Make Customers Want to click!!

Everyone should remember from his or her Marketing 101 class the abbreviation AIDA. If you don't remember, then this article will be an "eye opening experience". If you have heard about AIDA before, then you need to ask yourself...are you actually using these time proven marketing essentials. AIDA is especially important on the Internet, where your "words" are what sells.

All mortgage companies are not created equal. And all mortgage companies also have different marketing programs. But if you are currently marketing on the Internet, then AIDA becomes especially important to compel your prospects to take "action". Without "action", your hard spent online advertising dollars are just clicking away.

To create a compelling action you need follow these four essential AIDA basics.

- Attention(A)

- Interest(I)

- Desire(D)

- Action(A)

If your web site doesn't contain all of these critical items; then it is not a compelling web site!

Attention (A)

You must first capture your readers' attention. Picture the web surfer flipping through the Yellow pages containing hundreds of ads, of which your ad is just another. The ad that attracts the reader's gaze has a title that speaks to them personally.

It says, "what's in it for me". It does NOT say, "what's in it for the mortgage company".

Spend a good portion of your time on your web site title or the reading process may end rather than start there. To generate attention, consider the flash value of the words in your web site title. A great site will cause the prospect to stop and to investigate your mortgage services.

Interest (I)

The body of your ad must have appeal. It must make enough good sense, to be worthy of a visit to your site. Use the description of your site to state the benefits or features your service holds in store for the prospect.

There are general and specific reader interests. We all want to make a smart mortgage purchase. And Internet customers will be especially interested in buying from a proven mortgage company that can satisfy their needs at the best possible pricing.

Always look for the unique features of your mortgage services that is not being offered by your competitors. This is your market niche.

After making logical sense to the reader, you will then need to turn interest into a desire for your services.

Desire (D)

Interest alone is not enough. A great web site compels the prospect toward desire. While interest can generally be obtained by highlighting the practical properties of your mortgage services, your words will need to move the prospect further in order to produce desire.

Is there something else that makes the reader feel happy, confident, secure, hopeful or powerful? You need to convey the emotional appeal of your services to the prospect.

All human actions result from our desire to either experience pleasure or to avoid pain. Desire is created when your mortgage prospect experiences either an anticipation of pleasure; or expectation of avoiding pain or problems from the use or purchase of your mortgage services. The influence that this physiological and psychological fact has on prospects cannot be overly stated.

Contrary to popular belief, we don't really desire money. We may desire the pleasure we believe money can bring. We may desire to not experience the pain that might result from not having money. The word "money" only triggers the feelings and desires (within us) which we seek... whether they are happy, secure, or powerful desires, based upon our personal value system and past experience.

There are always good, better and best words. The right words for creating desire are the ones that elicit biological emotional responses in the prospect. Emotional responses bypass the cognitive process and cause us to experience; rather than merely read words.

Action (A)

If your prospect does not take action, there is no sale. How do you get your prospect to act?

Ironically, not asking for the sale is the single most repeated mistake that stops prospect desire from leading to prospect action. To take action, your web site needs to simply say: "Call this number now", "Email us for details", "Fill out this quick form", et

If the first three ingredients (attention, interest, and desire) have been well done, and the prospect is a qualified prospect.... this mortgage customer will more than likely take the action you direct them to take.

Develop your web site with the above marketing principals in mind and check your site to see that the four AIDA basics have been met. You will then have a compelling web site that will start your prospects clicking…and you start making more sales.

First published April 2003.