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Episode 47: Crafting a Services Page that Sells
159 Plays5 years ago
Neuroscience shows that buying is primarily an emotional decision. We decide, based largely on ‘irrational’ factors, to purchase something, and then use reason to justify the decision.
But we see so many websites that focus almost exclusively on the rational reasons that one might purchase their products or services.
Frequently we see services pages that resemble a menu. The whole page is usually succinct, and contains the price of the service with description of the deliverables, or the exact items that are included in that service.
That information is, of course, important on some level, but we often overestimate how important that information is in the purchasing decision.
I’d argue that the exact deliverables become less important the more ‘luxury’ or ‘high end’ the service or product we’re selling.
So if the focus isn’t on deliverables, what does an effective sales page focus on?
For more resources and to read the full article, go to https://daveyandkrista.com/how-to-create-services-page/...
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Transcript
The Art of Storytelling in Business
00:00:06
Speaker
better understand the significance of whatever it is that you're doing. I mean, how do we make sense of the world? It's often through the stories we tell about ourselves and the stories that we tell ourselves about others. And so I think stories just give you a greater context for understanding.
Introduction to Brands at Book Show
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
Crafting Effective Services Pages with Vanessa Kynes
00:00:38
Speaker
Today we are chatting about the elements of an effective services page. In other words, what kinds of things do you need on your services or investment or experience page of your website to book clients? I've invited my friend and Pinterest marketing strategist, Vanessa Kynes, to help me explore this topic. Be sure to check out the show notes at davianchrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode, and I'd like to hear from you about what kind of content you'd like to see on the Brands That Book podcast as we move forward.
00:01:07
Speaker
I'd also like to know what episodes have you enjoyed most so far and why. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davey and Krista Facebook page and send us a message. Now, onto the episode.
The Power of Conversational Podcasts
00:01:21
Speaker
All right, I am back with Vanessa Kynes for another episode of Brands That Book, and today we are talking about crafting a services page that sells. So, welcome back, Vanessa. Hey, thanks for having me, Davey.
00:01:35
Speaker
And you know, Vanessa has become sort of a staple here on the Brands at Book Show. Kristin and I were chatting. I've actually tried to record some solo episodes and I failed miserably. First of all, I just don't think anybody wants to hear from a single person for more than five minutes or so.
00:01:53
Speaker
I mean, what do you think like I just all the episodes that I've tried to record on my own, you know, it's 20 minutes. And then after a while, I just feel like this is brutal. Yeah, and some of the best podcasts like How I built this always have like someone else to talk to. So I totally agree. I think it's nice to have the sidekick. He can feed you questions and keep the conversation going.
00:02:13
Speaker
Well, you were the very first person that came to mind for Christa. She was like, Vanessa is always such a good conversationalist when she is on the podcast. So I'm so glad that you've been able to join me recently for some of these episodes. Yeah. Well, I'm super excited to be here. So what are we talking about today?
Transforming Services Pages into Sales Tools
00:02:29
Speaker
When you're talking about crafting any services page that sells, one of the things that I see with services page often is sort of a half page. I mean, people's investment or services page, often what I see is this, a page that the whole thing is above the fold. So below the fold, to get the stuff below the fold would mean that you would have to scroll, right? And it would generally have maybe some collections or packages on it, exactly what's part of each of those packages, and then the prices, and that's it.
00:02:58
Speaker
It's kind of like going to Five Guys and ordering exactly what you're getting, but that's about it. Exactly. You're looking at a menu and you see all the ingredients and you know exactly what you're getting, which is fine for Five Guys, which is fine for Amazon and maybe some e-commerce websites, but even some of these e-commerce websites like Amazon has more content on that page than just the prices.
00:03:20
Speaker
So one thing that I've noticed is that services pages that resemble or look a little bit like sales pages tend to be more effective.
Analyzing Services vs. Sales Pages
00:03:33
Speaker
Interesting. So talk a little bit about the differences between a services and a sales page because I'm a little bit confused on that.
