A simple way to place yourselves in the situation of a customer: and sell more.
The N.E.X.T. Model
Optimising websites is done right only if you think from the customer perspective and learn about Persuasion.
The questions in the NEXT model are designed to help you get into the head of the customer. And help your non-optimizing non testing colleagues to get into the head of the customer.
The model contains questions that I used to ask myself from the very beginning of my involvement in commercial internet back in the nineties. But there is also a ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ factor here: Online Dialogue, Conversion XL, Conversionista, Gerry McGovern, Guy Stratermans, Mesut Kareman all work with similar models and questions and all have inspired questions in this model.
The NEXT Model
First the questions themselves. Below you find some context.
1. Next Situation
- What is the Goal of the visitor?
- What questions does the visitor have?
- What is the visitors’ knowledge base?
- What barrier can we reduce or remove?
2. Next Best Action
- Next Best Action: What action does the business want the visitor to take?
- How can I motivate/Persuade? What message should I prime?
- What reassurance or warrantee can we give to reduce barriers?
- How do we ‘mitigate’the consumers risk or risk perception?
- What consideration or fear could be there to NOT DO an action?
- What consideration or fear could be there to DO AN ACTION
3. Next visit?
✓Success? Okay, great! But how can we arrange & support the next visit/sale/subscription ?
How to use the Model
1. Next Situation
What is the Goal of the visitor?
If you want a very clear and easy example of how to think about the goal of the visitor; have a look at The Jobs to be done framework; Clay Christensen explains it so well with the Milkshake Job To be Done.
Step 1: Finding out what are the top tasks. Want data? That is done with qualitative interviews or even better a McGovern research or a 3 Question research as Avinash describes. You should answer the questions below for each top task-flow.
Step 2: Different goals/Jobs? Start segmenting the goals/journeys! If goal 1 is ‘open a savings account’, it is a very different customer journey from ‘find out where you can get cash in Greece. First fix the most important goals.
The hard part, in my opinion, is getting the company to see things from a relentless customer focus perspective. Many companies are hooked on so called ‘Best Practise’ which I like to call ‘Industry Mediocracy passed on by overpriced consultancy firms with no real proof’.
It is hard to make companies take ‘the risk’ to make the product or service they offer stand out. Make no mistake ….behind every offer like ‘Pay later’, ‘Free cancellation’ is a huge risk model, spreadsheets, and … a gutsy business decision!
However if your product or service is ‘not standing out’ it will mean you are easy to compete with which will result in lower margins. More marketing spend is needed to get people to notice a mediocre product. So it is well worth to take the risk to stand out.
What questions does the visitor have?
Example 1: ‘Open a savings account’:
Do I need a bank account to open a savings account? Do I need to come into the branch? Do I need a ID or is a drivers license okay? Don’t answer these and you lose out on sales or…. on the cost of answering these in the Service center.
Example 2: Shopping a pair of jeans it could be:
Is this the right size? What if they don’t fit? What if I don’t like them? What would go with those? Is this as dark blue as it appears on my monitor? Is this the best price? When will it be delivered?
A lot of websites do not offer answers to the most fundamental consumer questions.
It seems kind of strange however as I have learned over the years working for the likes of Adidas, eBay, CarNext, Visa, Mastercard, VodafoneZiggo and many many more …….A lot of websites do not offer answers to the most fundamental consumer questions.
And many products are not offered with warrantees to help ease the mind and to help overcome buyer inertia and sell more. The name of the game is to make consumers decide now. Remember every ‘decide later’ can lead them to return to Google where they may be targeted by your competitor.
So make them decide! The sites/brands that do offer warrantees and answers to any possible doubt include: Zappos/Amazon, Booking.com, Zalando…. I am sure you have heard about those brands and witnessed their double & triple digit growth. But don’t take my word for this ‘best practise’ find out yourself by testing it!!
What is the visitors’ knowledge base?
