What makes a customer click on your link? Understanding the process behind this is vitally important when getting to grips with how to reach your customers online.
Take a look at our top tips on what makes people move their mouse in your direction and get an insight into what makes your customers tick when it comes to clicks…
It’s Getting Personal: Customers know what they like and the trick is giving it to them. Text message marketing is becoming increasingly popular because it is a way of making direct contact with the people you want to reach. Companies such as GlobalMessaging allow firms to deliver personalised and branded SMS campaigns to customers and track the responses they then receive. Recipients are more likely to open a text message than an email because they see them as something that is more personal and less throwaway. People have become savvy at deleting a job lot of emails without going beyond the subject line but that’s not something they do with an SMS. They react well to messages directed to them with offers tailored to the sorts of offers and products that they will like. It’s nice to feel wanted and, if you do, you’ll be more incline to click.
Action: A prominent call to action is a key part of any successful marketing message – and an important part of getting someone to physically click on a link. This is a statement such as ‘click here’ – a simple but effective way of encouraging someone to engage. It’s worth noting, when considering why people click, that people will often follow a link because they’ve been told to do so. Our time and attention span is limited. If a message doesn’t make it abundantly clear where to click we won’t necessarily waste our time working that out for ourselves. That’s why it’s important for a business to make it clear when and where they want someone to act.
Because I’m Worth It: Customers are a pretty savvy bunch. They know when they’re getting something worthwhile and what is or isn’t a good offer. If they’re sent a link to something they like the sound of – or is a lucrative offer – they’ll not only click on it but will recognise that the sender is worth looking out for. They’ll probably spread the word for you too. Word of mouth is powerful and recommendations from friends, based on good offers worth sharing, are an important factor in getting someone to give a link a click.
Watch The Clock: When trying to understand why customers click on a link you can’t ignore the time factor. People click on things at breakfast, lunch, after work and later in the evening and a variety of factors – such as time pressures or priorities at that particular time – mean they’ll be looking for different things at different times of the day. People typically have longer in the evenings or at weekends so they’re more likely to entertain the idea of filling out a survey then. For a business, it’s worth thinking who its customers are and when they are likely to have the time or inclination to search out their product or service.
Question Time: The website 30dps says: “A click isn’t just a click, it’s a question looking for an answer!” Many customers will click on a link because they want the answer to a particular question. From a business point of view that may simply be a desire to discover more about a new product or service, to explore the cost of an item or to look at whether something meets their needs. You may also be able to engage an audience by physically posing them a question or a quiz – all direct ways of finding that attractive ‘question/answer’ combination. Curiosity may be said to have killed the cat but it certainly also encourages a click.
Think Mobile: A massive number of people use their mobile phone to make purchases. Figures from Google show 61% of people in the UK use a smartphone to research of purchase products. Of those, 52% of people do this at home and the most common time of day is late evening. Google has taken the explosion of mobile web browsing so seriously that it is changing its search algorithm to reward mobile-friendly sites. It’s crucial to try to understand the types of device your customers will be using and think about what works well on them. A customer using their mobile is less likely to click onto a link that clearly leads to something that won’t work on a small screen.
There are a number of important things to consider when getting the right formula to entice a customer into clicking on your links. Think about the way to phrase a message to encourage them that is clear and engaging. Also make it desirable and worthwhile for them to give them your time – and consider the best time, platform and device to suit your product and market.