00:03:40
Speaker
So, I mean, everybody's been on a sales page before. I'm sure that you have a sales page for your Pinterest course. I do, and it does go below the fold, thankfully. Yeah, right? And so you have all sorts of content on there. So, let's just talk about your Pinterest course sales page real quick. What are some of the elements that you have on that sales page?
00:03:58
Speaker
So I kind of use questions like a story brand setting where I start to get the people to see themselves in the problem, which is not feeling confident about using Pinterest. And then I follow up with what's in the course and what are some problems I can solve for them. Lots of testimonials. And then even all throughout the page, sprinkling those call to actions like, Hey, I'm ready to take the course, but multiple times.
00:04:22
Speaker
So I would say that it's slightly repetitive, but it starts with just giving them confidence that this is really the right solution for them. Yeah, absolutely. But some of those things that you just mentioned I think are super important for your sales page, especially when you're thinking about a sales page. Sales pages are typically used for products that can be bought without talking to anybody, right? So somebody can go buy your Pinterest course and they can buy our inquiry system course, which is on SEO or content, without ever discussing that with us. Same thing with any of our show website templates.
00:04:51
Speaker
So we want to make sure that we have all that information there to answer people's questions, but then also beyond that so that they know exactly what they're getting.
Creating Immersive Service Experiences
00:05:00
Speaker
I think services pages that resemble sales pages in that respect are going to be more effective. So oftentimes though, when I see, and this is especially of like people who've designed their website themselves, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that, especially when you're getting started because I think it's a good learning experience and you just need to save money where you can save money, right? But we have an outline of what should be on a website.
00:05:21
Speaker
And then that outline on our website is each page, every element has its own page. So there's a press and testimonials page. There's an investment page, and again, it only contains the prices. There's a galleries page that only contains galleries when it's really a mixture of all of these things that are going to work together to get somebody to purchase.
00:05:42
Speaker
Because I think that mostly purchasing is an emotional decision. I think that there's science out there. There's no research that shows that purchasing is mostly an emotional decision that then is backed up and justified through reason. So to me, it makes sense to start your services page by focusing on the experience and the process or the story as you do on your sales page, then starting with the price.
00:06:08
Speaker
Okay, so what are your top tips?
Defining and Communicating Unique Value Propositions
00:06:10
Speaker
Because I know a lot of people really struggle with storytelling and feeling special and unique in what they do when there's a thousand other people who provide the same service. So how can you really separate yourself to provide that experience on your services page?
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah, I would avoid lists. That's the first thing that I would avoid. So lists of things that you love. I would just avoid it altogether. Like Starbucks and Golden Doodle Puppies, things like that. Those things, I mean, there's ways to incorporate stuff like that. But I would say like anytime you're going to tell a story or incorporate a list like that, how does it build your brand? So one example I'm going to use is from our wedding photography website. So when we were shooting weddings,
00:06:49
Speaker
We had a story that tied into kind of the experience we provide in our process around pizza, you know, and it wasn't simply like, Oh, we really like pizza, you know, and hoping that that person likes pizza too. And they book us right because that's not really how it works. But one of our favorite wedding gifts that we got when Chris and I got married,
00:07:06
Speaker
was a pizza-making kit. It was like personal pizza pans, some do-it-yourself make-it-home dough and all that kind of stuff. That became a tradition for us every Friday night. Really, to this day, we still generally have pizza on Friday nights.
00:07:22
Speaker
And so what we did is we took that story and we kind of looked at, okay, so why is this important to us in our marriage, these traditions? And so we told the story about, you know, us, you know, using this, these personal pizza kits as, you know, a way to form a tradition in our own marriage. And so we're really telling this story there. We're not simply saying, Oh, yeah, you know, like, if I listed my favorite things, it'd be like, I love a good hoagie. I love hanging around in sweatpants, you know, like, I just prefer, I like lounging.
00:07:50
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And so you have to ask yourself, how would that build your brand, you know, but a story about, you know, largely about making pizza on Friday nights, that can build your brand, you know, super, super relatable. And also just showing that as you and Krista value your own marriage and time together and date nights, that you will perceive or that you will treat the couples as you know, really looking into their wedding, not just as a wedding as a date, but actually, you know, their future marriage. So I love that that you're kind of building that. So
00:08:21
Speaker
The other thing I wanted to ask you is, can you explain to me what a UVP is? Because I know a lot of people really struggle with saying, hey, well, it's obvious what I do. I'm a Pinterest marketing strategist, period. Why do I need to go further and explain what makes me really unique?
00:08:35
Speaker
Yeah. So people need to understand exactly what you do, kind of how you do it and who you do it for. They need a little bit more context, right? So our unique value proposition for Dave and Krista, for instance, is that we help creative service-based businesses build brands that book.
00:08:51
Speaker
right? And so we work with a lot of wedding industry people, we work a lot with, you know, people who are service based businesses. So we're not necessarily doing well, I hesitate to say this because we're doing way more e commerce and stuff like that. And I just think that our general gift set, like, you know, Chris says, we're pretty technical.
00:09:09
Speaker
So we really love doing e-commerce sites, but mostly the people that we're marketing to are service-based businesses. So somebody who lands on our website that's a photographer, that's a planner, that's an artist, they know right away that we're for them. So going beyond just Pinterest marketing strategist, but getting to who you do that for
00:09:30
Speaker
and kind of what the end result is as well. If you can work in an end result and benefit, I think that makes a great UVP.
Leveraging Storytelling in Professional Services
00:09:38
Speaker
And for us, it's brands that book, right? Because people who are service-based businesses, what do they want? They want to book more clients.
00:09:45
Speaker
Something that's really interesting is I often get referrals from people who are food-based blogs, and they want me to market their Pinterest. And I always say, your food photography, it's beautiful, but I don't do food. Because even Pinterest has its own specific niches, and food is just one of those marketing strategies that requires its own techniques and strategies. So for me, like you, I try to work with service-based creative entrepreneurs
00:10:09
Speaker
who are very interested in blogging and content marketing. So I totally get that. And I probably need to work a little bit harder on repelling the food-based people, although I love getting their inquiries and getting a chance to say hello. But I think it's awesome that you're able to say no. I think that's one of my hardest things is I love a good new adventure or project. So I have trouble, I think, saying no to people.
00:10:31
Speaker
Yeah. Well, there's just so many types of businesses out there. Yeah. But a good UVP will help you do that for sure. Yeah, it doesn't always repel. And something that a leader has always taught me, an industry leader has said that your UVP can be specific, but it doesn't mean that you can't take on those special projects. But it does mean in general that you want to repel the type of people who you're certainly not a good fit for and attract the people that you really desire and want to work with.
00:10:57
Speaker
And I do want to say one more thing about stories just in general. I think that stories help people better understand the significance of whatever it is that you're doing. I mean, how do we make sense of the world? It's often through the stories we tell about ourselves and the stories that we tell ourselves about others. And so I think stories just give you a greater context for understanding.
00:11:17
Speaker
So this is I think especially helpful for people who are in services where they feel like or selling a product even where they feel like they need to justify why somebody needs this. I think a story is going to do that. I think it's going to take that extra step for giving somebody context. Why is it important that you're getting pictures taken by a professional and not just handing cameras to a friend?
00:11:38
Speaker
You know, because they're going to capture moments that are going to be, you know, you're going to very much value 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from
Should Prices Be Included on Service Pages?
00:11:46
Speaker
now. So, you know, again, do you want to tell that story or do you want to list on your website that people are going to get 997 images? You know, it reminds me a lot of the quote. People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic. And that's from Seth Godin.
00:12:00
Speaker
And it really is so true. We need to remember that people want to connect, especially on something like your wedding day. They want to have a special connection with their photographer. Or they want to make sure that they're working with someone who really gets them and is going to show value to what they're doing. So I think the storytelling element, though, can be hard to pull out. It's super important to discover what your stories are so that you can share those on your services page.
