How to Delight Online Customers with "Face to Face" Sales Tactics

With more and more sales moving online, there has been a collective sigh of relief due to avoiding the pushy, in-store salesperson. It seems the days are gone a business' success was dictated by the most impressive and charming product peddler. Or are they? It turns out that face to face marketing, or event marketing as it is more formally known, is still giving online selling a run for its money.

A 2014 study from McKinsey analyzed more than 9,000 new car buyers, then identified and ranked consumers' willingness to pay based on 24 customer touch points. As it turns out, live experience ranked number one. And they aren't the only ones recording this type of behavior. In a 2016 study, Forrester claimed that 77% of consumers had chosen, recommended, or paid more for a brand that provided a personalized service or experience. So the question is, can online marketing compete with face to face interaction?

Let's face it. Unless hologram technology improves anytime soon, there aren't many ways to get an online sales support person from a website into a person's home. That is probably good because that would be kind of weird. However, face to face interaction can't be ignored.

But luckily, it can be mimicked. After all, what is face-to-face marketing anyway? Does it require an in-person interaction? What is it that customersreally want? By looking at the core principles behind event-based and in-person marketing and sales, we have identified how to maximize the face to face benefits in a digital world.

Put a Face On Your Brand

One of the most apparent setbacks to digital marketing and sales, in comparison to the in-person variety, is the inability for your customer to put a face to your name. But what's stopping you from doing so? Some of the most successful online entrepreneurs attach their face (or a trusted "chosen one") to the company name for all the world to see.

Consider when Dollar Shave Club released its quirky viral video of CEO Michael Dubin strutting around the office and warehouse. Sure, the video is funny, but that’s not the point. The real magic is that they let the company’s personality shine through. They put Mike’s face on the company and made themselves far more relatable.

Take a look at the success of Progressive’s Flo (which still makes me laugh), or YouTube personalities such as Yoga With Adriene to see that people want more of the personal touch. Visibility is perhaps the most essential aspect of face to face marketing. When businesses are willing to trust one person to represent their product or service, it puts their reputation in that person's hands. That builds rapport with the audience and plants a seed of trust in the consumer because they feel like they have a legitimate friend in the company.

Events Can Be Online

Another fantastic way to get the benefits of face to face marketing, without expensive marketing or excess amounts of time, is through online events. The introduction of live streaming on social media has revolutionized the way businesses can interact with customers. Not to mention, with tools like Zoom.me, it's easier than ever to host great webinars and invite your customers to join, interact, ask questions, and even record for later publication.

And it sounds like customers agree. According to Livestream, “80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog, and 82% prefer live video from a brand to social posts.” The trick here is to do live events consistently enough with the same “face” so that customers can personalize the brand.

Build the Bond of Trust

Consistency and visibility are the key components to building trust. And with trust being one of the core values of face to face marketing, it cannot be considered lightly. One of the beautiful aspects of the digital world is that you have many avenues through which to feed information to your customers quickly.

And validation through trusted information about your product is one such valuable key in building trust.

A Bright Local survey stated that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation; reviews from people they've never met! Which is why here at Judge.me we're committed to providing incredible online review tools for online entrepreneurs.