Do you create content on a regular basis that addresses the FAQs in your industry? Do you lead with answers to these questions on your website, emails, and social media posts? One of the most powerful sales tools available to any company to increase sales is ignored by far too many companies. FAQs (frequently asked questions) are by definition common questions people have about any given product or service. When creating content, if you ignore FAQs, you are missing a golden opportunity to increase sales and the revenue they would generate.
What if you could unlock a hidden sales potential within your existing content strategy? The truth is, your customers’ frequently asked questions (FAQs) are exactly that! By ignoring these crucial questions, you’re missing out on connecting with customers who are actively seeking solutions that you likely could help with.
4 Main Benefits of Addressing FAQs
There are countless benefits of addressing FAQs in your business communication and marketing efforts. However I know people have limited attention spans, so listed below are the top four, to make it easy to digest.
1) Addressing Immediate Concerns
Potential customers are more interested in their needs/wants and how to fulfill them. They have questions centered around that. If you don’t address those first, they likely won’t pay attention to anything else you have to say for very long. So don’t lose them at the start, by missing THEIR main question or issue and how you can help them achieve it. This will help you retain their attention longer and help develop more interest in maintaining a deeper conversation with you. In essence, you will extend the clock, giving you time to earn their business.
2) Build Trust and Credibility
When you take the time right away to address their FAQs, it shows them that you understand the customer, relate to their issues and that you know how to best help them accomplish their objective/s. Sales is built on the know-like-trust foundation, and addressing FAQs can help you with all three in one fail swoop.
3) Boost Your Visibility and Increase SEO Rankings
If they cannot find you, the rest doesn’t matter. You can have the best marketing materials, the best looking and functioning website, and world-class demonstrations that all do nothing without a target audience to present to. Addressing FAQs online, in emails, and on social media all help to capture the attention of your target audience in mass. If you don’t, then likely your target audience will go to other options they have, to get what they are looking for quickly.
Google is designed to help users answer their questions. If you prove your website does a good job of answering the questions people are asking, your website will rank higher. Algorithms of social media platforms work in a similar fashion based on topics entered in their search bars. So be seen more, by addressing FAQs well and often.
4) Drives Conversions and Sales
You want more sales, right? Answering and focusing on FAQs is the key to them. In an instant gratification world, making the information to these questions front and center helps to capture the attention and then lock in the prospect’s focus on your company as the preferred vendor of choice. FAQ answers in emails and social media help drive traffic to your website. Answering FAQs on your website pages help to validate the prospect is in the right place, establish the trust you need, and then generate a warm/hot sales funnel for your team to work with in order to grow your sales volume. Note that this is a rinse-and-repeat process that can snowball when done correctly.
How to Implement FAQ Content
Now that you realize how important addressing and answering FAQs is, let’s discuss how to go about making the necessary changes to your overall marketing strategy. Changes should be made across the board, starting with your website.
On Your Website
Don’t bury the FAQ answers on a single page, that you can only find in the navigation menu of your website. Instead, break up the questions based on each page, and address them above the fold on each page. Why? Simple, because before the prospect cares to learn about your business, your experience, your accomplishments, and even your pricing, they want to know, “Can this company help me get what I want?” Before they will be interested in booking a demo or consultation, you need to answer that question for them. It’s not that they don’t care about pricing, qualifications, or any of the rest, it’s just it’s not their pressing question.
The first thing they care about is their burning question, can they help me resolve my issue? In other words, you have to help them realize they are in the right place and you have to do it quickly because the world has developed a fairly short attention span. If you don’t capture their attention quickly, they likely will go back to Google and look for another option in just a matter of a few seconds.
Headlines, Graphics, and Videos are key to capturing attention quickly. People are far more likely to scan than read. Written content is important, but if the Headlines, graphics, and videos are missing the mark, your website visitors will likely not read any of your content, again they’ll just leave and you’ll have missed the golden opportunity to gain their business.