00:12:23
Speaker
Absolutely. And like you said, it can be difficult. Working with a copywriter though is great because they're going to help you pull those stories out for sure. Okay. Big question I have for you. Let's talk about prices on your services page.
00:12:38
Speaker
Yeah, so prices in general, I always believe that prices were a no go for a services page. This is controversial. It is. It is controversial. And there's definitely other opinions out there. We never included pricing on our website, I would say that we deliver a higher end and more luxury product both when we were shooting weddings and now as designers, and that's never been an issue.
00:12:59
Speaker
Does it mean that we get more people that would just inquire and they're really price shopping? Yeah, maybe. But I think in general, it allows us to, again, frame the experience how we want to frame it and provide the experience how we want to provide it instead of making that the thing. Again, going back to a sales page, it's important to have prices on a sales
Building Client Relationships and Trust
00:13:20
Speaker
page. When somebody purchases a product on Amazon, it's important to have prices there because they can go and purchase that product without ever talking to anybody.
00:13:28
Speaker
Most of our businesses, I would assume that for most of the people who listen to this podcast, but for both of us, the service that we provide is also going to be relational. We're going to work one-on-one with that client. It's important that there is some sort of meeting, that there is some sort of understanding of, okay, who are you and how can I best serve you or how can I serve you? I think having people inquire first makes sense. That's so true. It sounds like you're saying when you have your price on your website,
00:13:57
Speaker
People who are really interested in that, their main criteria is, does this person fit the budget? But what you're saying is giving those people an opportunity to email you and get to know you, and then you introduce the price. But you pretty much have already, hopefully, kind of wooed them and nurtured them in the process before they even get to the price.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. 100%. You're you're just extending the time in which you have to nurture somebody, especially like somebody might not understand the value of you as a floral designer, as opposed to going to Walmart or any given grocery store and just picking up a bunch of bouquets, right? Or however, you know, all that work. See, obviously, I don't know.
00:14:39
Speaker
I don't know much about that industry. That's why I stick to the examples of industries that I know something about. But it's more of an opportunity to nurture people, tell them the story, give them context on why your service and the way that you provide it is worth it. And I'll tell you, we've had people who
00:14:55
Speaker
have a certain budget in mind when they come to us, come to us, go through the experience how we want them to go through it, and then increase their budget to work with us. Because through the way that we've educated them, then they've come to realize, okay, this is why it's important to pay this price for the service.
The Impact of Testimonials and Reviews
00:15:12
Speaker
Yeah. And a lot of it really is that emotional decision, but also the trust in the service provider on the other end. We get a Walmart and we just want to get a quick buy, quick purchase, probably a throwaway item.
00:15:23
Speaker
But for something like this or for something that's really important to them, that trust is so important. I think it gives you a chance to develop that trust along the way. One of the arguments for having prices on your websites, rather, that I heard from an influencer in the industry was that you want to be as straightforward and clear. You don't want to be hiding things. But I don't think we've never, absolutely never, have had somebody come to us and say, you weren't clear about your prices.
00:15:50
Speaker
You can still be very clear about your prices and you should still be very clear about your prices, but not have them on your website. So how do you send over your prices? How do I send it? Yeah.
00:16:02
Speaker
Well, I don't actually, yeah, I don't list them on my website. Usually somebody sends me an email or inquiry and I take a look at their website because for me, I'm looking at a few key pieces to see if Pinterest is right for them. I usually always follow up with a compliment about their work. And then I usually follow up with a PDF and mine is very list kind of five guys style.
00:16:22
Speaker
But I have to say it's really specific and people want to know what the deliverables are like because Pinterest is kind of elusive and it's kind of hard to understand what you're saying. Sure. No. But I think that's the exact time to include deliverables is in that PDF or on that hidden page on your website. We've used both a PDF and a hidden page on our website. But like you we get the inquiry. We take a look at it.