There is a very big difference between the language we use in companies to describe our products. Brands are constantly busy with a product and have a tendency to overestimate the knowledge that a customer has. I have seen a Lease company use ‘ICE’ in a Social media post. ICE? as in cool? No! As in ‘Internal Combustion Engine off course! Do you have to ask? Don’t overestimate your customer. Dumb it down and in describing it use language a 12 year old would understand.
A lot of sites ‘overcrowd’ their visitors limited decision making willingness with options, complex names, terms, extra conditions etc. Hi welcome, looking for a savings account! Sure: just choose from our 17 great savings account! (actual example of Hollands top 3 bank Rabobank in an era when the interest rate doesn't even inspire you to consider one savings account. Let alone 17 types!)
Reducing choice and complexity is usually the fastest way to conversion. So cater to the maturity of the client (which can differ from orientation phase to buy phase. And……. don’t use lingo!
2. Next Best Action
Next Best Action: What action does the business want the visitor to take?
This is where you really start to see how conversion & product are interwoven;
How can I motivate/Persuade? What barrier can we reduce or remove?
For example: Why does Booking.com have ‘Free cancellation?’ Or ‘Book now, pay later’, ‘Your credit card wont be charged’. Because they understand what barriers are. And how they reduce conversion.
Situation; I am booking a weekend in Berlin with a friend but I don’t know if he can make it. Pre-Booking.com I would then …….Not book. Send him a mail, wait for his reply and maybe see a banner of a competitor and be lost for Booking.com. They found out that the cancellations you get are outweighed (BY FAR!) by the extra revenue they get from the extra rooms. So say 10% more bookings at a 10$ premium and only 2% cancellations. They look at the ‘risk’ consumers perceive: lets call this ‘consumer risk mitigation’. Or lets call it truly customer centric’ although that term is misused more often then it is correctly used.
Watch:
- What if in the end I don’t want to that weekend? Free cancellation.
- What if someone in the group can’t make it: Free cancellation.
- What if I find a better place? Free cancellation.
- What if I can’t find a affordable train ticket? Yes, indeed, you guessed it.
- What if I find a better price elsewhere: Lowest price warrantee.
- Hmm, I found this great room but I am low on cash: Book now, pay when you stay.
- Is this the right neighborhood? 741 reviews from travelers like you
Don’t get me wrong, there are many things Booking.com could improve IMO. But their ‘consumer risk mitigation strategy’ is stellar. So analyse and reduce every possible doubt with your product. And take it away. Make a business case for expected returns, cancelations etc. and do pilot to check it. Then subtract it from the extra conversion the warrantee causes and … you are more consumer centric.
What consideration or fear could be there to NOT DO an action?
For example: Can I afford it? This is why lending or monthly instalments are now common IN funnels.
For example: Can I change my mind?; Yes you can 1 year long (Zalando)
For example: is it money well-spend? Is it a good room: Yes it has an 8,9 out of 400 reviews etc, etc.
What consideration or fear could be there to DO AN ACTION?
Think: insurance, fear of missing out, one be part of the in-crowd (social proof). How many things do we buy we don’t really need? Right!
3. Next visit?
Success? Okay, great! How can we arrange the next visit?
One success is…. No success. In e-commerce money is made with the repeat orders. In becoming a destination. And in the ‘winner take all’ strategy. This is where you should think about service quality. About a great my environment.
Example: Dutch Telco Provider KPN already renews subscriptions & sends the renewal offer with an offer for latest iPhone months before the contract ends. Telco’s used to want you to ignore the fact that the telco subscription was about to end. Now they have turned it around. They start telling you to renew 7 months before your subscription ends. Why this sudden proactivity? They have found out that even if they don’t remind you, you will start to look for an alternative: on Google, therefore signaling every competitor in the market that you are ‘in market’ ready to be targeted with great offers.
Ok, I truly hope this article has brought you some value and ways to look at your product or process in the company you work or own. As I strive for life long learning: please oblige this question:
