Imagine, if you will, a winding desert road.
It stretches before you as you drive, lost to the horizon. On this road are many exits, all leading in wildly different directions. Each of them calls to you with bright signage, glorious promises, and in some cases, bands of feral motorcyclists sent to forcibly escort you back from whence they came. The blazing sun beats down on you from above, baking the moisture out of your body. The AC is broken. The sunroof is stuck open. You can only stay on this road for so long until your body will give out…
This is the exact situation your website visitors are in.
As you try your very best to lead them towards a destination: trading an email address for a newsletter, trading some payment information for a donation, trading their time for a chance to volunteer… there is an army of distractions and obstacles dead-set on redirecting them elsewhere.
The culprits may live on your very website in the form of buggy homepages or slow load times. They may be in the site visitor’s external environment: something as simple as a tempting sandwich sitting on the counter or a loved one in need of assistance. They may even be within the visitor themselves! Anxiety, confusion, and uncertainty are some of the most powerful distracting forces you’ll ever encounter as an organization.
Regardless of where the culprit lives, we must take careful steps to claim victory over them in order to get your site visitor to the destination at the end of The Long Road.
How?
It’s a game of maximizing the odds. The hard truth is that we cannot control all the variables that contribute to a visitor abandoning their session on our websites. We just can’t. There are twists, turns, and potholes in The Long Road that even the most experienced site designers can’t predict.
So we simply eliminate as many distractions as we can.
We work hard to ensure that anything that is within our control is as straightforward and obstacle-free as possible. Not only that, but we design our Roads with pit stops that intentionally encourage and assist our site visitors on their way to the destination.
Here at Masterworks, there are about eight major pit stops required to give our site visitors/Road travelers the best chance of crossing the finish line. When placed carefully in sequence, the traveler should barely even notice the assistance being given. As if their needs and objections are being met before they even identify them! The AC is repaired and kicks on before they notice how hot they are, so the roadside waterpark doesn’t even catch their eye.
The Eight Steps to Gift
Here are the eight crucial pit stops to put on your Road, lovingly known around here as the “Eight Steps to Gift.”
- Capture Attention: Show why your content is worth their time. If you can’t even entice them with the purpose of your Road, the battle’s already lost. They’re pulling an instant U-turn.
- Engage Further: Make it clear and compelling. Why should they give you more of their time? Once they’ve started driving in your direction, give them more incentive to press onward. Help them to resist the pull of the proverbial “World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn” roadside attraction.
- Build Understanding: Help them grasp the mission. Clearly present to them the key reasons why the destination you’re directing them towards is right for them.
- Establish Trust: Demonstrate credibility. If you give them any reason to think there are traps and pitfalls waiting for them along the Road, they’ll turn right around. Show them how safe and secure your Road is!
- Evoke Desire to Help: Move visitors emotionally to act. Right now. Putting aside the metaphor for a moment, we know that the #1 reason people stop giving to an organization is because they think another one could use it more urgently. They should feel that it’s crucial that they help your cause as soon as they can.
- Demonstrate Exclusivity: Position your organization as the best solution. Sure, there may be other Roads and other destinations similar to yours, but no one does it just like you. Drive home (see what I did there?) the key facets of your mission that set you apart from other organizations like yours.
- Encourage Commitment: Make the ask. Moment of truth! Will you, lovely site visitor, complete the Road and arrive at the destination?
- Enable Completion: Provide reassurance and remove friction to ensure they complete the trade. Once they get there, they should get first-class service. Eliminate all obstacles that would make them want to get back in their car and turn around. Don’t assume they’ll complete the target action just because they started it. Reassure them often that they are making the right decision by taking the steps you’ve laid before them.
So there you have it. The crucial pit stops on The Long Road we send each and every site visitor down. Take a look at your site this week and ask yourself: “If I was a site visitor instead of an employee, would I complete this journey? Is the destination clearly defined? Does the Road feel easy to use and safe? Have we designed this experience from a user-centric perspective rather than an organization-centric one?”
The answers to these questions will unearth crucial insights about your current site experience and the parts that may be causing your incoming visitors to spin out.
Isaiah, often referred to as the team's resident Optimization Wizard, brings a unique blend of theoretical insight and hands-on experience to help elevate client impact. With oversight of hundreds of tests and experiments, he has a keen eye for identifying the small, strategic adjustments that lead to significant results. When not immersed in the world of optimization strategy, Isaiah can be found reading, writing, drawing, climbing, or enjoying a good game.
