9 reasons why you should educate your buyer

Shoppers these days have more choice than ever before when it comes to buying a product. But with so much choice also comes with some confusion on what product they should buy. Buyers now rely on self-education before they step foot into your store and speak to a salesperson. In fact, some experts say as much as 70% of the decision is made before getting in touch with a business. By the time they get to the store, most buyers have an idea of what they want; if not the exact product they need. So how do they find out this information ahead of time? The way that they educate themselves is with content that they find online. This means it’s important to educate your buyer so they can get the information they want.

If the information is available online, the buyer will find it. But does it matter where they find it? In this article, we’re going to cover some of the most important reasons why you should be the one to educate your buyer, and how it can help them–and you.

1. Save you time

A lot of businesses will say that they are too busy to create content. The reality is often that they are so busy because of all the phone calls or in-store visits from customers or potential customers who just want to know more information about a product. By creating content that will answer your most asked questions and making it easily available, you are saving time and money, and likely answering those questions to a much larger audience than ever before.

2. Buyers want to learn for themselves

According to market leader Hubspot, only 29% of people want to talk to a salesperson to learn about a product, while 62% will consult a search engine. This outlines that while it is still very important to have well-trained salespeople, you can not dismiss the fact that creating content online holds so much weight in the sales process. You might get lucky from a customer being educated by a competitor, and your company still getting the sale. But you don’t want to base your sales on luck, do you?

3. They can see the product or service in action

Very few customers will respond positively to an email they receive from you telling them how amazing your products are. But instead, if you were to send them an email that included a how-to/product demonstration, then they can decide for themselves how amazing that product is. Seeing the product or service in action is a lot more visual than having them guess what the benefits are for them.

4. Become an authority in your industry

The more information you have about your products, the more reputable you are. Creating content for your products gives you authority over the very challenge that your buyer is looking to solve. You start to become a thought leader instead of just a salesperson. Even if someone isn’t ready to buy right now, they’ll start to see you as the expert.

5. Build customer trust

Customers are far more likely to trust a brand or company that makes an effort to share their knowledge about the product. They’ll trust you much more if you don’t make it out to be perfect too. Not every product is right for every person. If you address that–but still focus on the positives of what you offer– you can educate your buyer and help them make an informed purchasing decision. Even if that pushes them elsewhere, they might refer a friend to you later when your offering is the right fit.

6. Reduce complaints

When your customer has been more educated about the product, they are more likely to be aware of how to use the product or what to expect. This works to eliminate most of the basic issues that they would complain about. They can see the features and limitations ahead of time so know what to expect. Often, it’s better that a customer doesn’t buy a product from you that’s a bad fit than complain and give you low reviews.

7. Get better website stats

Without going too deep into how a website works, Google love websites that have longer staying visitors. By having an educational piece on your product page (rather than just an image price and feature list) the viewer is more likely to stay on that page for a longer period of time. Video is a great way to keep your viewer engaged for longer. This will tell Google that your page is worth looking at, and this will result in Google showing your website to more people.

8. Attract customers who are a better fit

You can attract more customers that suit your business if you educate your buyer. Anyone can create content about how to toast bread. But if your company is in the business of selling waffle makers then bread toasting content isn’t going to help you attract new customers that want a waffle maker, or even connect with your existing customers that have been making waffles. It’s just going to confuse them about what you actually offer as a service. While you are most certainly creating educational content about making toast, you’re not educating your customers about what they really care about. In reality, you are just educating someone else’s customer. You aren’t the expert in the toaster business, so why would you try to be?

When you are creating your content with your desired audience in mind, you are cutting out this misdirected approach. If you want to attract more customers like your existing ones then you have to create relevant content that appeals to them. Instead of making content aimed at everyone–including people who will never be customers–why not target people who are a good fit?

9. Simplify the sales process

When you are selling to a customer who is already educated on your product, it will save a lot of time explaining the basics, as you have already done that with your content. They have made an educated decision to come in to make their purchase, so a good chunk of that sales process is already complete (that’s not to say you can slack off and not give the best service!). The bonus is that if it was the salesperson that has created that educational content, then rapport building has already started before the customer has walked into the store. This simplifies the sales process–they might come in, tell you what they want, and be on their way.

Be the one to give your customers what they want

Remember, we live in a knowledge-based economy. Customers care about value & trust. The key to effective sales content is to educate the customer, not bombard them with things that they don’t care about and don’t want to hear. If you think you might have trouble creating content to educate your buyer, the team at Back9 can help. We have professional content creators who do expert-level content including copywriting, photography and videography, graphic design, and much more. Get in touch today to find out more about how can help you through content creation.