00:16:42
Speaker
We usually respond to the inquiry with a couple questions that, again, might further qualify people, but then also a link to our pricing, whether that be a link to a hidden webpage or a PDF attachment. Then in that webpage and that attachment, you can take some more time to provide access to things like FAQs, maybe a little bit more information about who you are and what you do. But again, front and center, like you said, should also be at that point. Here are the different collections that you can choose from, and here's exactly what's included in those collections.
00:17:12
Speaker
Yeah, totally. So I want to know though, there's that trust factor that we talked about, when do you include testimonials and social proof on your services page? Yeah, I think that this is maybe one of the most important things in the purchasing product. I mean, I don't know about you, but even if I'm shopping on Amazon for something that's like 50 cents, I'm just I'm going to look at the
Showcasing Portfolio Work Effectively
00:17:33
Speaker
stars, you know, how many stars is that I oftentimes when searching on something in Amazon, I'm just going to go to the filter button, I'm going to sort by two things prime and
00:17:42
Speaker
average of you being four stars or greater. Those are the two things that I search for. If I'm going to do that for a 50 cent purchase, I'm definitely going to do that for a purchase that's going to be over thousands or it could be thousands of dollars. Testimonials and social proof I think should be incorporated throughout the entire website. It's not something that goes on its own testimonial or press page. I would say that if it does go on its own page,
00:18:07
Speaker
See how many people are actually visiting that page because if I see a tab that has testimonials and press, I'm thinking to myself, well, no one includes a bad testimonial or review on their page. But if I'm coming across that as I'm considering a service, I think that reinforces, again, trustworthiness and my decision maybe to purchase
00:18:29
Speaker
that service. So that should go all throughout the website. But I think it should go throughout different places on the services page. So not just one place, but you know, as people scroll down, they see another testimonial, I would pull out the best part of that testimonial and make it bold, you know, because people read an entire paragraph or plus of text. But that way, people are seeing, you know, kind of the highlight. And you can also highlight what you think people should be paying attention to as well.
00:18:56
Speaker
Well, this is such a for me because we are getting ready to move and we've been looking at realtors. And the first thing, you know, I'm searching random and not even in the city, Birmingham realtors. And the first thing I'm looking at is I'm combining their Google reviews, the reviews on their website, and then there's other reviews. And I'm actually looking to see if those align, because obviously what you put on your website, you can kind of control, but there's, there's some areas that you can't quite control as well. And so for me,
00:19:21
Speaker
Reviews are super important but i think what's really tricky is making them look beautiful because obviously amazon five star gold stars it doesn't look beautiful do you have any tips for like incorporating it in a like aesthetic way sure this is a question that's more designed for christa for sure because.
00:19:39
Speaker
I don't do like you know it's so funny what I think looks good and what she thinks looks good and I'll send over all draw up oftentimes just from like a usability user experience perspective like what how things should be laid out whatever and then maybe give her some insight into what I think would look good and she'll just look at me like
00:19:56
Speaker
You know, and then it's blank. It's a blank stare. And I was like, okay, whatever, you know, you do your own thing. So I think that, I mean, there's a number of different ways using sliders and stuff like that. I think, especially if you're going to have a slider, having reviews throughout the page is better than just having one slider.
Using Client Logos as Social Proof
00:20:12
Speaker
Because again, how many people, I think we'd be shocked at how few people actually go through the slider itself, right? So people are most likely just going to see whatever that first or maybe second slider is before moving on.
00:20:23
Speaker
So you'll have to ask somebody that's an actual designer how to make those look good. But I think you brought up a really good point, which is those reviews that are off your website. I think that's why it's so important to be building reviews into or getting reviews on your Google My Business listing or whatever industry niche website that people tend to use for reviews. Because those are places that people will check to. People will assume that the best reviews are on your website.
00:20:49
Speaker
So again, having a way to get people to leave you a Google My Business listing review, and we've talked about this in another episode, is really helpful as well.
