warranty is valid, what the exclusions are, and how customers can claim the warranty.
- Write simple sentences and present them in bullet form. This makes it easier for readers to scan the text. Take inspiration from this guide prepared by the leading women’s magazine Good Housekeeping which stands outs for the succinct presentation of key information. The text is easy to scan and lets the reader know the pros and cons at a glance :
- Stay away from using jargon. No one wants to look up meanings while reading through a guide
- Add relevant images wherever possible. Images complement the text and make it easy for readers to understand what you are trying to convey. See, for instance, how Wayfair, a mattress seller, provides a handy infographic about the various features of different types of mattresses they sell. Presenting the information in a visually appealing manner makes it easier to understand.
- Add all the essential information toward the beginning of the text. Doing so ensures nothing important skips the reader’s attention.
3 – Leverage SEO
Your product buying guide should have the right keywords so that the relevant pages show up on the search engine. It can also help you rank higher for certain keywords and capture a new audience.
When looking for the appropriate keywords to use in your guides, always use search intent. Search intent can help you perform even better as it targets the exact reason behind a search query. Not all customers search through exact keywords — some simply type in a question and browse through the results. So using search intent queries within your product guide can increase your chances of getting noticed by a larger audience base.
4 – Do not forget to add CTA
The beauty of CTAs is you can place them throughout your website, including product buying guides. Add relevant hyperlinks to the product so your customers can directly land on the page without having to exit the document. You can either place the CTA at the end of the guide or add it at various places throughout. All you need to do is make sure the CTA clearly stands out and nudges the customer toward making a purchase.
Conclusion
If you want to get an edge in a hypercompetitive eCommerce industry, product buying guides are an asset you must invest in. They can reap immense value and make a real difference to your bottom line. The more prepared you are to address customer concerns and help them make an informed choice, the more orders you are likely to bag. It’s that simple.
Follow the tips above to create a well-written product buying guide and watch long-term relationships with your customer’s blossom. If you need any assistance creating these guides, you can get in touch with SPINX. We are a web development and digital agency, and we are happy to assist you in designing customized buying guides for your eCommerce website.
Author Bio: Brijesh Jakharia
Brijesh Jakharia co-founded SPINX Digital in 2005 and takes great pride in crafting web and mobile marketing solutions for mid-market businesses to enterprises. Marketing is his passion, and the thrill to build a brand from the ground up has helped him craft successful brand stories for world-class clients. While not at work, he loves to spend his time on research and reading digital content stories.