Don’t Bury The Lead
Most websites are missing business because of this. They set up explaining the history of the business, how the process works and even showcasing past successes, thinking they are dealing with a sophisticated audience. That is why their websites don’t generate nearly as much new business as they could. Lead with the answers to the FAQs and you’ll turn your website into a new sales-generating machine that never sleeps, never needs a vacation, and doesn’t ask for a commission.
Please note that each page on your website is or should be created for a specific purpose, make sure that you address the relevant FAQ answers related to that page’s function above the fold (up at the top, before you have to scroll) and then give them the rest of the who we are, why we’re qualified, what we’ve accomplished, what we do, the products/services we offer type information lower down on each page.
Email and Sales Presentation Structure
Your prospects won’t be interested in reading a brochure until they know you can help them get what they want. Don’t lead with products/services and pricing options. Don’t focus on gimmicks. Instead, figure out the audience’s FAQs and answer those questions first.
Pretend like they have 30 seconds to decide if they are interested or not and focus on the main question/s they likely have (which are not about you, they’re about them) so you can capture their attention. It’s not that they won’t eventually be interested in the how-to, how much and by whom questions, it’s just not the most interesting thing to them until they can settle the yes or no question first, which is, “Can they help me get what I want?” Of course, the details ultimately matter, you simply have to start with what matters most to them.
Another thing to keep in mind here is that most people who need what you offer likely don’t use all the acronyms and industry terminology that you do. Make sure to keep it simple, by avoiding subject matter expert (SME) phrasing and acronyms to help avoid confusion, increase understanding and most importantly to keep their attention. You might be surprised how many sales can be generated or lost because of or the lack of clear and simple communication.
Social Media Content
How often do you address FAQs in posts your company puts out on social media? Most companies hardly if ever answer them which is a huge mistake. Again if one keeps in mind that FAQs are asked frequently, it should be obvious that those questions should be addressed often. Give the people what they are looking for and they will be more interested in the content you put out. Especially when those people are prospects for your products and services.
Posting questions and their answers centered around the questions your prospects are searching for on Google to find companies who can help is a gold mine just waiting to be developed.
Don’t forget to mix up the content style and presentation style too. Some people respond best to text only, others will only watch videos and some will be drawn in by polls, or graphics. Another great thing to keep in mind here is that you can take testimonials that help address the answers to FAQs from current or previous customers and use them in a variety of ways to help establish credibility at the same time.
Post often about FAQs and you’ll likely see your follower counts, and engagement levels shoot up like a rocket. If you ignore FAQs, you’ll likely see little to no responses from company posts and the well will run dry with no ROI on social media activities from your company accounts.
The Benefits of Prioritizing FAQ Answers
Are you tired of minimal return on investment (ROI) from your marketing campaigns? If you haven’t been able to draw the conclusion on your own, let me spell it out for you plainly. The reason most marketing efforts are failing is because they are centered around the wrong thing. Instead of telling us how wonderful your company, products, services, and accomplishments are, tell the audience what they are most interested in. The FAQs are not a side topic, they should be the main topic, the lead,and the star of the show.
The good news here is that the potential to grow sales in the future for your company, correlates with how poorly you have previously done at addressing the FAQs in this way. So if you’ve been doing a good job so far addressing FAQs, you likely don’t have a lot of future growth potential by simply continuing to do the same. The growth comes in changing tactics for those who have ignored FAQs or minimized them and not given them the attention they deserve.
Increase Sales in the Short and Long Term
The FAQs not only help you build a sales funnel for the immediate future, but also for the long haul. How? Increased web traffic and larger social media followings help you generate more future traffic, like a snowball effect. The algorithms of Google and Social Media platforms take into account existing traffic and user engagement. When users stay, on your website, take their time consuming your content and interact with your content you get rewarded with higher scores that influence your chances of ranking higher on their platforms for future search queries by others. If you want to win now and win later, keep focusing on FAQs and you’ll eventually learn how simple yet profound the message shared in this article is.
If you need help understanding how to specifically implement FAQs into your content, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team here at Bowman Digital Media for a free marketing consultation. You can increase sales with better marketing and this is a key ingredient to doing just that.