....Navigate articles.... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 1 IA and the Underground .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 2 A few thoughts .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 3 Type01's definition .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 4 Sapient's definition .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 5 Copywriting online .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 6 A global medium? .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 7 Building trust .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 8 Introducing Sam Ruben ++ Setting the Scene ++ Fonts ++ Colour ++ Images ++ Linking ++ Tables ++ Frames ++ Going Live ++ Search Engines ++ HTML Editors .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 9 dHTML navigation .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 10 Between Clicks; Expanding IA .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 11 Right click, view source. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 12 Refresh .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 13 Creative expression on the web .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 14 Learning to surf .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 15 The illusion of consistency .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 16 The hard sell .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 17 The promised land .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 18 An intro to user journeys .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 19 IA Summit 06 [5 meg ppt] .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 20 Designing for developing contexts .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Article 21 Communal computing & shared spaces of use .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Home home     contact       Creating an effective sales journey aims to maximise conversion from people browsing your site to buying your product or service. In order to do this you need to understand the process people go through when building up to buying the product. Most companies do have this information, strategists research it and interviews or testing is always good to get insight into the thoughts and behaviour of your target market. Essentially there are many opportunities that we have on the Internet that other mediums just don't have. In particular we can create journeys and speak to different people at different times depending on the state they're in. Customers will go through a process that generally begins at becoming aware of the product or service, then considering the purchase, trial if that is available and then last minute thoughts before purchasing. Because everyone is different these models do generalise but go along way to speaking to people with different need states. Once you have broken down the different needs that people have moving through consideration (early, middle and late) you then want to match up your content and functionality to those needs. Then break down the content and functionality across pages on your site and hyperlink appropriately. And you can pretty much think of it as a linear, step-by-step, arrangement only that you don't force users to go through one before the other. It is essential to give the user the freedom to jump between pages and information but you can bias their action in the design and presentation of the links. The order in which you list the links for example, or perhaps using a tab system, can imply the movement towards purchase. The major advantages to this are: People can easily navigate to where they need to go to get the kind of content or functionality that they require. People who leave the site can return and pick up from where they left off - continually bringing them closer to purchase. Your can 'hold people by the hand' through to process. Having a sales journey lays the foundation for creating an accelerated path to purchase. Next: An accelerated path to purchase | 1 | 2 | 3 Send a comment                          Read comments                            home     contact