FAQ what you don’t know can hurt you!
This week, on Business Forum Of Experts, I share insights and ideas that should make your website instantly more effective and more profitable.
Most people focus on PPC, “fancy” strategies and online gimmicks trying to get more business online often forgetting that a website is nothing more than a conversation. To get more sales you need to have the right kind of conversations with the right audience – those people who are the most likely to buy from you.
Do you know WHAT conversation you should be having on your FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) page? Most get that wrong… and if you’re one of them, then chances are that you’re losing sales and customers in droves! Below you’ll learn how to turn your FAQs page into a living, breathing lead generation machine. What you don’t know about writing effective FAQs pages can hurt you unless you make the following simple changes that make all the difference…
FAQ is the abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions, and it answers the most common questions raised by your customers, prospects or website visitors about your business, products or service.
A successful FAQ page will save you time, money and hopefully help you close more sales without you having to get involved in the process. The purpose of this page is to provide the information people need to take the next step, without hassling you with unnecessary phone calls or emails.
Before you start working on the FAQ page you need to STOP and put yourself in your website visitor’s shoes… You first need to know WHY people visit this page. Usually they do so because they are half-sold on buying your product or using your service or at least they are keen to take action.
So, it’s important that you have the right conversation with that group of people and answer their questions succinctly, accurately and clearly. FAQ visitors want straight answers, in PLAIN English, and without fluff, hype or technical jargon. That’s why you should also use the active rather than the passive voice to avoid ambiguities.
Put your sales pitch to sleep
Don’t try using your “marketing talk” on this page… it will backfire, since the FAQ page is not a sales page. Stay focused, simply answer the question at hand. And if you can answer the question with a simple Yes/No answer, then do that. Be concise enough to offer the necessary information in the least amount of words and time. Your customers and prospects will like that.
Make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for
Make it easy for people to find the right answer to their questions… you should try to group questions into appropriate categories that are easy to find and interpret.
Anticipate problems in advance
What if a question is not answered? At FastProfits.com.au you’ll find the following short sentence right under the list of FAQs that says: “Please contact us if your question is NOT listed above.” The words “contact us” are hyperlinked to my Contact Us page. That way if the visitor’s question isn’t answered on the FAQ page she can take the next step without feeling overly disappointed.
Not sure whether you’ve noticed but there is no apostrophe in FAQs.
Don’t forget to keep track of all the questions people ask you, note which questions are frequently repeated, and add those to your FAQs.
Most people never realise that the FAQ page is always a work in progress as it needs to stay accurate and up-to-date with your business or offering, so it needs to be updated often or as required.
Enjoy and profit!
Daniel
Copywriting, Marketing, Mindset, Persuasion Architecture, Words That Sell