To a potential customer, an instant quote delivered on a website sounds wonderfully convenient. Enter a few parameters, click a button, and out pops a price.
Sadly, for the marketer, such a process does not answer a key question marketers should be desperate to answer:
Why.
Different customers want different outcomes, for different reasons from their purchase. Understanding the drivers, differences, and context of that demand gives the marketer the tools for a successful sales conversion and retention program.
A supplier who pauses to ask a few questions adds friction. They also give themselves a chance of gathering information that serves to best meet the needs of the customer, which sometimes means recommending something that does the job required better.
‘Remove friction’ has become one of those marketing instructions we repeat until we stop thinking about it. Usually, it makes sense. Complicated navigation, repeated requests for the same information, and forms that demand your life story before releasing a brochure all deserve the bin.
The trouble starts when we treat every pause as a defect.
Some purchases deserve a bit of thought. Customers need to understand a compromise, test a claim, or explain a problem they have never had to describe before. Skipping that work may accelerate the sale while leaving the misunderstanding intact.
The friction has not disappeared. You have simply moved it to being a complaint, demand for replacement, or an argument about who promised what.
For a small business, that can turn a promising sale into an expensive distraction.
The salesperson gets another order. Operations inherit an awkward job, and then spends the margin trying to make the customer happy.
A few useful questions at an early point can be seen as unnecessary friction. It can also be seen as an investment in a superior delivery of value to a customer.
That is an investment that is worth making. It reduces warranty and service claims, makes for happy customers, so increases the probability of a referral, the very best form of marketing there is.
Sensitive questioning at an early point can ‘qualify a customer’, an increasingly resource hungry activity for most B2B marketers. It can also set the marketer up as an expert in their field, and most would prefer to deal with an expert rather than a generalist, or unproven supplier.
Creating the opportunity to demonstrate your product delivers value greater than any competition is the point of all ‘top of the funnel’ activity or content.
These questions take time and require thought in their construction. It also requires those answering to make a modest ‘investment’ of their time. That is the point. Those who are unlikely to become customers are more likely to be turned off by the questions, while those with a genuine problem to be addressed, are more likely to make that investment. The friction creates an SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)
Do not demand technical specifications from someone who needs your help to work them out. Do not ask for a detailed brief merely to discover whether you serve their suburb. Explain your limits early, and ask for information when you can show how it helps.
The effort should match the decision.
Someone exploring options needs useful information.
Someone asking you to commit people, capacity, and to a price needs a more substantial conversation.
This cuts both ways. If you expect the customer to invest time answering questions, invest some of yours explaining the choices they face. Give them enough information to decide whether you deserve the next conversation.
Then watch what happens beyond the enquiry form.
A shorter form may produce more enquiries while consuming hours of estimating time on work you cannot do profitably. A longer conversation may produce fewer quotes and better jobs. Neither result justifies a victory lap until you examine the selling time, the margin, and whether customers got what they expected.
Watch the people who leave, observing any commonalities that may be a useful filter.
A falling enquiry count does not prove you have filtered out unsuitable buyers. You may have annoyed some viable leads, so care must be taken.
Every extra step should earn its keep by helping the customer make a sound choice and your business keep its promise.
Before you remove the next piece of friction from your sales process, ask what mistake it prevents.