Crafting Compelling Calls to Action
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah, totally, totally. Okay, so this is a tricky thing that, again, is going to be all about your style of your website. But how do you work in your portfolio pieces? So say you have a really visual
00:21:09
Speaker
How do you like to push those into your website or even use them on your services page? Sure. A lot of people have gallery pages on their website. I would say that to a certain extent, there's nothing wrong with that if you only offer one, maybe two types of services. What I mean by that is if you were a photographer and you shoot just weddings, having a gallery's page on your website of a bunch of weddings, that makes sense. But if you are a photographer that shoots weddings, families, and engagements or something like that,
00:21:38
Speaker
Then, really, having a galleries page with all of those different types of galleries on them can get confusing for people who are just searching for a wedding photographer. What I would recommend is taking galleries and putting them into their respective services page.
Designing Optimal Contact Forms
00:21:55
Speaker
On our weddings page, let's say, we have wedding galleries. Those wedding galleries are organized by event, not by type.
00:22:01
Speaker
So that's another mistake I see with galleries is that you're taking a bunch of different images from a bunch of different events and then putting them to a single wedding's gallery. Well, yeah, your work might have a similar aesthetic, but each wedding might have a little bit of a different aesthetic.
00:22:17
Speaker
So, I think it provides a more editorial and a more classic look by organizing each gallery by event and especially in show it. There's a couple of really great ways to do that that makes it feel like when you open it up that it's like a publication. You can list the vendors on the side. I'll include a link to a website that I think does this really well in the show notes and you can check that out. But even if you have a gallery's page on your website,
00:22:43
Speaker
I would say including galleries or examples of your work or portfolio pieces in the services page allows people without leaving to take a look at your work and be reminded of how great it is. I'd say each gallery only has to have about 20 images in it. You don't want to go crazy. And these are the best of the best. Okay, so I don't have a lot of visual images to show my work. So one thing that I've done, I don't know how you feel about this, is I actually have a little trusted by like little strip
00:23:13
Speaker
And I have a bunch of the logos of the people that I've worked with. Do you feel like that's the best way to display your services and the type of cot that you have in your community and your networking community? That's a great question. I'd say that having the logos of people who trust you is a great form of social proof. So I definitely include that on a services page or a sales page. My only, and this is straight from Krista because Krista has trained me to think this way,
00:23:39
Speaker
those logos, making sure that, let's say maybe taking them and making them all black and white on your website, just so they don't look like what Krista would say, logo or badge soup. Because you don't want one with these hot pink crazy colors that aren't on brand. So you can make them look more classic on your website. But another thing that would be great for you is including some white papers or case studies.
00:24:01
Speaker
So, it wouldn't be a gallery for you, but it could be a case study of how you worked with. You took over our Pinterest, you've been managing our Pinterest account for the last year now about, and how you've increased our results from, you know, about a thousand percent. So, we have...
00:24:17
Speaker
that seems like that would be like a text, like, oh, yeah, like actual text versus images. So that's where I find it's kind of tricky to show results that it would be like a chart and it would for in that case, like our get like galleries tend to open up, they can open up in the same page, almost as a modal or a pop up, right? Whereas for you, those would probably be links to a case study.
00:24:37
Speaker
You know, so it would take people in that respect, it would open up a new tab and take people off
Balancing Contact Form Questions
00:24:43
Speaker
of it. But I think another way of just being able to show off some some portfolio pieces, so to speak, and some tangible results that you've gotten people, I think the icons do the same thing, or they probably have a similar effect. I know that when I see like trusted by Airbnb or whatever, I'm thinking, Oh, wow, this this software company must be legit.
00:25:00
Speaker
Totally. Absolutely. Okay. So let's talk about CTAs or call to actions and your contact form because obviously you're all about brands that book. We don't just want to services pages. We want it to lead to action. So give me some of your top tips that you use on those services page to get people to take action and contact you.
00:25:18
Speaker
One strategy that I really like is including a contact form at the bottom of the respective services page. Krista won't let us do that because she doesn't like the way it looks. She vetoes that for us, but I do think that it's an effective way of getting people or meeting people where they're at. If somebody is ready to book and they're on that page, give them a way to do it on that page instead of trusting that they're going to open up another page, that page is going to load quick enough, yada, yada, yada.
