Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.
It is a widespread nightmare — you are strolling via a busy hallway or giving a presentation solely to look down and end up utterly bare.
We’re inherently fearful of showing an excessive amount of about ourselves, and as an entrepreneur, this seemingly extends to your enterprise as properly.
However based mostly on rising my very own enterprise from nothing to over $100 million in annual income, I can inform you much less isn’t extra relating to enterprise transparency — extra is extra. Being open builds belief, and belief fosters clients and relationships in droves. The one exception isn’t gifting away your commerce secrets and techniques to rivals.
Listed below are three efficient methods to construct belief with purchasers and prospects by being extra clear (with out leaving you feeling nightmarishly over-exposed).
Associated: How Transparency In Enterprise Results in Buyer Progress and Loyalty
1. Enhance gross sales by 18% or extra by growing your Google opinions
Practically everybody reads opinions earlier than buying. One examine discovered a whopping 93% of individuals learn opinions earlier than making a purchase order, and on common, opinions produce an 18% uplift in gross sales. In right now’s on-line panorama, folks put virtually as a lot weight on a Google assessment as they do on a private suggestion.
One of the simplest ways to extend your opinions is to easily ask! In keeping with analysis, 70% of customers will depart a assessment for a enterprise when requested.
About 4 years in the past, we had 486 opinions after servicing greater than 90,000 purchasers. We began utilizing Podium to ship out texts or emails — based mostly on buyer desire — asking to go away a assessment on Google, the Higher Enterprise Bureau and Trustpilot.
By Might 2024, we would amassed 2,312 five-star opinions, a rise of 375%. Take into account that our account managers have been very diligent about sending assessment requests to purchasers and solely ask the purchasers more than likely to offer optimistic responses.
One other good approach to enhance opinions is to automate postcards on the shut of an order thanking somebody for his or her enterprise and inspiring them to go away a assessment. A bodily mailer is probably going more practical than an e-mail — one examine that surveyed 1,200 customers discovered that 76% trusted unsolicited mail essentially the most versus on-line strategies.
You is likely to be questioning, “What in regards to the unfavorable opinions?” You are at all times going to have a handful of dangerous opinions, however folks take a look at the ratio of excellent vs. dangerous. In case you have way more five-star opinions than one-star opinions, they will disregard the unfavorable ones and assume it is not the norm.
2. Enhance lead era by 105% by sharing your purchasers’ success tales
Sharing actual advertising and marketing outcomes has at all times been a precedence for my enterprise, PostcardMania. We presently have 944 advertising and marketing case research and 139 video case research that doc actual folks sharing marketing campaign specifics that led to extra leads, income and new clients for his or her companies.
We share these case research far and large with prospects through e-mail and postcards within the mail to extend belief. However extra lately, we started incorporating these tales into video social media advertisements. Throughout a current earnings name by Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned 50% of all folks’s time on Fb and Instagram is spent watching movies, so naturally, we went that course to achieve extra eyes on our providers.
We put our 139 video case research — actual enterprise homeowners speaking about their profitable campaigns — to work for us on Fb and Instagram.
In consequence, our social media leads doubled. In 2022, our common variety of social media leads per week was 174, after which in 2023, the typical lead rely elevated to 356 per week! That is a 105% enhance.
After all, our use of social media on this case is a component of a bigger multi-channel advertising and marketing technique that ties unsolicited mail and digital advertisements collectively, so I counsel the same method if you wish to see the identical outcomes (we have really packaged our profitable method right into a single inexpensive advertising and marketing bundle referred to as In every single place Small Enterprise as a consequence of excessive demand from our purchasers to duplicate this methodology). Campaigns that uniquely mix print and digital promoting utilizing hyper-targeted mailing lists and lookalike audiences have been confirmed to work time and time once more, so I extremely suggest them.
It would not matter what business you might be in, your clients’ success tales could be compiled and included into your advertising and marketing plan to develop your buyer base.
Associated: How Drawback-Fixing Case Research Assist You Market Your Enterprise
3. Convert prospects sooner by dropping the velvet rope and welcoming them in
Being clear on-line will assist construct a optimistic picture of your model and deliver in additional clients — however it’s also possible to take this one step additional and let prospects go to your enterprise and work together together with your services or products in particular person. One report revealed that 79% of consumers need manufacturers to go above and past what they’re required to disclose and provides extra data, with two-thirds of them saying they’d change manufacturers for extra in-depth knowledge.
At PostcardMania, we welcome purchasers to go to us and take a tour of our in-house printing facility. We even have a advertising and marketing convention twice a 12 months the place purchasers can meet their advertising and marketing consultants face-to-face and be taught extra about our enterprise behind the scenes. These purchasers usually find yourself being a few of our greatest and longest-lasting relationships! You are able to do the identical by internet hosting an occasion and opening your doorways to the general public. It would not must be a convention — you can begin small with one thing so simple as an evening of snacks and leisure.
Associated: 3 Methods to Personalize Your Advertising for Larger Engagement
Free samples are additionally an effective way to point out clients precisely what they’re getting earlier than they make a dedication. This does not at all times apply to each enterprise, however you’ll be able to attempt to discover a approach to enable prospects to work together together with your services or products on a deeper, extra bodily stage.
Incorporate any of those techniques, and you will present prospects essentially the most genuine facet of you and your enterprise. Consider me once I say buying and selling in your fears about being tremendous clear for daring authenticity will reap actual rewards in long-term progress and buyer loyalty.
