Nobody wants to leave customers – or potential customers – hanging. These searchers have questions, and if you can provide them with answers upfront (with minimum hassle), you decrease the risk of losing them to competitors. SEO is a similar deal, and if Google can’t find its answer – pronto – it will look elsewhere. When you take the time to create a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page that addresses common questions with comprehensive answers that highlight your brand’s strengths, you do yourself and your customers a favor.
Do I Really Need a FAQ Page?
More and more of our commerce is taking place online, and it’s important to focus on what this shift means. Because your customers and potential customers can’t hold your products in their hands and/or can’t chat with salespeople about the services you offer, they naturally have questions. If finding succinct answers to these questions isn’t forthcoming – with minimal effort on their part – many such customers will either keep moving or will lose interest altogether. Having a FAQ page can help nip this problem in the bud by providing easily accessible answers that move sales forward in one highly navigable landing spot. As an added bonus, online shoppers tend to find the familiar FAQ-formatting comforting.
Making Your FAQ Page Work for You
When created with focus and intention, your FAQ page has much to offer, including:
- Making a purchase online can feel like a journey. When customers, potential customers, and looky-loos, alike, can find answers to their questions (and answers to questions they didn’t even know they had) at the tip of their fingers, however, you help diminish buyer frustration and anxiety while upping sales – and that’s a win-win.
- From your customers’ general perspective, contacting your business directly for the information they seek can feel like a lot of unnecessary work (that also slows the sales process). Your FAQ page can help you bypass this sales obstacle while freeing up your support team for more in-depth inquiries.
- Answering your customers’ FAQs with clear responses signals trustworthiness. By explaining your return policies, shipping practices, quality guarantees, and more in laymen terms (instead of in fine print), you demonstrate that your focus is on your customer’s experience. This encourages not only your customers but also Google to put their trust in your online offerings.
- Skillfully weaving your unique brand and its competitive advantages throughout your FAQ page allows you to organically incorporate savvy marketing, to meaningfully improve internal linking, and to enhance search visibility on keywords that matter.
Which Questions Should I Include?
You recognize that you need a FAQ page, but creating your best page begins with compiling the right questions. Your customer support team fields a steady stream of questions, and their experiences should inform your FAQ efforts. Further, do your research – take a look not only at your competitors but also at SEO-driven Google data, online discussion boards, and more.
Be Clear, Concise, and Correct When You Connect
The answers on your FAQ page matter and can mean the difference between fostering an ongoing relationship with customers and thwarting potential sales. Your responses should hit all of the following marks:
- Clear answers that are easy to read and understand.
- Concise answers that cut to the chase.
- Correct answers that do not lead readers astray.
At the same time, however, you want your FAQ page to connect with visitors in your online space. When your readership feels heard, they respond. Putting effort into providing well-written responses that resonate with your target audience will help you reap the kind of rewards you’re looking for and build your brands’ reputation.
Don’t Forget the Visuals
When you’re answering your customers’ questions, the last thing you want to do is fail to provide them with the details they need to make informed decisions, and this is where visuals come in. A flowchart with pictographs can go a long way toward explaining your setup process (in a way that words alone simply cannot). Further, making short instructional videos need not be intimidating, and they provide a welcome opportunity for brand building and promotion – via YouTube and other venues. Visuals are closely associated with deepening reader engagement and improving comprehension and retention, which makes them an opportunity that you don’t want to miss out on.
Make FAQ Schema Your Friend
When you’re looking for answers, you’re looking for clear answers that directly address your questions, and Google is right there with you. Google is looking for answers, and they have the schema to prove it. These nuggets of wisdom come directly from Google, and you’re well-advised to pay attention. For example, including internal links in your answers can increase your organically generated SERP links.
The Journey toward Success
The readers on your FAQ page are on a journey toward a purchase, and that page is their guide. Internal links within your answers to FAQs can help pave the way toward finalizing sales. When you better understand where your potential customers are in their purchase journey – in relation to the questions they turn to – you’ll be better prepared to move them forward via well-placed internal links.
I’m Just Browsing
There are users who land on your FAQ page who are there to search and others who are there to browse, and it behooves you to make them both comfortable. This boils down to providing the searchers with an efficient means of finding what they’re looking for and to having a thoughtfully curated and organized page to help browsers find their footing, which can serve as an important stepping stone in that journey toward a sale.
If You Have Questions, Resourceful Digital Marketing Experts Have Answers
Having a FAQ page that speaks to your online visitors isn’t about simply checking off boxes and being like every other online entity. On the contrary, it’s an excellent opportunity to solidify customer relationships, build your brand, and move potential sales in the right direction. At The Web Guys, we have the savvy to help you ask and answer FAQs with moxie. Make the most of your online opportunities by contacting us at (317) 805-4933 to learn more about us and our digital marketing services today!