00:25:43
Speaker
I think what you said about your sales page early on, that's a good point to bring up, is you give people a way to purchase your course throughout the entire sales page. I might have only read a quarter of your sales page and I'm ready to purchase, whereas somebody might need to read the entire thing before they're ready.
00:25:59
Speaker
So, for people like me, I can click the button that says I'm ready and I go to the checkout form and I purchase. I think similar with the contact form, maybe including a call to action to bring people to the contact form a little bit earlier on the page. I wouldn't say it's like a sales page. So, this is one way I think it differs from a sales page. I don't think you need that button on every single canvas of your page.
00:26:24
Speaker
but putting one maybe a little bit above or higher up on the page and one a little bit lower, I think makes sense. Encouraging people to take the next step because sometimes that's what people need. They just need to know exactly what the next step is. If that's inquiring to get more details and to learn a little bit more about how you work and whether you would be a good fit, tell people that that's what inquiring results in.
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I love all that. I'm sure that the design of my services page is not amazing, but I think it's really important to you to think about people using mobile because if you have a super long services page, they're probably not going to make it to the bottom. So don't bury that call to action in the bottom. Make sure that it's somewhere near the top. So smart.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah, and you can take a look at Google Analytics and see how many people are looking at your website from mobile. I would say the majority of people who are not in the creative industry, just like your B2C companies, they're definitely on mobile. So I think there's an even stronger push to make sure that your website is mobile optimized.
00:27:22
Speaker
Yeah, I'd be shocked if if you're listening, if your mobile users are under 50% of your total traffic, I would be I'd be pretty shocked. But Vanessa, one thing I admire about you is that every time we talk, you're bringing it back to Google Analytics. And I just I think that's great. Maybe we need to do a whole episode on the metrics you should be looking at for Google Analytics. You know, I think we have our next episode.
00:27:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think the data is just super important. I know a lot of people are really afraid of it, and it's super scary. But honestly, I think the biggest things for me to know is I want to know what traffic is coming in and where it's going. And for me, that's probably growing my email list. For you, obviously, that's email lists for your courses, but then also your services page. So it's super valuable to know what is working.
00:28:08
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that all of the things that you mentioned, I mean, just understanding where traffic is coming from and where it's going, really doesn't result in any crazy setup on the Google Analytics side. I think that's what really gets people overwhelmed. But we will absolutely talk about that in another episode. I do love talking about contact forms though, although I've talked about it so much in other episodes.
00:28:30
Speaker
But a couple of high points to hit, the more questions you ask in general, the less people that actually fill out the form. So, you know, I only ask questions that you need answers to when including a contact form. And, you know, I think there's questions that sometimes people ask that they think are qualifying questions but aren't really qualifying questions. One of those questions is, on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you want to work with me?
00:28:59
Speaker
It sounds super arrogant, to be honest. I know. That's how I feel. But there's people out there. I mean, again, if you're out there, if you if you use this question, I've talked to people who say, hey, listen, like, I just like I want people who want to work with me. Okay, and I get that. And maybe, maybe you're swimming in inquiries. And so you can kind of afford to ask that question. But I think that and I want people that want to work with me as well. I think the relationship is so much better.
00:29:21
Speaker
when you're working with somebody who wants to work with you, right? I don't think necessarily at that point in the relationship, or should you be asking that one to 10, like, maybe somebody who's just met you, they love you, or they came across your website, they love your work, they get to that question, and they're like, I don't know, like, maybe you're a jerk.
Key Elements of Effective Service Pages
00:29:39
Speaker
And so they put five, you know, does that mean that they're not going to be a great client? No, it just means that they don't know you. So I would avoid questions like that.
00:29:48
Speaker
And what do you do if someone puts a one and shows that that they only want to work with you on a one scale? I don't really know what you do with that information. You just not respond I assume or something or say you're not a good fit. But I think that there's so much more relationship left to build and so I just don't think it's the right time.
00:30:06
Speaker
to ask a question like that. And there's just better qualifying questions that you can ask somebody in a contact form. But I would keep it as lean as possible so that it's easy for people to fill out. And then I also always include a separate email address outside of your contact form that people can use for whatever reason. I am one of those people. I don't know why I'm like this, but when I come across a contact form, like when I go to a contact page, I'm usually looking for an email address that then I can send an email to that person that's more personal than the contact form.
00:30:36
Speaker
Yeah, actually, I did this today. I was on a contact page looking for an email, because I would prefer to email him for my email. That's so true.
00:30:43
Speaker
Yeah, and I don't know why I'm like this, but I am so include email address. And the other thing too is contact forms break. And it's frustrating. It's annoying, but it happens. And so if giving people direction on, hey, if you don't hear from me in the next 48 hours, it means that somehow I missed your message. And I want you to reach back out again, use this email address. So I think it's a nice redundancy for for weird people like us who want to just write an email instead of filling out the form on your website.
00:31:11
Speaker
Okay, I do have one other question for you. It's an early question. But on the contact page, other than like name, first and last name and email, and then maybe for you specifically booking like a time period, like when are you looking for the service? One of my favorite things to include is how did you hear about me? Because it goes back to that tracker, that inquiry tracker spreadsheet that you mentioned. I want to know, I want my clients to know, did they come from Pinterest specifically?
00:31:39
Speaker
There's some of those top level marketing funnels like Google and Pinterest where people are kind of first learning about you for the first time. And I, of course, want my platform, of course, to get credit for that inquiry. Well, probably the most important question that you can ask.
00:31:55
Speaker
especially if you're advertising somewhere, like you said, I mean, so if I'm working with a Pinterest strategist, and I want to have an idea of what inquiries came from Pinterest, and not just rely on maybe some of the Google analytic data that I that I could get, you know, I want to make sure that I'm asking if I'm advertising in wedding wire or not, which I would never do just running out there, then you know, I want to know like when somebody inquires, is that where they found us?
00:32:19
Speaker
So that is a question that we track diligently to better understand where we should be pouring marketing dollars and then where we should stop pouring marketing dollars for sure. So great question. I think that's the most important question you can ask on a contact form.
00:32:33
Speaker
But just to review, sales page, I think take a look at your favorite services page, take a look at your favorite sales pages out there. I think there's a lot we can learn from a well-crafted sales page for a services page. I think really a services page in many ways is like a light sales page. And I say light only because, like we said at the beginning, with a sales page, theoretically somebody could go through the sales page, understand
00:32:57
Speaker
They need all this information because they're going to purchase without talking to anybody. Whereas the services page, we're hoping to eventually for somebody to inquire and for us to talk to them. It's probably going to be a little bit shorter than a sales page, but it's going to contain a lot of the same elements. The experience
00:33:15
Speaker
framing the experience in terms of a story, I think is the most effective way because people can see themselves in those stories. Going through the process and the benefits of working with you, not focusing on exactly what they get. That information is important, but I think the benefit is going to be more important than the deliverable itself.
00:33:36
Speaker
I personally want to include prices on your website, especially if you're high-end, luxury. I would save that for the next step in the process. Of course, if you're e-commerce, it'd be ridiculous if we tried to hide our prices for our website templates that we sell over at debutandchrista.com.
00:33:54
Speaker
And then of course testimonials and social proof as much of that as possible. I think that's one of the most crucial pieces in the purchasing process, having examples portfolio work, whether it be galleries or what case studies or something like
Conclusion and Audience Engagement
00:34:06
Speaker
that. And then of course, strong call to action telling people what the next step is. Anything else? That sounds amazing advice. That sounds perfect. All right. Thanks again, Vanessa for joining us for another episode of Brands That Book. We will be back next week. Thank you.
00:34:25
Speaker
Thanks for tuning into the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to dvandchrista.com.